Palestine TV said today (Saturday) that Israeli forces requested the evacuation of the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza within one hour.

The complex is subject to a siege by Israeli law, and was stormed several days ago, according to the Arab World News Agency.

Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza, was the focus of international concern this week when it became the main target of the Israeli ground attack. Israel said that its forces found a vehicle containing a large number of weapons, and an underground structure that it said led to one of Hamas's tunnels, two days after searching the building, according to Reuters news agency.

The Director General of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Munir Al-Bursh, confirmed yesterday (Friday) that 51 people had been killed inside the Al-Shifa Medical Complex since the Israeli army stormed the hospital last Wednesday.

In a later statement, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, Muhammad Abu Salamiya, announced the death of all patients in the hospital’s intensive care department, due to the Israeli siege on the medical complex.