Israeli forces enter Al Shifa, claiming it holds Hamas fortress
Israeli forces swept through Al Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza. Some video was provided to USA TODAY by the IDF with faces blurred.
An Israeli army corporal being held by Hamas was killed by her captives, not by an Israeli airstrike as the militants claimed, the Israeli military says.
Hamas says the airstrike Nov. 9 killed Cpl. Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old whose body was recovered last week in Gaza. But Israel says a militant holding Marciano, captured during the Oct. 7 militant rampage through Israeli border communities, was killed and Marciano was wounded when the airstrike hit an apartment near Shifa Hospital.
“The pathology report states that Noa was injured by the strike, but not in a life-threatening way, and this is contrary to the lies published by Hamas,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, said late Sunday. “According to intelligence information, Noa was taken inside the walls of Shifa Hospital, where she was murdered by a Hamas terrorist.”
The Israeli military said it sends its “heartfelt condolences to the Marciano family” and will continue to support them while working toward the return of the more than 200 hostages believed held by militants in Gaza.
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Developments:
∎ Israel said it found a 60-yard tunnel about 30 feet under Shifa Hospital’s 20-acre complex, claiming it represents more evidence that Hamas maintained a compound under the hospital.
∎ The Israeli military said its airstrikes killed three Hamas company commanders and destroyed a weapons depot where they were hiding.
∎ The World Health Organization, which has evacuated some patients and staff from embattled Shifa Hospital in recent days, said it remains gravely concerned about the safety and health needs of more than 250 patients and 20 health workers who remain. Planning is underway to evacuate them, WHO said in a statement.
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The Israeli military released multiple videos it says shows Hamas militants “forcibly transporting hostages” inside Shifa Hospital on Oct. 7, the day Hamas militants seized them during the rampage that left more than 1,200 people dead. The military said the videos show a Nepalese civilian and a Thai civilian, who were kidnapped from Israeli territory. In one of the videos a person is being dragged along a hospital corridor; another shows a bleeding person on a gurney. Israeli vehicles stolen during the attack can also be seen inside the hospital compound, the military said.
“These findings add to previous evidence presented regarding Hamas’ use of the hospital area as infrastructure for its terrorist activities in a systematic and ongoing manner,” the military said.
Israel’s military campaign through Gaza, aimed at destroying Hamas, has killed more than 11,500 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities. Another 2,700 have been reported missing and feared dead in the rubble.
Contributing: The Associated Press
