Israel Facilitating Evacuation of Northern Gaza Hospitals

Jerusalem, 11 November, 2023 (TPS) -- The Israel Defense Forces is enabling the evacuation of the Rantisi and al-Nasr hospitals in northern Gaza and opened an additional route to facilitate the movement of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip southward, the IDF announced on Saturday night.

IDF troops opened and secured an evacuation route on Friday along which civilians can go on foot and in ambulances. During the IDF activity to secure the corridor, armed terrorists approached the troops, and fired RPGs toward them. IDF troops struck the terrorists.

The terrorist organization Hamas operates terrorist networks in civilian buildings while cynically exploiting them, including the Rantisi hospital.

Israeli forces advanced on Gaza’s Shifa Hospital on Saturday night, but denied firing on the hospital itself, where Hamas headquarters are located.

Lt. Col. Moshe Tetro, Head of the Defense Ministry’s Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) for Gaza said that battles are taking place near the hospital, but said that eastern side of Shifa remains open to anyone who wants to evacuate. Tetro denied that Israeli forces fired on the hospital.

According to statements made by Hamas figures, it appears the IDF is encircling a triangle area of three hospitals where Hamas maintains its headquarters, the Shifa, Al-Quds and Indonesian Hospitals.

Hamas’s main headquarters is located under the massive Shifa Hospital complex in the northern Gaza Strip.

As reported by the Tazpit Press Service, Hamas makes extensive use of Shifa Hospital. Believing that Israel will not attack a hospital during a war, Hamas leaders hide there, launch rockets from its compound, hide hostages in the bowels of the building, torture collaborators, and dig tunnels connecting Shifa to nearby sites. Israel also released a recording of a phone call confirming that Hamas also stores at least a half-million liters of fuel underneath Shifa.

Hamas has refused to allow Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza to the safer southern areas of the Strip.