The Shifa Hospital in Gaza, the largest and best-equipped hospital in the region, has become a focal point in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, AP News reports.
Israel alleges that Hamas uses the hospital for military purposes, claiming it has an underground command center connected by tunnels, something Gaza health officials and Hamas deny.
Israel says it is willing to allow staff and patients to evacuate, but Palestinians argue that Israeli forces have fired at evacuees, making it too dangerous to move vulnerable patients.
International law provides special protections to hospitals during war, but these can be lost if combatants use them for military purposes. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals as instruments of war and claims to have found weapons caches in hospital basements.
