Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
On November 16, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that its elite Shaldag unit and forces of the 36th Division were still operating in al-Shifa Hospital complex.
In a statement, the IDF said that operations in the hospital were “focused” with special forces moving from building to building and scanning each floor.
While there are still patients and staff at the hospital, the IDF said it was operating with “discretion, patience and thoroughness.” No soldiers or hospital staff have been hurt so far.
“We operate with the understanding that there is much more terror infrastructure in the area of the complex that is well hidden,” the IDF said.
Speaking to Al Jazeera TV, al-Shifa director Muhammad Abu Salmiya revealed that the IDF took away all the dead bodies and searched all the buildings.
“There were Israeli soldiers in the ER [emergency room[, and they took all the dead bodies that were lying in front of the ER. We have no idea where they took them,” Salmiya said.
Israeli troops are currently based in the radiology, birth department, burns department and at the main entrance of the ER, the director noted, adding that drones are constantly flying over the hospital.
A drone strike targets the bridge linking the specialized surgeries building to the general surgeries building, according to Salmiya. The hospital’s main water line was also bombed.
The director also revealed the presence of 650 patients in the hospital. 45 of them are kidney dialysis patients, and 36 are premature babies. One kidney dialysis patient died and four are in serious condition. Water and food are also about to run out.
“We have more than 500 medical staff and more than 5,000 refugees inside the hospital,” Salmiya added.
It’s worth noting that Israeli troops are also still operating in other parts of Gaza Strip. The IDF confirmed that the elite Shayetet 13 naval commandos backed by tanks and combat engineers have taken control of Gaza’s main docks area from Hamas.
The military said that the troops discovered some ten tunnel shafts and destroyed them, and took control of four buildings being used by Hamas to house its infrastructure.
“The forces eliminated ten terrorists and cleared all the buildings in the area of the docks,” the IDF said in a statement.
Separately, the IDF announced the death of another soldier, a company deputy commander in the 202nd Battalion of the Paratroop Brigade. His death brought the number of Israeli troops killed while fighting Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions in Gaza to 51.
The IDF is apparently preparing to further expand its ground operations in Gaza. Israeli fighter jets have reportedly dropped leaflets over the southern part of the Strip calling on the residents of the eastern neighborhoods in Khan Yunis city to leave.
this is a very good article; not taking the side of anyone and telling us what is happening. thank you!
given that the armed forces of the jewish supremacist colonial settler state are engaged in a massive atrocity in palestine in the latest stage of a century of violent land theft in palestine, there isn’t really a side to take. just an apartheid state dominated by a death cult murdering thousands of palestinian children.
what happens in ukraine…..????? dont care much of israel
they are only one terrorist in middle east isisrahell and the other one is joosa!
evil joowry smell bad because (jifa)
i need to learn a technique of the gods so i can use it to eradicate useless human beings…
tunnel rats fleeing like household pests haha
how about you? you’re toughest english skunk.
fight on keyboard warrior. no more allah snackbars for you
let see that in person, pig.
they want to erase the nation of amalek kill every women and child young and old as mitzvah 188th in the torah commands them to do. the idf happy merchants follow this to the letter. you can look it up on chabbad org and you can search yosef mizrachi on yutub were he talks about amalek and that 6.5 billion dont have a right to live according to the torah