Israeli tanks reached the gates of Gaza City’s largest hospital Al Shifa on Monday as IDF soldiers raided a local children’s hospital-turned-terrorist nest where hostages are believed to have been kept.

At least 650 patients were reportedly trapped inside Al Shifa as Hamas terrorists and Israel’s army traded deadly fire around it, with Israel saying the medical facility was being used to hide Hamas’ command post in the spiderweb of tunnels below it, making it target No. 1 for the Israelis as they move to take control of northern Gaza.

But President Biden, a staunch defender of Israel’s war against Hamas, said Monday, “The hospital must be protected” — even as a US official confirmed that a terrorist command “node” is present under the hospital and has been using fuel intended to help patients. Hamas has denied harboring its key war room underneath the site.

“My hope and expectation is that there will be less intrusive action,” Biden added to reporters of the war that Israel is raging around Al Shifa — highlighting what another White House official called a “very difficult” situation navigating its ally’s resolve and the terror network’s unspeakable tactics.

The Israel Defense Forces said they also had their eye on the city’s Rantisi Hospital, which treated children before the war broke out and had to be evacuated as the IDF targeted the cowardly terrorists it said were hiding inside.

“Underneath the hospital, in the basement, we found a Hamas command and control center, suicide-bomb vests, grenades, AK-47 assault rifles, explosive devices, RPGs, and other weapons, computers, money, etc,” said IDF Rear Admr. spokesman Daniel Hagari at a press conference Monday, according to the Times of Israel. 

“We also found signs that indicate that Hamas held hostages here,” he said, adding that Israel had intelligence backing up the claim but cautioning, “This is currently under our investigation.

“Hamas hides in hospitals,” Hagari said. “Today, we will expose this to the world.”

Hamas leaders claimed Monday that all hospitals in northern Gaza have now ceased operating because of fuel shortages and the deadly battles around them.

At Gaza City’s second largest medical facility, Al Quds Hospital, “approximately 21 terrorists” were killed when they “embedded” themselves within a group of civilians at the entrance of the hospital,” the Israel Defense Force said Monday.

The IDF released accompanying video of suspected Hamas terrorists carrying a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher outside the hospital.

As for Al Shifa, “The tanks are in front of the hospital,” said Dr. Ahmed El Mokhallalati, a surgeon there. “We are under full blockade.

“Only hospital facility, hospital patients, doctors and other civilians staying in the hospital,” he claimed. “Someone should stop this.”

Biden said negotiations remain ongoing to establish a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, with Qatar acting as mediators to also help release the nearly 240 hostages in Gaza. 

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller criticized Hamas for continuing to operate in hospitals.

“We don’t want to see civilians caught in the cross-fire. We would love to see Hamas vacate the hospitals that it’s using [as a] command post immediately,” Miller said. “We would love to see all the people that are calling for Israel to take steps to protect hospitals and call for Hamas to vacate the hospitals and stop using civilians as human shields.

“We want to see the civilians who are sheltering in hospitals, the civilians who are being treated in hospitals, including babies in hospitals, to be protected. Civilians or hospitals or legitimate civilian infrastructure, they should be protected.

“At the same time, I would say Hamas continues to use hospitals as locations for its command posts,” the State Department rep said. “So this is — we talked about difficult issues. This is a very difficult issue.”

After conflict erupted outside Al Shifa over the weekend, the hospital lost power, leading to the deaths of three newborn babies and threatening the well-being of other infants in incubators, staff there said.

The World Health Organization estimated that along with the patients, between 200 to 500 healthcare workers are still in the hospital, as well as about 1,500 displaced Palestinians. 

Mokhallalati said the situation has only gotten worse Monday.

“We are hardly surviving,” he said. “We tell everyone, the hospital is no more a safe place for treating patients. We are harming patients by keeping them here.”

Corpses were being lined up at the hospital’s courtyard after the refrigerated trucks that had kept them cold ran out of fuel, the Guardian said.  

The bodies were notably covered in colorful blankets, as the typical white sheets used to wrap the bodies of the dead had all been used up at the hospital. 

Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry claimed Israel had snipers and drones around the hospital, making it impossible for medics and patients to move around the building.

“We are besieged and are inside a circle of death,” a rep for the health ministry said.

But Israel said Sunday that it agreed to create evacuation routes for patients and refugees fleeing the Al Shifa, as well as the Rantisi and Nasser hospitals.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said “100 or so” people had been evacuated from Al Shifa on Sunday, and after outcry over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, suggested he would tap former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair as “humanitarian coordinator” for the Palestinian enclave.

Blair, who has worked as a Middle East peace envoy for the United Nations between 2007 and 2015, has been vocal about stepping in to help in Gaza.

Israeli officials said offers to evacuate babies from Al Shifa’s neonatal ward and to deliver emergency fuel to the hospital have been rejected by Hamas.

Ashraf al-Qidra, a representative for the Hama health ministry, refuted at least part of Israel’s claim, saying that the 300 liters of fuel offered wouldn’t be enough to power the generators for more than an hour.

The Al Quds Hospital has also found itself inoperable and surrounded by violence.

The Palestinian Red Crescent, which runs the hospital, said a convoy sent to help patients and staff evacuate Monday was forced to turn back during Israel’s bombardments in the area and heavy gunfire between the IDF and terrorists.

Israel’s army said in a statement, “RPG fire and small arms fire were directed at the soldiers from the direction of the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City.

“The shooting was carried out by a terrorist squad that had embedded itself within a group of civilians at the entrance of the hospital.”

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that it was clear terrorists were stationed at the Gaza City medical facilities.

“You can see even from open-source reporting that Hamas does use hospitals, along with a lot of other civilian facilities, for command-and-control, for storing weapons, for housing its fighters,” Sullivan said on CNN’s State of the Union.”

“Without getting into this specific hospital or that specific claim, this is Hamas’ track record, both historically and in this conflict,” he said.

Netanyuhu touted the IDF’s advancement Monday, saying Israel will not stop until Hamas is eradicated, calling it a “war to the end.  

“This is neither an ‘operation’ nor a ’round’ but a war to the end. It is important to me that you know this. This is not lip service, but from the heart and mind. If we do not finish them, it will come back,” Netanyahu said while visiting soldiers of Israel’s Caracal Battalion.

Although Netanyahu estimated that the ground incursion could last more than a year, the end might come sooner than expected, as  Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, claimed that Hamas has “lost control” of Gaza. 

“There is no force of Hamas capable of stopping the IDF. The IDF is advancing to every point,” Gallant told the Times of Israel. 

“Terrorists are fleeing south. Civilians are looting Hamas bases. They have no confidence in the government,” he added. 

The Israeli military said Monday it killed several more top Hamas leaders, according to CNN.

Allegedly slain were Yaqoub Ashour, who Israel said was the head of the anti-tank unit in the Khan Younis brigade; Muhammad Khamis Dababesh, who previously served as head of intelligence for Hamas’ armed wing but was currently working in its political tier, and other high ranking-members of Hamas’s military wing, al-Qassam Brigades.

Additional reporting by Josh Christenson and Steven Nelson in DC and Post wires