The terrorists are also hiding behind patients to fire at the Israeli forces while the IDF brings in medical supplies and food, said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Instead of surrendering or leaving Shifa Hospital to protect patients and staff, Hamas fighters are barricading themselves among the civilians and wrecking the hospital while attempting to dislodge the Israeli forces, the IDF spokesman said Monday.
Speaking to the international press on the sixth day of the IDF mission to clear the Gaza City hospital of terrorists, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, “Hamas is destroying Shifa hospital.”
“Terrorists hiding around the hospital fired mortars at our forces, causing extensive damage to the hospital buildings,” he specified.
The organization has “hijacked” the medical center, he added, “hid[ing] behind the sick and injured” in order to “wage war from inside Shifa Hospital.”
“Hamas is firing from inside the Shifa Emergency Room and Maternity Ward and throwing explosive devices from the Shifa Burn Ward,” he said.
Hagari contrasted the terrorist actions with those of the IDF, which differentiates between combatants and noncombatants “because our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza.”
Saying that the army “operates with precision and acts with care towards the patients and medical staff inside the hospital,” he backed up his claim with numbers.
“We brought dozens of medical devices; over 10 thousand units of medications; hundreds of medical supplies; as well as food, water, and other equipment into Shifa Hospital,” he said.
In addition, when the hospital generator failed due to a Hamas attack, the IDF “helped restore electricity to the hospital,” Hagari said.
The operation, which was necessitated by the return of a massive number of terrorists to the compound months after it was cleared by the IDF, making it again a legitimate military target, has been a major coup for the IDF, the chief spokesman noted.
“The IDF apprehended hundreds of terror suspects with confirmed ties to Hamas or Islamic Jihad, making this one of the most successful operations since the start of the war,” Hagari said. “A large number of these terrorists were involved in planning and executing the brutal massacre of October 7.”
IDF officials said last week that on-site interrogations of these prisoners was yielding a “gold mine” of intelligence information that was both being used in real time to help them in the current battle and for the future.
In addition, more than 170 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters have been “neutralized” so far in and around the hospital complex, including senior commanders of both terror groups.