Israel Kills 50 Armed Hamas Terrorists in Gaza Hospital, Arrests 180 More

Jerusalem, 19 March, 2024 (TPS) -- Israeli soldiers are continuing operations against Hamas terrorists holed up in Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital compound, the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday.

Since Monday morning, Israeli forces have killed over 50 terrorists and apprehended approximately 180 more.

Among the Hamas figures killed this week inside the compound was Faiq Mabhuoh, head of the Operations Directorate of Hamas’s Internal Security. Mabhuoh was also responsible for coordinating Hamas terror activities in the Gaza Strip. Numerous weapons were located in the room adjacent to where he was eliminated.

The IDF said civilians and staff have not been harmed, nor has any medical equipment been damaged.

Israeli forces raided Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital after receiving intelligence that senior Hamas figures were inside the compound planning attacks. Hamas terrorists fired from within the medical center as forces arrived.

According to IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, 85% of Gaza’s hospitals have been used by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad for terror.

In December, Ahmed Kahlot, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, confirmed to Israeli interrogators that he and other staff were Hamas operatives.

During the interrogation, Kahlot described how Hamas used hospitals and ambulances to hide operatives, launch military activity, transport members of terror squads and even deliver a kidnapped Israeli soldier.

Other Gazans have told Israeli interrogators deeply embedded themselves in the Palestinian Red Crescent Society to use hospitals as a base for attacks.

As reported by the Tazpit Press Service, Hamas has made extensive use of the Shifa Hospital, launching rockets from its compound, hiding hostages in the bowels of the building, torturing collaborators, and digging tunnels connected 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 the compound.

At least 1,200 people were killed and 240 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the remaining 134 hostages, Israel recently declared 31 of them dead.