The Israeli military said it found weapons and infrastructure belonging to Hamas forces during a raid on al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip.
"IDF soldiers found weapons and infrastructure belonging to Hamas. We discovered concrete evidence that Hamas used al-Shifa hospital as a headquarters," a senior Israeli military official said on November 15.
The Israeli official did not say specifically what they found, but said the evidence would be released. He stressed that the raid was a precision strike. "Our forces appeared in a specific place in the very large al-Shifa hospital complex."
The official confirmed that there was no fighting inside the complex, and that medical staff and patients were in a separate area from the site searched by the Israeli army.
Israeli soldiers are said to be moving slowly and cautiously, relying on intelligence. It is unclear how long the Israeli military operation at al-Shifa hospital will last.
Israeli soldiers at al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip on November 15. Photo: Israel Defense Forces
Four gunmen were killed in clashes outside the facility as Israeli soldiers tried to force their way in, Israeli officials said. The Israeli military also questioned several people at the hospital, suspecting one of them was a Hamas member.
The Israeli military announced the start of the operation in al-Shifa early on November 15, saying the hospital was the “beating heart” of Hamas. According to Israel, the force entering also included medical staff and Arabic speakers who were specially trained for the mission, with the aim of not harming civilians, medical staff and patients.
The IDF has for years accused Hamas of having its headquarters under al-Shifa, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. Hamas denies this, saying the facility has 650 patients and 5,000-7,000 civilians trapped there.
Location of hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Graphic: CNN
Ngoc Anh (According to Reuters )
Source link
Comment (0)