Israeli troops raid Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital

Israeli troops raided the compound of Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital early on Monday in an operation that Palestinian health authorities said caused multiple casualties and set off a fierce fire in one of the buildings.

The Israeli military said soldiers had conducted a "precise operation" based on intelligence that the hospital was being used by senior Hamas leaders, and were fired upon when they entered the compound.

"The troops responded with live fire and hits were identified. Our troops are continuing to operate in the area of the hospital," it said in a statement.

Al Shifa, the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital before the war, is now one of the only healthcare facilities that is even partially operational in the north of the territory, and is also housing hundreds of displaced civilians.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said a fire broke out at the entrance of the hospital complex, causing cases of suffocation among displaced women and children sheltering in the hospital. It said communication had been cut off, with people trapped inside the surgery and emergency units of one of the buildings.

The Israeli army dropped new leaflets around the hospital in Gaza City.

"To all those who exist or are displaced in Rimal and the displaced in Al Shifa and its vicinity: you are in a dangerous combat zone. The IDF is operating hard in its residential areas to destroy terror infrastructure," said the statement, which ordered the people to take the coastal road towards Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip.

The military issued grainy drone footage of the operation which it said showed troops coming under fire from a number of buildings in the hospital complex. Footage circulated on social media appeared to show an Israeli tank blocking the main gate of Al Shifa.

The military said troops had been instructed on the importance of operating cautiously as well as on measures to be taken to avoid harm to patients, civilians, medical staff and medical equipment, and said patients were not required to evacuate from the hospital.

Not far from Al Shifa, Israeli army forces raided a school where displaced families were sheltering, and detained several men there, residents and Hamas media said. Residents reported tanks were also operating on the edge of the Beach refugee camp and said tanks fired shells at some buildings nearby.