Israeli forces kill a senior Hamas official and 20 other militants in Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital

This is what the Israeli army said 20 terrorists Palestinians died on Monday and dozens were detained during a hospital raid Al Shifa Targeting “senior Hamas militants” from Gaza City.

Among those killed was Hamas’s head of internal security, Faiq Mabouch, who was responsible, among other things, for coordinating the Islamic group’s activities in the Gaza Strip.

Soldiers arrived with tanks and airstrikes hit the area around the largest medical center in the Hamas-ruled area, a complex filled with patients and displaced people.

“So far, 20 terrorists have been killed in Al-Shifa Hospital in various clashes, and dozens of suspects detained are currently being interrogated,” the army said in a statement.

The latest military operation around the hospital, which was attacked by Israeli troops before sparking international outrage in November, has alarmed the World Health Organization.

“We are extremely concerned about the situation at al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza,” the WHO chief wrote.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, On X, formerly on Twitter. “Hospitals should never become a battlefield.”

a journalist from the agency AFP He witnessed air strikes on buildings around the hospital and claimed to have seen “hundreds of people, mostly children, women and the elderly, fleeing their homes.”

Israel has repeatedly said that The complex contained an underground Hamas control baseThis claim was denied by the terrorists.

Tedros said Al-Shifa had “recently restored minimal health services.”

According to the United Nations, most of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functioning.

The Israeli military reported gunfire in the al-Shifa compound, including the death of Mabouh. “There were several weapons in the room next to where he was killed,” the soldier said.

Faiq is the brother of Al-Mabhouh Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, One of the founders of Hamas’s armed wing, according to family members.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was Murdered in Dubai in 2010, The attack, which UAE investigators suspected was the work of the Israeli spy agency Mossad.

Israel said the al-Shifa operation was “based on intelligence indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas militants.”

On Monday, the army released a video it said contained weapons and money seized at the hospital that had been used by Hamas and another armed group. Islamic Jihad.

In January, the Israeli military said it had completed “eliminating” the Hamas command structure in the northern Gaza Strip, where al-Shifa is based.

The army has carried out operations at other hospitals in Gaza since the war broke out on October 7, when militants arrived from Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza.

According to one tally, the unprecedented attack caused about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians. AFP Based on official Israeli data.

Some were also taken away by Gaza militants 250 mortgage, Israel believes 130 of these remain in Gaza, with 33 presumed dead.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel has launched a sustained bombing campaign and ground offensive, resulting in at least a few casualties. 31,726 people, Most of them are women and children.

(With information from AFP)