Israeli army finds significantly fewer Hamas terrorists in Shifa hospital than expected Billion-dollar fine: UBS achieves partial success in French trial

It was considered a strategically important target in the war between the terrorist group Hamas and the State of Israel: the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. But after the Israeli army (IDF) entered the clinic on Wednesday evening, many questions remain unanswered.

According to its own statement, the IDF seized weapons at the scene, but the 200 Hamas terrorists believed to be in hospital have not yet been found. “Did 200 Hamas fighters disappear into thin air?” asks the Jerusalem Post, among others.

Apparently not quite: five Hamas terrorists were reportedly murdered outside the hospital. There has been heavy fighting for the region around the clinic for days. A doctor at the scene confirmed the heavy fighting on Wednesday. According to the Washington Post, the clinic’s doctor reported that gun battles and bombings had taken place for hours. The information could not initially be independently verified.

Army spokesman: “Shifa is a symbol”

It is unclear whether the Israeli military had hoped for more from the operation, but it is obvious. Al-Shifa Hospital is considered of particular strategic importance – and not only recently.

During the 2014 Gaza conflict, Israeli military experts had already highlighted that Hamas used the largest hospital in Gaza and hid in tunnel systems underneath. “Shifa is a symbol; no one in the Hamas leadership could have imagined that we would get there,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said again.

After the massacre on October 7, 2023, 200 Hamas terrorists were housed there, Hagari said. A doctor on site confirmed to the BBC that there were tunnel systems under the hospital, but that was the case under almost all buildings.

It is unclear where they all are now. What is clear, however, is that Hamas had time to prepare. It was foreseeable that sooner or later the Israeli army would try to reach the hospital. It could therefore be that the terrorist organization Hamas has largely eliminated its traces on site and found shelter elsewhere.

But the number of possible locations is shrinking as the Israeli army advances. It is already suspected that Hamas terrorists may have mixed with civilians to escape and are therefore now in large numbers in southern Gaza.

Because even if the Israeli army figures are correct, according to which 5,000 Hamas terrorists have been killed so far, that is still only a small part of the estimated 30,000 Hamas terrorists in total.

Israeli media such as the ‘Jerusalem Post’ therefore question the army’s strategy. Why was the hospital only accessible now? Did that buy the terrorists too much time? So far, there have been no consistent answers from the military itself. On Wednesday, the IDF simply said that “a precise and targeted operation” had been carried out.

Weapons found

Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus presented the result in a seven-minute video: a bag containing an assault rifle, ammunition, hand grenades and a uniform was found behind an MRI machine.

Other weapons were found in another closet, he explained. One piece of equipment bore the name of Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades. Much intelligence-relevant information was also found. All finds are currently being investigated.

The findings “clearly prove that Shifa was misused for military purposes, in complete contradiction of international law,” IDF spokesman Hagari said. However, no evidence has yet been found that the hostages were kidnapped by Hamas. That was exactly one of the great expectations that came with the mission.

Catastrophic situation in the hospital

What the IDF found in the hospital, however, were hundreds of patients, some of whom were in a frightening condition. Photos show soldiers bringing boxes containing baby food and medical products to the clinic. Incubators for premature babies would also have been delivered. According to the army, the soldiers were accompanied by a medical team and Arabic-speaking doctors.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were more than 2,000 people in the Shifa clinic in the north of the closed coastal strip as of Monday, including probably more than 600 patients and about 1,500 displaced people. The information is based on estimates from the local Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas. However, eyewitnesses confirmed the figures.

Used sources: