Hamas says Biden 'wholly responsible' for Israeli operation in Gaza hospital

SHAH ALAM - Gaza's governing body Hamas has accused United States 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.

"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," it said in a statement.

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, while Israel 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.

However, Biden also urged Israel to take "less intrusive action relative to" Al-Shifa, adding: "The hospital must be protected."

A doctor inside al-Shifa, quoted by Al-Jazeera, said the Israeli raid spurred fear among patients, displaced people and health workers at the facility.

Hamas has denied it is using hospitals in Gaza, such as al-Shifa, as command centres, and have reiterated that Israel and the US of trying to justify “brutal massacres”.

More than 11,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct 7. In Israel, the official death toll from Hamas’s surprise operation stands at more than 1,200.