The Israeli army offensive on Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital has led to the capture of more than 350 `Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.’
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said this in a briefing on Thursday evening.
“This is the operation with the largest aggregation of terrorists we have apprehended since the beginning of the war,’’ Hagari said.
He added that the operation at the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip continued.
“They are surrendering, we are interrogating them, and they are providing us with very valuable and important intelligence.’’
Israeli troops had entered the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Monday to take action against Palestinian militant organisation Hamas and its infrastructure.
According to Hagari, 500 suspects have been apprehended so far, “358 of which are Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.”
The spokesman said that among those captured were three senior members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation and some senior Hamas officials.
Hagari said that fighting continued in the hospital.
“There are Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who decided to barricade themselves they are currently barricading themselves in the area of the emergency room,’’ he said.
The army had previously said that two Israeli soldiers have been killed in the operation so far, adding that more than 140 militants had been eliminated in the area of the hospital.
Israeli forces had initially entered the al-Shifa hospital in mid-November and said they found a Hamas tunnel complex there.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian groups on Oct. 7 in Israel, near the border with the Gaza Strip.
Israel had come under increasing international criticism due to the high number of civilian casualties and the catastrophic conditions in the Gaza Strip. (dpa/NAN)
