Soldiers killed several Hamas senior officials in face-to-face combat at Gaza's Shifa Hospital on Saturday, the IDF said.
Forces from the elite Shayetet 13, Duvdevan, and Nahal Brigade Reconnaissance units conducted a targeted raid where intelligence officials determined the terrorists were located. At the targeted location, armed terrorists came out of the emergency room to fire on the soldiers.
Several terrorists were eliminated in the raid, including senior Hamas leader Ra’ad Thabat, as well as Mahmoud Khalil Ziqzouq, who was the deputy head of the rocket unit in Gaza City.
In addition, terrorists Fadi Dewik and Zakariya Najeeb were eliminated in an encounter in the maternity ward. Dewik, who carried out a shooting attack in the Adora settlement in 2002 in which four people were murdered, was released in the Gilad Schalit deal of 2011.
Najeeb was a senior operative in Hamas’s West Bank headquarters and was responsible for linking the West Bank and Gaza Strip in directing terror attacks. He, too, was released in the Schalit deal.
The terrorists eliminated
Forces from the army’s 401st Brigade and Shayetet 13, under the 162nd Division’s command, have been continuing to operate in the area of the hospital to fight Hamas terrorists using the medical facility.
They have reportedly been operating under intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), which revealed the presence of the senior Hamas members in the hospital.
Israeli forces also located many weapons, including sniper weapons, Kalashnikov rifles, cartridges, and grenades.
In the last few days, Israeli forces have encountered terrorists outside the hospital building, who were thwarted by troops from the Shaked Battalion.
The IDF and Shin Bet said they are operating in the area while preventing harm to civilians, patients, medical teams, and medical equipment.