The Israeli military said Thursday it was operating on a major besieged hospital in the southern Gaza Strip where it believed Israeli Hamas hostages were being held, and where doctors described the situation as desperate, AFP reported.

Under fire from fighting between the army and the Palestinian Islamist movement, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younes, the largest in the southern Gaza Strip, has received thousands of civilians fleeing the war, whose evacuation has begun in recent days.

The military said it was conducting a “targeted and limited operation” at the hospital after receiving “credible information” indicating that Hamas was holding hostages there “and that there may be bodies of hostages at the site.”

After the city of Khan Younes was reduced to rubble, Israel is preparing a ground offensive on the overcrowded southern city of Rafah, which has become the last refuge for hundreds of thousands of civilians who have fled the fighting.

On Thursday, AFP photographers saw clouds of smoke rising over Khan Younes and Rafah after fresh shelling.

After more than four months of war against Hamas in the besieged Palestinian territory, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now wants to destroy the Islamist movement’s “last bastion” in Rafah.

He announced a “strong action” in the city, but assured that the army would first allow civilians to “leave the war zone”.

As mediators continue to negotiate a ceasefire in Cairo, calls are being made around the world for the potentially devastating consequences of such an operation.

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“apocalyptic” landscape

According to the UN, about 1.4 million people – more than half of Gaza’s population – are in Rafah, which has been turned into a giant camp, due to fear of the announced offensive.

Rafah is also the main entry point for humanitarian aid from Israel-controlled Egypt, which is insufficient to meet the needs of a population threatened by famine and epidemics.

Hamas’ health ministry announced Thursday that 87 people were killed in 24 hours in the territory, adding that shelling at Nasser Hospital left one dead and several wounded.

Displaced people who fled a hospital in response to an army evacuation order now find themselves “with nowhere to go” in an “apocalyptic landscape” where bombing is “part of everyday life”, Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday.

The MSF team continues to work at the hospital “under almost impossible conditions,” the NGO added.

Many hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been targeted by the army since the start of the war, which accuses Hamas of using them as bases.