Smoke rises in Gaza during the Israeli bombing of the Strip on November 2. Jacques Guez/AFP/Getty Images

Israeli airstrikes hit near Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, where doctors say thousands of displaced people are taking shelter, the director of the main medical center told CNN on Thursday.

Dr. Bashar Murad said in a phone call that the strikes that began on Wednesday night continued until Thursday morning and “were approaching the hospital.”

He added, “The very intense air strikes in the vicinity of the hospital since last night intensified this morning and approached the hospital, where 14,000 displaced people are present.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement around 10 p.m. local time on Wednesday that intense airstrikes were targeted near the hospital “for two hours.”

The hospital, the second largest in the main urban center of Gaza City in the northern part of the Strip, was already the target of Israeli air strikes.

In a statement to CNN, the Israeli military said that due to the “escalation of hostilities” against Hamas in Gaza City and northern Gaza, the Israeli military continues to urge civilians to evacuate the south.

The evacuation zones and warning warnings imposed by the Israeli army did not guarantee the safety of civilians in the densely populated Gaza Strip, as The Palestinians have no safe place Escaping from Israeli bombs.