Israel's army says its soldiers have found a tunnel shaft used by Hamas militants at Gaza's Al Shifa hospital, releasing a video to back its claim, which has been used to justify its action there.
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The video, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed a deep hole in the ground, littered with and surrounded by concrete and wood rubble and sand. It appeared the area had been excavated; a bulldozer appeared in the background
In a statement late on Thursday Hamas said US claims it uses Al Shifa for military purposes are "a repetition of a blatantly false narrative, demonstrated by the weak and ridiculous performances of the occupation army spokesman."
White House spokesman John Kirby says the US is confident in an assessment from its own intelligence agencies on Hamas activities in Al Shifa hospital and will neither share nor elaborate on it.
Israeli officials also say Hamas held some of the 240 hostages taken by gunmen in the October 7 attack in the hospital complex.
The body of a woman hostage was recovered by troops in a building near Al Shifa on Thursday, the army said.
Military equipment including Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were also found in the building, it said.
Palestinian medics say they are increasingly afraid for the lives of hundreds of patients and medical staff at the hospital, cut off from all links to the outside world for more than a day after Israeli forces entered.
Dr Nahed Abu Taaema, director of the Nasser Hospital in Gaza's main southern city Khan Younis, told Reuters all contact with colleagues inside Shifa has been lost.
"The situation in Al Shifa is very dangerous and catastrophic. Now our patients in the ICU and the premature babies are being subject to danger.
Human Rights Watch said hospitals have special protections under international humanitarian law.
"Hospitals only lose those protections if it can be shown that harmful acts have been carried out from the premises," the watchdog's UN Director Louis Charbonneau said.
With communications out throughout Gaza and with an Israeli block on fuel delivery, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said it was impossible to coordinate humanitarian aid truck convoys.
"People will start to die because of the lack of fuel. Exactly as from when, I don't know. But it will be sooner rather than later," said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
Palestinian civilians have borne the brunt of Israel's weeks-long military campaign in retaliation for an October 7 attack by Hamas that Israel says killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Gaza health authorities deemed reliable by the United Nations say at least 11,500 people have been confirmed killed in the subsequent Israeli bombardment and ground invasion - more than 4,700 of them children.
The Israeli military's chief of staff said Israel was close to destroying Hamas' military system in the northern Gaza Strip and there were signs the army was taking its campaign to other parts of the enclave of 2.3 million people.
Israel distributed pamphlets telling civilians to leave four towns in southern Gaza, areas Gazans had been previously told would be safe.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, on his first visit to Israel since the Hamas attack, called on Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza.
"I understand your rage but let me ask you not to be consumed by rage," Borrell said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Hamas was to blame not only for the October 7 attack but also for the current plight of Palestinians in Gaza.
Australian Associated Press
