It is hard to know what is going on in Gaza City tonight but we are hearing occasional explosions over a live video feed from the area, which is shrouded in darkness.
On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were launching a “precise and targeted” operation at the Al-Shifa hospital.
During the raid, a journalist inside the hospital told the BBC that commandos had entered the main emergency department.
Soldiers moved from room to room questioning patients and staff, while younger men were ordered into the courtyard and told to strip down to their underwear for interrogation, he said.
Fourteen hours later, reports reached the BBC that the troops were beginning to withdraw. The IDF then published a video on Wednesday evening which it said showed weapons and equipment stashed inside various departments by Hamas.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of housing a command-and-control centre in a tunnel network underneath the hospital – a claim the US says its own intelligence supports but Hamas denies.
In Gaza’s south, the onset of torrential rain and colder weather is compounding the suffering of the tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering there, the UN has said.
In Rafah, Israel has allowed a delivery of 25,000 litres of fuel to cross into Gaza for the first time since the start of the war.
Away from the territory, there are reports that Qatari mediators have been attempting to broker a deal between Hamas and Israel over the release of some of the hostages kidnapped by the militants during their 7 October attack.
Also on the diplomatic front, the UN Security Council has voted to back a resolution calling for “extended humanitarian pauses” in Gaza, after failing to agree on four previous votes.
In the UK, politicians rejected against an opposition party motion which called for a ceasefire in Gaza by 293 votes to 125.
Israel says 1,200 people have been killed since the 7 October attack by Hamas militants, and 239 are still being held captive in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has not issued new figures for dead and injured Palestinians for several days now. Its most recent count said more than 11,000 people had been killed during Israel’s retaliation – of whom more than 4,500 were children.
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