IDF soldiers and Shin Bet agents are continuing to thwart terrorist activity in Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital — a medical complex beneath which Israeli soldiers have previously uncovered a massive, sophisticated tunnel network and Hamas command center.
Israeli forces and intelligence agents led by the 401st Brigade are working together with elite Shayetet 13 special forces as they continued precise operations in the Shifa Hospital, IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a briefing Monday night in Tel Aviv.
During the operation, 20-year-old First Sergeant Matan Vinogradov of Jerusalem was killed in action. Baruch Dayan Emet.
At one point, a combat helicopter fired a guided precision missile to eliminate a group of terrorists who were hiding in one specific room. No civilians were injured in the strike.
More than 200 terrorists were arrested during the course of the operation and were transferred to security personnel for questioning.
Hagari said 20 terrorists, led by senior Hamas figure Faiq Mabhuoch, were eliminated within the hospital complex by the elite Shayetet 13 special forces unit; more than 20 other terrorists were eliminated by the 401st Brigade in the area surrounding the hospital.
Mabhuoch, identified by the IDF as the head of the terrorist organization’s Internal Security Operations Directorate, was also responsible for coordinating Hamas terrorist activities throughout Gaza.
“We will not allow Hamas to continue cynically using civilian infrastructure, we will pursue it and its leaders until we apprehend them,” said Captain “A”, commander of Shayetet 13.
“Alongside this, we will do everything in our power to avoid harming the civilian population and we will maintain our values, the values of the IDF, in accordance with which we operate,” Captain “A” added.
The soldiers uncovered thousands of shekels and dollars in terror funds intended for distribution to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives.
The money was found in safe during a search of the Qatari building in the Shifa Hospital compound.
Some of the money was packed in envelopes that read (in Arabic): “A gift from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Good work.” A large sum of money was also found in an envelope belonging to the (Hamas-run) Gaza Health Ministry.
Numerous weapons were also found, including some that were discovered in the office of the hospital director.
“This is further evidence of Hamas’ systematic abuse of hospitals and civilian infrastructure for its terrorist activities,” the IDF noted.
Back in November 2023, during the IDF’s first operation in Shifa Hospital, Israeli forces found a laptop that contained videos and photographs of hostages abducted from southern Israel on October 7.
During that same operation, IDF troops exposed a 55-meter-long terror tunnel built 10 meters deep beneath the Shifa Hospital complex. The tunnel shaft was uncovered in the area of the hospital underneath a shed alongside a vehicle containing numerous weapons including RPGs, explosives, and Kalashnikov rifles. After detonating the car, the shaft underneath it was exposed.
The Israel Defense Forces released extensive video evidence of the terror tunnels found under Shifa Hospital, saying it “unequivocally” proves the modus operandi of Hamas, “which systematically operates from hospitals.”
Also during the November operation, the IDF recovered the body of Cpl. Noa Marciano, who was kidnapped by Hamas, in a building adjacent to Shifa Hospital. The body of another hostage, Yehudit Weiss, was likewise found next to the hospital.
Israeli forces arrested the hospital’s director, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, on Dec. 23, 2023.
