Israeli soldier killed during gun battle with terrorists outside of Shifa hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.
By World Israel News Staff
Israeli forces operating in Shifa Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip Monday killed some 40 Hamas terrorists, including a senior Hamas commander, the IDF said.
The IDF raided Shifa Hospital in an operation launched at approximately 2:30 a.m. Monday, a joint venture of the IDF and the Shin Bet internal security agency.
Israeli troops surrounded the hospital, engaging Hamas terrorists in a gun battle before entering Shifa, clearing out terrorists who had reoccupied the building.
Shifa, which had served as a Hamas command and control center early on in the war, was again being used by Hamas terrorists in a bid to restore the group’s control of the northern Gaza Strip, IDF intelligence had indicated, precipitating Monday’s operation.
On Monday evening, the IDF revealed that approximately 40 Hamas terrorists were killed in the gun battles outside and in the hospital.
The slain terrorists included Faiq Mabhouh, a senior Hamas commander who had served as chief of the group’s internal security.
According to the IDF, Mabhouh was organizing terrorist activity from a hideout inside Shifa Hospital. He was killed in a gun battle with IDF soldiers who discovered his hideout inside the hospital complex. A weapons cache was located in an adjacent room.
One Israeli soldier was also killed during the operation in Shifa, bringing the total number of IDF troops killed in combat during the ground war in Gaza to 250.
The slain soldier has been identified as 20-year-old Jerusalem resident Matan Vinogradov.
The IDF updated the number of terrorists arrested during the Shifa Hospital operation from 80 to 200.
According to Chief IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Arabic interpreters accompanied the IDF troops into the hospital, communicating instructions to patients and staff and ensuring that water and food would be provided to civilians.