The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has arrested 240 terror suspects at a hospital in Gaza, including the hospital director, after evacuating patients, in an operation that anti-Israel media had inflamed into a supposed attack on the facility.
Israel published photos and videos of the raid, which recovered guns, grenades, and ammunition, among other materials kept at the hospital, including terrorist personnel.
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) condemned the Israeli raid on the hospital, echoing the sensational media coverage in the Arab world and in Europe. It said the transfer of patients from the hospital posed a risk to them. In its statement, however, it said not one word about Hamas and other terrorists using hospitals as bases or weapons storage facilities, a stark violation of international law that places hundreds of lives in danger.
The IDF and Israel Security Agency (or Shin Best, or Shabak) said in a statement:
Despite repeated calls to refrain from allowing terrorists to exploit hospitals for military activities, IDF and ISA intelligence identified that terrorists were once again using the Kamal Adwan Hospital as a command center for its military operations in Jabaliya. Following this intelligence, the IDF conducted and completed a targeted operation against the Hamas terror stronghold inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Prior to the beginning of the targeted operation, 350 patients, as well as caregivers and medical personnel, were evacuated from the Kamal Adwan Hospital in coordination with COGAT in recent weeks. Tens of thousands of liters of fuel, food, and medical supplies for the essential functioning of the hospital were also delivered to the Kamal Adwan Hospital over this period.
During the course of the targeted operation, an additional 95 patients, caregivers, and medical personnel were evacuated to the Indonesian Hospital in coordination with local officials in the health authorities. 5,000 liters of fuel, two generators, and medical equipment were delivered to the Indonesian Hospital in order to maintain and operate essential systems in the hospital. Additionally, hundreds of civilians were able to move away from the area for their own safety via defined evacuation routes.
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. Shayetet 13 special forces conducted precise activities inside the hospital and located and confiscated weapons in the area, including grenades, guns, munitions, and military equipment.
During IDF operations next to the hospital, terrorists fired anti-tank missiles and RPGs at the troops and attempted to carry out additional attacks against the troops. The troops swiftly eliminated the terrorists. In addition, the IAF conducted strikes that eliminated terrorists attempting to flee the area. There were no IDF casualties.
During the operation in the area, 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.
Among the suspects taken for questioning was the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, who is suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative, as well as Hamas engineering and anti-tank missile operatives, and approximately 15 terrorists who infiltrated Israel during the October 7th Massacre.
During initial questioning in the field by Unit 504 and the ISA, many of the terrorists who exited from the hospital testified that they took part in terrorist activities in the area.
The IDF will continue to act in accordance with international law regarding medical facilities, including those where Hamas has chosen to embed its military infrastructure and conduct terrorist activities in blatant violation of international law.
In March, in a similar operation, Israel arrested nearly 500 terrorists and killed nearly 200 more at Gaza’s Shifa hospital — again without any civilian casualties.
Last week, there was also an outcry over five supposed journalists, all working for a pro-terror news outlet, who were killed in an airstrike near the hospital. Israel said that all five of them were terrorists affiliated with Islamic Jihad.
Palestinian journalists for networks such as Al Jazeera have frequently been found to be doing “double duty” as terror operatives, some in senior command positions. Israel recently reported on six such cases at Al Jazeera alone.
Update: The IDF announced Sunday that 15 of those arrested at the hospital had participated in the October 7 attack. Separately, the IDF announced that it had killed 14 Hamas terrorists, six of whom were involved on October 7.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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