Al-Shifa hospital has become a focal point of the Israel-Gaza war in the last few days. On Wednesday morning, Israeli tanks and troops entered the complex. Israel has claimed Hamas has a command centre under the hospital in a network of tunnels. Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organisation by many Western governments, including the US, has denied this. The BBC’s bureau chief in Jerusalem, Jo Floto, describes the hospital and its importance.

This war is also, in a lesser way, playing out online. Two BBC journalists; Shaina Oppenheimer and Hesham Shawish, who monitor social media across the Middle East, describe the different kinds of posts people in Israel and in Arab nations might be seeing in their feeds.

And we discuss what tools social media companies use to try to combat controversial content on their platforms, with BBC global disinformation reporter Jack Goodman.

Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Maria Clara Montoya, Alex Rhodes and Julia Ross-Roy Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

Gaza: Why is Al-Shifa hospital so important to both sides? 14:56 Share

What in the World

Shownotes Transcript

Gaza: Why is Al-Shifa hospital so important to both sides?