Israel-Hamas fighting in Jabaliya and around hospitals

New Delhi: Inside Gaza, the front line of the war shifted to the Jabaliya refugee camp, a densely built district of concrete buildings near Gaza City that houses families displaced in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. 

Israel has bombarded the area for weeks, and the military said Hamas fighters have regrouped there and in other eastern districts after being pushed out of much of Gaza City.

The fighting in Jabaliya also affected two nearby hospitals, trapping hundreds of patients and displaced people sheltering inside. 

A strike Tuesday hit inside one of the facilities, al-Awda, killing four people, including three doctors, the hospital director told Al-Jazeera TV. The director, Ahmed Mahna, blamed the strike on Israel, a claim that AP could not independently confirm.

Residents of Jabaliya said there was heavy fighting as Israeli forces tried to advance under the cover of airstrikes. "They are facing stiff resistance," said Hamza Abu Mansour, a university student.

The Israeli military said strikes hit three tunnel shafts where fighters were hiding and destroyed rocket launchers. Footage released by the military showed Israeli soldiers patrolling on foot as gunfire echoed around them.

It was not possible to independently confirm details of the fighting.

It's unclear how many Palestinian civilians remain in northern Gaza, but the UN agency for Palestinian refugees estimates that some 160,000 people are still in its shelters there, though it can no longer provide services. Thousands more still shelter in several hospitals in the north even after many fled south in recent weeks.

Most hospitals are no longer operational. The hospital situation in Gaza is "catastrophic," Michael Ryan, a senior World Health Organization official, said Monday.

With Israeli troops surrounding the Indonesia Hospital, also near Jabaliya, staff had to bury 50 dead in the facility's courtyard, a senior Health Ministry official in the hospital, Munir al-Boursh, told Al-Jazeera TV.

Up to 600 wounded people and some 2,000 displaced Palestinians remain stranded at the hospital, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

A similar standoff played out in recent days at Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, where over 250 patients and medical workers are stranded after the evacuation of 31 premature babies.

Israel has provided evidence in recent days of a militant presence at Shifa. But it has yet to substantiate its claims that Hamas had a major command center beneath the facility, allegations denied by Hamas and hospital staff.(AP)