IDF Chief Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari on Wednesday night presented Hamas weapons, military equipment, and intelligence technology which IDF soldiers found in more than 18 hours of searching Shifa Hospital since the early morning.
However, at press time, the IDF’s findings were not the same level “smoking gun” as the vast explosives, advanced weapons, and hostage holding room which it found at Rantisi Hospital just a few days earlier.
In addition, no senior Hamas officials were found, and other than five Hamas terrorists killed as the IDF entered the hospital, there was no dramatic gunfight on Wednesday as has occurred at other symbols of Hama’s rule.
Hagari noted that IDF intelligence indicated that after the October 7 slaughter of 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, around 200 Hamas terrorists returned to Shifa.
However, asked where they were now, Hagari was not able to provide an answer.
IDF unveils military equipment it says was used by Hamas in Shifa hospital. (Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
The IDF showed military equipment hidden behind an MRI machine, video cameras systematically covered up throughout the hospital, and large numbers of Hamas uniforms discarded, but did not find Hamas forces themselves or signs of hostages having been held there.
Hagari was asked if the IDF’s delay in taking Shifa had led to Hamas and possibly hostages being moved elsewhere, and responded, “we went at the right time for us…We evacuated many civilians,” noting that if more civilians had been at Shifa when the IDF finally went in, “this would have harmed our forces, their people,” and would have played into Hamas’s strategy since it wanted “the IDF harming patients in the hospital.”
The IDF spokesperson also promised more findings of Hamas infrastructure, saying “this will take time. It is a complex area and there are still lots of civilians around. However long it will take, there is no doubt that Hamas used it as an infrastructure of terror.”
Foreign reports noted the IDF arresting two persons, and questioning a large number of young adolescent Palestinians at gunpoint, but without any sizable number of arrests.
IDF sources said that inspecting Shifa’s underground tunnel network, where many of the key findings against Hamas regarding Rantisi Hospital were made, has still not started in earnest, and will take significant amounts of time.
But generally speaking, the dramatic battle or findings expected at Shifa has not transpired by press time.
The IDF’s entry into Shifa hospital
The IDF entered a specific area of Shifa Hospital early Wednesday morning while seeking to keep its exact goals, timing, and mission classified as the operation is still ongoing, as leaking certain details could endanger IDF forces.
The military also announced that they successfully delivered crucial medical equipment and supplies, such as incubators for babies and baby food.
In foreign media, it was reported that IDF spokespeople hinted at the possibility of finding hostages held by Hamas, similar to having found a hostage holding area under Rantisi Hospital earlier this week.
However, the military has not said anything concrete about hostages being located at Shifa; as of 9:00 a.m., its main finding was a significant stash of Hamas weaponry.
Although the IDF killed five Hamas terrorists on its way into Shifa, it has not encountered any violent resistance within the hospital itself so far. The situation is dynamic, however, as the IDF plans to search other specific areas of what is a very large hospital complex.
There are also vast underground tunnel networks under and around Shifa and it was unclear if this IDF operation would lead to penetrating those areas or if it might be more of an initial intelligence-collecting operation, much the way that there were three brief intelligence-collecting moves into Gaza in the days before the actual main invasion in late October.
No IDF soldiers have been harmed so far in the current Shifa operation.
The military would not address foreign media reports that it had entered through some kind of side wall as opposed to through a designated entrance.
Shifa Hospital’s terror infrastructure
Communications for the hospital have not been shut down by the IDF, despite some foreign reports.
The IDF identified the current operation as very precise and gradual, saying that it was unaware so far of the accuracy of a video surfacing on social media showing one woman inside the hospital wounded by some kind of shrapnel or other broken building materials.
Since 2014, the IDF has said that Shifa served as Hamas’s wartime command center and refuge for its top leaders.This is a developing story.
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