Smoke from bombardment billows in the background as displaced Palestinians flee from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Jan 30, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)

GAZA/JERUSALEM - Israeli forces on Tuesday stormed the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, reported the state-run Palestine TV. 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a statement that Israeli forces demolished the outer wall of the hospital, and asked displaced people and medical personnel to evacuate immediately.

In the past days, the vicinity of the hospital has witnessed intense Israeli shelling, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries and displacing hundreds of Palestinians from the area.

Al-Amal Hospital hosts thousands of Palestinians who sought refuge there as a result of Israeli shelling in various areas of Khan Younis.

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied the report.

"There's no storming of the Al-Amal hospital, entry into it or any ordering of people to leave at gunpoint," an IDF spokesman said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Israeli force declared that it has pumped seawater to flood the Hamas underground tunnel network in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 26,751 since Oct 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a cross-border surprise attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, said the Hamas-run Health Ministry on Tuesday

It was the first time that the IDF officially acknowledged using the controversial strategy, which some United Nations hydrologists and environmental experts warned could destroy the majority of Gaza's drinkable water and harm agriculture.

"During the war, the IDF has implemented new capabilities to neutralize underground terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip by channeling large volumes of water into the tunnels," the IDF said in a statement.

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The measure is part of "a range of tools deployed by the IDF" to neutralize the subterranean network of tunnels, it said.

"The capability was developed in a professional capacity, including analysis of the soil characteristics and the water systems in the area to ensure that damage is not done to the area's groundwater. The pumping of water was only carried out in tunnel routes and locations that were suitable, matching the method of operation to each case," it said.

A smoke plume erupts during Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Jan 30, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)

According to Israeli figures, Hamas's tunnels stretch over about 560-725 km beneath the coastal Palestinian enclave. On Sunday, the US paper The Wall Street Journal quoted Israeli and US officials as reporting that some 80 percent of the Hamas tunnel system remains intact.

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Also on Tuesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross called for the protection of civilians amidst the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

"The ongoing hostilities in densely populated urban areas, including areas surrounding hospitals, endanger the lives of the most vulnerable groups, such as medical teams, patients, the wounded, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly," the committee said in a statement sent to Xinhua. 

The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 26,751 since Oct 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a cross-border surprise attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, said the Hamas-run Health Ministry on Tuesday.