Israeli troops advance on suspected Hamas headquarters. Not even a glass of water a day: aid deliveries to Gaza are far from sufficient

An explosion rocked Gaza’s Shifa hospital on Friday. It is not only the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli information, this includes the terrorist headquarters of Hamas. Evacuations took place shortly after the explosion, eyewitnesses said, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

According to Israeli information, the cause was a misdirected projectile from a ‘terrorist organization’, without naming it. They tried to attack Israeli forces nearby. This certainly indicates that IDF soldiers are in the area. According to the Wall Street Journal, troops are already on the scene. The WHO received reports of heavy fighting around Shifa Hospital on Friday.

But accepting this may not be easy. There are still believed to be 15,000 people in the buildings, including about 2,500 patients, relatives, medical staff and people seeking protection from Israeli airstrikes. Israel has pledged to find and eliminate Hamas leaders. According to their own statements, they have so far succeeded in some cases in the suburbs and in the north of the Gaza Strip. The 401st Brigade killed 150 terrorists in the north on Friday. But taking the headquarters in Gaza is a much more difficult operation.

“The biggest problem now is time,” Matan Vilnai, a former head of Israel’s Southern Command who previously commanded Israeli forces in Gaza, told the American newspaper. Hamas may be able to spare its troops for a more intense fight in Gaza City, he added.

The pressure on dead civilians is increasing

Attacking the hospital from the air is hardly an option anymore. The pressure on Israel is growing in terms of civilian casualties and especially children. French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel to stop bombing the Gaza Strip. In addition, Israel must stop killing civilians, Macron said in an interview with the BBC. There is “no justification” for the bombing.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the situation in the Gaza Strip as extremely disastrous. “On average, a child is killed every ten minutes in Gaza,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the UN Security Council.

This leaves ground troops who will then become involved in urban warfare – high losses are to be expected. Moreover, Hamas still has an extensive tunnel system in Gaza, the exact route of which is unknown. Israel repeatedly reports that it has destroyed a number of tunnels, most recently 130. However, caution is being exercised: Hamas could be hiding a number of hostages there and using them as human shields.

“If we see Hamas terrorists, we will kill them”

Israeli forces in Gaza will take “all possible precautions” to protect civilians and patients in the facilities, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesman, said Friday. At the same time, he emphasized: “If we see Hamas terrorists shooting from hospitals, we will do what we have to do,” Hecht said.

Finding this in the densely built-up city is a challenge. “They may be hiding – sending troops to attack armored vehicles, then withdrawing and going underground – using delaying tactics,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman.

Meanwhile, the death toll is growing, reaching 11,000 according to Palestinian figures, while on the Israeli side there were 34 soldiers killed – and 1,200 people killed in the October 7 attacks.

Experts say it is doubtful whether Israel can wipe out Hamas at all. U.S. intelligence officials doubt Israel can achieve its stated military goal of eliminating the U.S.-designated terrorist group, a person familiar with the intelligence told the Wall Street Journal. You can celebrate military successes, but you cannot eradicate ideology.

Gaza is now largely cut off from the rest of the Gaza Strip. The government in Jerusalem allows escapes on certain streets at certain times; it is reported that more than 100,000 people have already left for the south.