The Israeli military has denied ordering the evacuation of Al-Shifa hospital following earlier reports that it had told everyone in the complex to leave within an hour, APA reports citing BBC.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had agreed to a request from the director at Al-Shifa for Gazans who wanted to evacuate to do so via a "secure route".
"At no point, did the IDF order the evacuation of patients or medical teams and in fact proposed that any request for medical evacuation will be facilitated by the IDF," a statement said.
Medical staff would stay with patients who are unable to evacuate, the statement continued, saying the IDF had been providing additional food, water and humanitarian assistance to the hospital.
Israeli troops have been searching the hospital, where they say Hamas has a command centre in tunnels below ground. They have found some weapons stashes but so far have not provided evidence of a major command centre.
Large numbers of displaced people have been sheltering in the hospital, where conditions are desperate after intense fighting in the area.
***11:28
Israeli forces give al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza one hour to evacuate, a medical source has told Al Jazeera, APA reports.
According to the information, Israeli forces have given everyone at al-Shifa Hospital – including doctors, patients and displaced people – an hour to evacuate the medical compound.
It was noted that there are more than 300 patients at al-Shifa Hospital.
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