QUOTES-Comments about Israeli advance on Al Shifa and other Gaza hospitals

Israeli soldiers entered Gaza's biggest hospital, Al Shifa, on Wednesday and were searching the premises, after Israel said Hamas fighters had their headquarters in tunnels beneath the facility, a charge the Palestinian group denies. Here are reactions to the fighting at Al Shifa and other Gaza hospitals: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) "Reports of military incursion into Al Shifa hospital are deeply concerning," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media platform X.

Israeli soldiers entered Gaza's biggest hospital, Al Shifa, on Wednesday and were searching the premises, after Israel said Hamas fighters had their headquarters in tunnels beneath the facility, a charge the Palestinian group denies.

Here are reactions to the fighting at Al Shifa and other Gaza hospitals: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)

"Reports of military incursion into Al Shifa hospital are deeply concerning," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media platform X. "We've lost touch again with health personnel at the hospital. We're extremely worried for their and their patients' safety."

UNITED NATIONS AID CHIEF "The protection of newborns, patients, medical staff and all civilians must override all other concerns," U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths wrote on X, adding he was "appalled" by reports of the raids.

"Hospitals are not battlegrounds." DOCTOR AT AL SHIFA HOSPITAL

"Bombardment. Shooting around the hospital and within the hospital. It's really horrible you can feel that it's very near to the hospital. And then we realised that the tanks are moving around the hospital," Doctor Ahmed El Mokhallalati told Reuters by phone. "They just parked in front of the hospital emergency department. All kinds of weapons were used around the hospital," and staff avoided being near the windows.

He said he felt relief when troops finally entered the complex, despite concerns among staff, as the fear of being bombarded from outside had been immense. UNITED STATES

"We do not support striking a hospital from the air and we don't want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people trying to get medical care they deserve are caught in the crossfire," a White House National Security Council spokesperson said. "Hospitals and patients must be protected."

FRANCE The French foreign ministry said that France was deeply concerned about Israel's military operations at Al Shifa and "reiterates the absolute need for Israel to comply with international humanitarian law".

"No use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes is acceptable. "The Palestinian population should not have to pay for the crimes of Hamas, and even less so the vulnerable, wounded or sick and the humanitarian workers."

IRELAND Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said in Cairo: "We urgently need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and we are working to ensure that aid is able to reach those who need it most.

"It is also vital that law, international humanitarian law, is upheld, it's obligatory on all actors, state and non-state actors. "Without question we need a dramatic increase in aid at scale to meet the dire humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza, where a human catastrophe is unfolding in front of our eyes."

ISRAEL Based on intelligence information, "IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas" at the hospital and the intention was not to harm civilians, the Israeli Defence Forces said in a statement.

Israeli troops found weapons and "terror infrastructure" at one specific location within Al Shifa hospital, a senior IDF official said. There was no fighting inside the hospital complex after troops arrived during the night, and medical staff and patients were in a different area of the site, he said.

HAMAS "The White House and the Pentagon's adoption of the false (Israeli) narrative, claiming that the resistance is using Al Shifa medical complex for military purposes, was a green light for the occupation (Israel) to commit more massacres against civilians," Hamas said.

CANADA "I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday, before the raid. "The world is witnessing this killing of women, of children, of babies. This has to stop."

He also said Hamas needed to stop using Palestinians as human shields and should release all its hostages. (Compiled by Bernadette Baum; Editing by Edmund Blair, Tomasz Janowski and Alex Richardson)