The Israeli military announced Monday it apprehended about 100 Hamas terrorists whom it said had been hiding in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces withdrew from the hospital Monday after a three-day raid. There were no major gun battles inside the hospital complex once Israeli forces entered Friday, according to the New York Times. The Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement Monday that Israeli forces had “detained or expelled all the medical staff” at the hospital.
“The soldiers apprehended approximately 100 terrorists from the compound, including terrorists who attempted to escape during the evacuation of civilians. Inside the hospital, they found weapons, terror funds, and intelligence documents,” the military said.
The IDF released footage of an interrogation of one person it detained, who revealed that Hamas had been using ambulances at the hospital to move operatives around, and it was present in various parts of the facilities.
Israeli forces’ siege at the hospital is a part of their larger operations in northern Gaza, which have further devastated the decreased population in the area due to repeated demands to flee south over the course of the war. Israeli forces have also operated in several Gaza hospitals, often to the detriment of civilians in desperate need of care and shelter due to Hamas’s proximity in, around, and underneath hospitals.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried the worsening humanitarian conditions in the area over the weekend.
“The Secretary-General is shocked by the harrowing levels of death, injury, and destruction in the north, with civilians trapped under rubble, the sick and wounded going without life-saving healthcare, and families lacking food and shelter, amid reports of families being separated and many people detained,” said Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
“The Secretary-General warns that the widespread devastation and deprivation resulting from Israel’s military operations in North Gaza, especially around Jabalya, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun, are making the conditions of life untenable for the Palestinian population there. This conflict continues to be waged with little regard for the requirements of international humanitarian law,” Dujarric added.
While Dujarric said Guterres reiterated his call for an “immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and accountability for crimes under international law,” his statement did not mention Hamas, the U.S.-designated terrorist group holding roughly 100 hostages, who have been detained for more than a year.
Israeli forces have degraded Hamas’s senior leaders, ranks, and military arsenal. U.S. officials have declared that Hamas is no longer able to carry out an attack such as the one that prompted the war on Oct. 7, but there are still pockets of Hamas fighters and weapons caches it can use to its advantage.
Hamas fighters are able to carry out guerrilla warfare attacks where they use the element of surprise to catch Israeli soldiers off guard. Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to areas of northern Gaza to prevent Hamas terrorists from reconstituting. Israeli troops previously raided this hospital last December.
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Israeli officials have indicated their willingness to work toward a ceasefire and hostage deal following the killing of Hamas leader and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar. Sinwar had been an ardent opponent to a deal, so his successor could be more willing to end the conflict and release the hostages, or this leader could maintain his hardened stance.
The terrorist group has not publicly indicated a change in its stance despite Sinwar’s death.