JERUSALEM — The atmosphere inside Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital was one of raw, naked fear, doctors say. As Israeli airstrikes shook the earth, crowds sought refuge in its hallways. The casualties were constant, medics hollow-eyed — some expected to die there.

Now, Israeli troops are closing in on the hospital. In recent weeks, the army has sounded a steady drumbeat of accusations that al-Shifa Hospital— Gaza’s largest medical complex — sits atop a headquarters for Hamas militants, foreshadowing potential attacks on the facility amid a rising tide of pleas for restraint.

Several projectiles have landed inside the hospital complex in recent days, sparking panic among the chaos. On Friday, at least six hospitals in Gaza City reported being under siege or close to heavy urban combat.

Fighting rages around Gaza’s hospitals as civilians flee for safety

“We expect the hospital and those inside it to be bombed at any moment,” Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa Hospital’s medical complex, said earlier Friday. “Medical teams will not leave the hospital and will not abandon the patients inside of it.”

The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 11,078 people have been killed and more than 27,490 wounded since a deadly Hamas attack inside Israel plunged the country into war. Israel’s military operation now aims at ending the group’s 16-year rule in Gaza once and for all, with an air campaign more withering and extensive than any it has ever launched, dropping thousands of explosives in just 31 days.