This handout picture, released by the Israeli military on November 15, 2023, shows the occupation soldiers inside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. (Via AFP)

Doha, November 16 (RHC)-- Qatar has vehemently denounced the Israeli military for storming the al-Shifa hospital in the blockaded Gaza Strip, calling for an international probe into the incursion.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Qatari Foreign Ministry condemned the raid as “a war crime and a blatant violation of international laws,” saying the attack caused the tragic death of several patients, including innocent children.

It also said that independent UN investigators should be dispatched to Gaza to carry out “an immediate and comprehensive” investigation into the occupying regime’s deliberate targeting of hospitals.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military deployed soldiers, tanks and bulldozers inside the al-Shifa hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza, as part of what it called “a precise and targeted operation.”

The regime’s forces fired at those inside the hospital, where around 7,000 people are said to be sheltering, along with 1,500 patients and medical staff.

There were reports of interrogations of Palestinians, restrictions on their movement, and detentions.

Israel alleges that Hamas has built its headquarters in bunkers and tunnels under the al-Shifa hospital, a claim strongly rejected by the Palestinian resistance movement and hospital officials.

Over the past few days, the al-Shifa hospital has been encircled by the Israeli military and targeted in the regime’s bombing campaign.

The facility ran out of fuel at the weekend to power generators, leading to the death of dozens of patients, including premature babies.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry urged the international community to take “swift and decisive measures” to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against civilians.  “The international community’s silence on the blatant crimes against humanity committed by the occupation forces against the Palestinian people could embolden Israel to perpetuate more atrocities,” it added.

“Such a scenario... not only poses a direct threat to regional stability but also erodes trust in the international community and its institutions.”

Israel waged the brutal war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity.   Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 11,517 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured around 32,000 others.

It has also imposed a “complete siege” on the coastal sliver, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.