US warning as Israel storms Gaza's main hospital

Nov 15: Israel says its military is carrying out an operation against Hamas in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

An eyewitness inside the hospital tells the BBC they saw tanks and commando soldiers enter its main emergency department.

The White House says patients must be protected, adding: "We don't want to see a firefight in a hospital".

The US said it has intelligence backing Israel's claim that Hamas has a command centre under Al-Shifa - Hamas denies this.

Earlier, a doctor at the hospital, which is short of fuel, said 200 patients had been buried there in a mass grave.

Israel began striking Gaza after Hamas's 7 October attacks, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.

The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since - of whom more than 4,500 were children.

Israel 'doing everything we can to dismantle Hamas': Deputy Consul General

The deputy Consul General of Israel in New York has spoken to the BBC about the current military operation at Al-Shifa.

Tsach Saar was asked what exacting a "precise and targeted operation at Al-Shifa against Hamas" meant.

"It means that we are doing everything we can to dismantle the capabilities of Hamas," he said, adding that Hamas had "embedded its fighters and capabilities and weapons in and under the Shifa Hospital. And by the way, it's not the only hospital where they did it.

"Everything we can means that we take the weapons, that we dismantle their neutralising their fighters, their terrorists, while making sure that we minimise the collateral damage, the loss of innocent civilian lives. This is what it means."

He was also questioned if Israel had properly made efforts to evacuated the hospital in advance.

"We take every measure that is possible," said Mr Saar.

"Facilitating platforms for patients and people, innocent people that are in the hospital to make sure that they leave safely. But unfortunately, Hamas uses their own people's human shields, preventing them from leaving this hospital because they know that they protect them by their presence there."

His comments come as the US has said it has its own intelligence that Hamas has a command and control centre underneath Al-Shifa - a claim that Hamas has consistently denied.