Gaza City, Gaza - Israeli forces were searching building to building at Gaza's main hospital Thursday as a new communications blackout in the territory on Friday compounded fears for Palestinian civilians trapped inside the facility.

Soldiers raided Al-Shifa since early Wednesday in the hunt for a command center they say the militants built below the complex, a charge denied by Hamas and managers at the hospital which has become a focal point of the war.

The Israeli military said it found rifles, ammunition, and explosives at the Gaza City hospital, as well as computers and equipment containing "information and footage pertaining to the hostages" taken in Hamas's shock October 7 attack on Israel.

The body of a woman taken captive in the attack was also found close to the hospital, the Israeli army said.

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"Yehudit [Weiss] was murdered by the terrorists in the Gaza Strip and we didn't manage to reach her in time," army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

Soldiers were meanwhile proceeding with their search of the hospital "one building at a time, searching each floor," an Israeli army official said.

Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesman for the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, told AFP Israeli troops
"destroyed the radiology service, and bombed the burns and dialysis departments" in their raid."

"Thousands of women, children, sick and wounded are in danger of death," he said.

Before Israel first sent troops into the hospital complex, UN agencies estimated that 2,300 patients, staff, and displaced civilians were sheltering at Al-Shifa without enough food, water and fuel for generators.