GAZA CITY: The Israeli military said 20 Palestinian militants were killed on Monday and dozens more were detained in an attack on Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City that targeted “senior Hamas terrorists”.
Soldiers moved in with tanks and airstrikes hit the area around the largest medical center in Hamas-held territory, a compound filled with patients and refugees.
“During the operation, we arrested more than 200 suspected terrorists and they are currently under investigation,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said in a televised statement.
“We eliminated more than 20 terrorists inside the hospital compound” and another 20 “in the vicinity of the hospital,” Hagari said.
Among the dead was Fayq al-Mabhouh, who Hagari said was “the head of special operations in Hamas’ internal security organization.” A Gaza police source confirmed his death and said that Mabhouh was a brigadier general in the force.
Speaking on Monday evening, Hagari said the Israeli army “continued operations inside the hospital complex this evening”.
The latest military operation around the hospital – which was previously raided by Israeli forces in November, sparking international outrage – sparked concern from the World Health Organization.
“We are very concerned about the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza,” wrote WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X, formerly Twitter.
“Hospitals should not be a battlefield.”
An AFP journalist witnessed air strikes on buildings around the hospital and reported seeing “hundreds of people, mostly children, women and the elderly, fleeing their homes”.