This handout satellite picture shows the damage around the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City's al-Rimal district (AFP)
Israeli forces are carrying out a "precise and targeted" military operation against Hamas "in a specific area" inside the Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.
The army said in a statement the operation is "based on intelligence information and operational necessities".
The IDF forces "include medical teams and Arabic speakers who have undergone specific training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the aim of not causing any harm to civilians who are used by Hamas as human shields".
The statement came shortly after the spokesman for the Hamas Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that Israel had informed officials that it would raid the Al-Shifa Hospital complex in the coming minutes.
On Tuesday, the US accused Hamas of running a "command and control center based from Al-Shifa Hospital."
Hamas has, however, denied militarising hospitals.
Medical officials in Gaza say more than 11,000 people are confirmed dead from Israeli strikes, around 40 per cent of them children, and countless others were trapped under rubble.
Lebanon's Hezbollah warned Israeli residents to evacuate towns within 5 km of the border between the countries in a message posted on its Telegram channel in Hebrew early on Friday.
The US House of Representatives rejected an effort on Thursday to stop President Donald Trump's air war on Iran and require that any hostilities against Iran be authorized by Congress, backing the Republican president's military campaign.
Multiple Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, have announced their successful interception of several drones targeting their territories and airbases.
Foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the European Union have strongly condemned the Iranian attacks targeting GCC states, calling them a direct threat to regional and global security.
The southern Indian state of Karnataka, home to the tech hub of Bengaluru, has banned the use of social media by those under the age of 16, state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Friday, becoming the first in India to do so.