in new york confirmed the raid saying the israeli military was doing everything possible to prevent civilians at the hospital getting caught up in the operation. and eyewitnesses told the bbc he has tanks inside the hospital grounds and more than 100 soldiers entering the main emergency department. in a statement, the idf says it is conducting a ground operation in gaza to defeat hamas and rescue hostages. it said israel is at war with hamas not with the civilians in gaza. this is the first time the military is directly entering al shifa hospital after days of strikes and heavy fighting around the grounds in gaza city. the white house has reiterated its earlier position that it does not want to see any targeting of hospitals. the raid comes after the us confirmed it has intelligent supporting israel s claim that hamas in the palestinian islamicjihad are operating from tunnels below hospitals, including al shifa. they say they are also storing weapons there. thomas denies the