TEL AVIV, November 15. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces is conducting a ground operation against HAMAS near the Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip, the press service of the Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday.

"Based on intelligence information and an operational necessity, IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against HAMAS in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital," IDF said.

According to the statement, the main objective of the mission is to "defeat HAMAS and rescue our hostages."

"In recent weeks, the IDF has publicly warned time and again that HAMAS' continued military use of the Shifa hospital jeopardizes its protected status under international law," the statement says.

"Yesterday, the IDF conveyed to the relevant authorities in Gaza once again that all military activities within the hospital must cease within 12 hours. Unfortunately, it did not," the IDF said. "The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians being used by HAMAS as human shields."

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas regards the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.