Al Jazeera published this article:

White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters moments ago that Washington “did not give an okay to [Israeli] military operations around the hospital”.

“These are Israeli military operations that they plan … The United States is not involved in those procedures,” he said.

Kirby’s comments come after Hamas on Tuesday accused Washington of giving Israel the “green light to perpetrate further massacres against civilians” after it endorsed Israel’s claims that the Palestinian group was using Gaza hospitals, including al-Shifa, for its operations.

Hamas has repeatedly rejected the accusations and said it would welcome the UN setting up an international committee to inspect all hospitals in the bombarded enclave.

Kirby also told reporters: “We don’t want to see hospitals attacked from the air. We don’t want to see innocent civilians, patients, medical staff become victims of crossfire … We believe hospitals should be protected.”