11/16/2023 10:48 pm (current 11/16/2023 10:50 pm)
Soldiers searched the hospital ©Israeli Army
The Israeli military claims to have recovered the body of a hostage in a building next to Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip. According to military sources, the woman was murdered by Hamas terrorists. The armed forces did not reach the woman in time, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Thursday night. He did not say exactly how the kidnappers killed her. The woman’s body was taken to Israel and identified there.
She was kidnapped from the Israeli border town of Beeri on October 7, during the Hamas massacre. According to Israeli media, it is now too late for her family, her daughter said. But lest the other hostages suffer a similar fate, they must now be brought home, she demanded.
In the building where the armed forces discovered the body, they also reportedly found military equipment such as Kalashnikov submachine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The army informed the family of those killed on Thursday. According to Israeli media, she is 65 years old. According to reports, her husband was found shot dead in the shelter of the couple’s home after the Hamas massacre on October 7. The two therefore have five children.
The Israeli army is currently providing emergency services at the largest clinic in the Gaza Strip. Soldiers found command centers there, a military official said. Hundreds of patients and staff are still there. As announced on Thursday night, the Israeli army discovered a Hamas tunnel on the hospital grounds. The military released a video purporting to show the well between the hospital buildings.
A booby-trapped vehicle containing a large quantity of weapons, ammunition and handcuffs was also discovered at the scene. The army suspects it was prepared for the Hamas massacre in Israel and the taking of hostages.
According to a US media report, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees “strong indications” that hostages were being held by Hamas in the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. That was one of the reasons why Israeli soldiers raided the Shifa clinic, the prime minister told US television station CBS on Thursday (local time). If they were in the hospital, they were removed.
The Israeli military also reported that a tunnel was discovered at Rantisi Hospital. Weapons and ammunition were also found at Al-Kuds Hospital. The military released photos of the discoveries. The information could not initially be independently verified.
Israel has been the target of international criticism for its operations at Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital complex in the Gaza Strip. Some states accuse the country of war crimes. Under international humanitarian law, attacks on civilian targets, such as hospitals, are prohibited. However, according to experts in international law, if civilian assets are misused for military purposes, this no longer necessarily applies.
Meanwhile, according to Defense Minister Joav Galant, Israel has taken control of the western part of Gaza city. “The next phase has begun,” Galant said Thursday, according to his office. The Minister of Defense left it open what this phase of the war in Gaza would be like. “The armed forces are acting precisely and decisively.” Soldiers have controlled the western part of Gaza City for the past 24 hours, he said.
Terrorists from the Islamic group Hamas and other groups crossed the border into Israel on October 7 in an unprecedented surprise attack and killed around 1,200 people. They murdered Israeli towns in the border region and attacked a music festival. Around 240 people were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip and held hostage there.