Israel army says ends raid against 'Hamas centre' in north Gaza hospital / Photo: Omar AL-QATTAA - AFP
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Israel army says ends raid against 'Hamas centre' in north Gaza hospital
Israel's military said on Saturday it had ended its raid on "a Hamas command centre" in a north Gaza hospital and detained its director as a suspected Hamas operative.
Since October 6, Israeli operations in the Palestinian territory have concentrated on the north, where they are carrying out a land and air offensive they say aims to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping.
As part of its offensive, the military launched a raid early Friday on northern Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, which had been one of the area's two remaining functional medical facilities.
"The IDF (military) and ISA (security agency) completed a targeted operation against a Hamas command centre in the Kamal Adwan Hospital... the forces apprehended over 240 terrorists in the area," the military said in a statement.
It added that the hospital's director, Hossam Abu Safiyeh, suspected of "being a Hamas terrorist operative", had been detained for questioning.
The military said the hospital was being used by "terrorists... for military operations in Jabalia".
Hamas dismissed as "lies" Israeli allegations that its operatives were at the hospital.
"At the beginning of the targeted operation, the 401st Brigade encircled the Kamal Adwan Hospital and apprehended terrorists who were hiding in the area and eliminated additional terrorists," the military said.
Israeli special forces then conducted "precise activities" inside the hospital and located and confiscated weapons including grenades, guns, munitions and military equipment, it said.
During the raid, next to the hospital, "terrorists fired anti-tank missiles and RPGs (rocket-propelled-grenades) at the troops and attempted to carry out additional attacks against the troops", it said, adding that troops "eliminated" the assailants.
- 'Over 240 terrorists detained' -
Later on Saturday in an online media briefing, Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said there were a "lot of explosives" around the hospital.
"The amount of terrorists is what we were expecting. We weren't expecting to find a weapon storage with thousands of guns," he said.
"That's not the type of target this was. This was a command and control centre that we understood was for many dozens of terrorists or a few hundreds."
The military said that during the operation, "over 240 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists and other operatives suspected of terror activities were apprehended, some of whom attempted to pose as patients or flee using ambulances".
Apart from detaining Abu Safiyeh, who is being questioned in Gaza, the military said it also detained "Hamas engineering and anti-tank missile operatives and approximately 15 terrorists who infiltrated Israel during the October 7th massacre".
"Either they admitted or we were able to cross-reference with other intelligence we have," Shoshani said, referring to those arrested.
"When I talk about the hospital director, he is a suspect," Shoshani added.
Before launching the raid, the military said it helped to evacuate 350 patients, caregivers and medical staff from the hospital.
It said that during the operation, an additional 95 patients, caregivers, and medical personnel were evacuated to the Indonesian Hospital in coordination with local health officials.
"Kamal Adwan is now empty," the World Health Organization said, adding it was "appalled" by the raid, the latest against a hospital during the war.
P.Connor--NG
