Israeli Forces Continue Operating in Khan Yunis Hospital After Finding Weapons

Jerusalem, 18 February, 2024 (TPS) -- Israeli special forces in Khan Yunis are continuing to operate in the Nasser Hospital and areas adjacent to it after finding additional weapons, the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday morning.

Forces from the elite Maglan and Egoz units entered the medical center on Thursday based on intelligence that hostages were held there and that the bodies of some captives could still be there.

Israeli media reports said soldiers found boxes of medicine with the names of several hostages inside the hospital. Weapons were found inside the hospital compound and more than 100 people suspected of terror activity have been arrested.

Elsewhere in Khan Yunis, troops located weapons and killed approximately 20 terrorists by tank fire over the past day and 15 more in air strikes.

Israeli aircraft destroyed a Hamas weapons storage facility while ground forces also conducted targeted raids on Hamas military compounds, seizing large amounts of weapons, including explosive devices and RPG missiles.

Khan Yunis is Gaza’s second-largest city and is regarded as a personal stronghold of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

In central Gaza, Israeli forces troops killed over ten terrorists over the past day. During one of the activities, ground forces identified a terror cell loading weapons onto a cart and advancing toward IDF troops in the area. The terror squad was eliminated in an airstrike coordinated with the soldiers.

Hamas Uses 85% of Gaza Hospitals for Terror

IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Thursday that 85% of Gaza’s hospitals have been used by Hamas for terror.

“As was proven with the Shifa Hospital; Rantisi Hospital; Al Amal Hospital; and many other hospitals across Gaza, Hamas systematically uses hospitals as terror hubs. According to intelligence assessments and information we gathered on the ground, over 85% of major medical facilities in Gaza have been used by Hamas for terror operations,” Hagari said.

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 made extensive use of the Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical center. Hamas launched rockets from its compound, hid hostages in the bowels of the building, tortured collaborators, and dug 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 the compound.

And in Jenin, Israeli soldiers disguised as doctors and nurses killed three terrorists hiding inside the Ibn Sina Hospital and planning an imminent terror attack.

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.