Israeli military confirms Al Shifa Hospital chief held for questioning

The Israeli military confirmed on Thursday that the director of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza had been held for questioning over allegation that the facility had been used as a command and control centre for Hamas.

The director, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, has been frequently quoted by international media about the conditions inside Al Shifa, a major focus of an Israeli bombings and ground invasion following attacks by Hamas on October 7.

"In the hospital, under his management, there was extensive Hamas terrorist activity," it said in a statement.

The Israeli army, which raided the hospital last week, has alleged that Hamas fighters used a tunnel complex beneath the facility in Gaza City to stage attacks.

Hamas and hospital officials have repeatedly denied the claims.

"Doctor Mohammad Abu Salmiya was arrested along with several other senior doctors," said Khalid Abu Samra, a chief of department at the hospital.

An official of the health ministry in Gaza specified to AFP that one other doctor and two nurses had been detained, as well as the hospital director.

In a statement, Hamas said it "strongly denounces" the arrest of Salmiya and his colleagues, calling on the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organisations to work towards their "immediate release".

Instructions to evacuate the hospital were issued on Saturday, prompting the forced exodus of hundreds of patients and displaced towards the supposedly safer south of the Palestinian territory.

Salmiya told AFP last week that he had received the evacuation order from Israeli forces after having refused a previous one.

But the Israeli army said the evacuations were carried out at the "request" of Salmiya.

On Thursday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said it joined forces with the United Nations to evacuate a further 190 wounded and sick people, their companions and medical staff from Al Shifa to other hospitals in the south of Gaza.

The evacuation took nearly 20 hours due to delays at the checkpoint separating northern and southern Gaza, it said on X, formerly Twitter, adding that three paramedics had been detained, two of whom were subsequently released.

Al Shifa hospital has been the scene of an extended Israeli special forces operation as part of its brutal war in Gaza, where the government in Gaza says more than 14,000 people have been killed, most of them women and children.

It came after Hamas fighters poured across the border in an unprecedented attack on October 7. Israeli officials say about 1,200 people were killed and around 240 taken hostage.