The Palestinian militant group Hamas accused US President Joe Biden on Wednesday of being “wholly responsible” for an Israeli army operation at Gaza’s largest hospital.
“We hold the occupation (Israel) and President Biden wholly responsible for the assault on the Al-Shifa medical complex,” Hamas said in a statement.
“The adoption by the White House and the Pentagon of the occupation’s false claim that the resistance is using the Al-Shifa medical complex for military ends has given the green light to the occupation to commit more massacres against civilians.”
Israeli forces said early on Wednesday that they were carrying out a “precise and targeted operation” against a suspected Hamas command centre beneath Al-Shifa, where thousands of civilians are seeking shelter.
The White House had said on Tuesday that US intelligence sources corroborated Israel’s claim that Hamas has buried an operational centre under the hospital.
Biden had also urged Israel to take “less intrusive action relative to” Al-Shifa, adding: “The hospital must be protected.”
Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas’s military use of the facility “jeopardises its protected status under international law” — a claim that many international human rights lawyers refute.
