Israeli commandos raid biggest hospital in south Gaza in hunt for kidnapped Hamas hostages… or their bodies

ISRAELI soldiers stormed Gaza’s biggest hospital today amid reports that the bodies of murdered Hamas hostages are being kept there.

IDF Commanders said they had “credible evidence” that the dead civilians were being held at the besieged hospital in Khan Younis.

Site of an Israeli strike in Gaza on February 12

Patients and staff were urged to flee through safe exit routes set up as special forces teams began searching the building.

The morgue was understood to have been scoured in the search for October 7 believed to have been taken to the medical complex in the heart of the occupied southern city.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari the military was conducting a “precise and limited” operation inside the hospital.

He added; “Since the Hamas massacre of October 7th, the IDF has been operating to fulfill its mission of dismantling Hamas and bringing our hostages home.

“Sadly, we know that some hostages are no longer alive. We are committed to finding and returning the bodies of those hostages in Gaza,” he says.

The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 31 hostages held by the terror group, including the bodies of two soldiers held since 2014.

Hagari added: “We conduct precise rescue operations – as we have in the past – where our intelligence indicates that the bodies of hostages may be held.

“As was proven with the Shifa Hospital, Rantisi Hospital, Al Amal Hospital, and many other hospitals across Gaza, Hamas systematically uses hospitals as terror hubs.”

Israeli Defence Force intelligence assessments have concluded more than 85% of “major medical facilities” in Gaza have been used by Hamas for terror activity.

IDF commandos were also reported to have detained several terror suspects as their operation got under way.

Hagari said: “Because Hamas terrorists are likely hiding behind injured civilians inside Nasser Hospital right now and appear to have used the hospital to hide our hostages there too.

“This sensitive operation was prepared with precision and is being conducted by IDF special forces who underwent specified training.

“A key objective as defined by our military mission is to ensure that Nasser Hospital continues its important function of treating Gazan patients.
“We communicated this in a number of conversations we had with the hospital staff over the last few days.

“We emphasized that there is no obligation for patients or staff to evacuate the hospital.

However, we have been urging other Gazans, in Arabic, on the phone and via loudspeakers, to move away from the danger that Hamas puts them in – via a humanitarian corridor we opened for this purpose.

Hagari said its search came after the IDF shipped in medical supplies, oxygen tanks and fuel for electricity to the hospital.

He added: “We seek no harm to innocent civilians. We seek to find our hostages and bring them home. We seek to hunt down Hamas terrorists wherever they may be hiding.”