Among those who surrendered are terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacres.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Six hundred terrorists have surrendered and been captured so far in Jabalia after the IDF cut off the northern Gazan region several weeks ago where the so-called refugee camp is located.
Some 120 were taken in a raid over the weekend of the local hospital that Hamas was using as a primary command-and-control center.
About 20 terrorists were killed and 60 captured in the IDF foray into the Kamal Adwan Hospital. Another 60 were found hiding among the patients, along with cash, documents and weaponry that had been stashed throughout the medical complex.
The IDF publicized clips from an interrogation of a paramedic from the hospital, who said that Hamas fighters were everywhere in what was legally a protected space for civilians.
“Hamas military operatives are present. They are in the courtyards, at the gates of the buildings, in the offices,” he said.
“They operate ambulances to transport their wounded military operatives and to transport them for their missions,” he continued. “This is instead of using the ambulances for the benefit of civilians.”
Some of those seized had been among the forces that invaded Israel last October in the surprise attack in which mainly Hamas terrorists massacred 1,200 people, the vast majority of them civilians.
“The surprise for Hamas was complete,” the IDF said regarding the operation. “We trapped hundreds of terrorists inside the camp, including senior operatives.”
Prior to the raid, as the hospital was also acting as a treatment center, the IDF had allowed it to continue its emergency care of civilians and helped supply the emergency systems as well.
Three IDF brigades, including armored brigades, had essentially cut off the northern Gaza Strip in recent weeks after finding out that those Hamas operatives who remained in the area were regrouping, for the most part in Jabalia .
The army ordered residents to evacuate to the south, and some 50,000 fled through humanitarian corridors the army set up. Soldiers looked for and arrested suspected Hamas fighters among the refugees.
The terrorists attempted to stop civilians from fleeing, army sources said, even shooting some people in the legs to deter their human shields from leaving.
“In the last week,” they said, “the fear barrier of Hamas was broken.” Most of the residents, they added, went no further south than Gaza City.
While one brigade has now been transferred elsewhere, two remain for mop-up operations, as there are still an estimated several hundred Hamas fighters left in the camp.
The army said that their enemy’s tactics have devolved into guerilla warfare, with the terrorists making more use of IEDs rather than fighting IDF troops head-on.
“These are not the battalions and companies we saw at the beginning of the fighting a year ago. They are on the verge of breaking. Their combat capability is significantly lower. In the first round, we didn’t see 600 terrorists surrendering,” the IDF stated.