IDF says ‘many dozens’ of terror operatives killed in overnight north Gaza ambushes
WHO demands Israel release detained director of Beit Lahiya hospital, who IDF says is suspected of ties to Hamas, after 240 operatives arrested in raid on medical center
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that scores of terror operatives were killed overnight in ambushes led by the military’s 162nd Division in Jabalia, amid days of heavy operations in northern Gaza.
According to the IDF, troops spotted and killed “many dozens of terrorists” in Jabalia with gunfire and tank shelling.
The IDF said troops of the 401st Armored Brigade, Givati Infantry Brigade and the elite Multidomain Unit had been waiting in ambushes overnight, following intelligence on plans by operatives to flee the area.
“Many terrorist squads were eliminated in ambushes by the forces, after they were seen fleeing with weapons in their hands,” the military said, releasing footage showing armed operatives running.
צוות הקרב של חטיבה 401, גבעתי והיחידה הרב מימדית, בפיקוד אוגדה 162 פעלו הלילה במרחב ג׳באליה >> pic.twitter.com/9Skova25VH
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 30, 2024
The operation came after the IDF said Saturday that it had wrapped up an extensive raid that began early Friday at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, just outside Jabalia, in which it arrested hundreds of terror operatives.
The IDF has been operating in the Jabalia area since early October, facing relatively fierce resistance by remaining Hamas cells in the area, military sources said. The return of civilians to northern Gaza has been reportedly among the contested points in ongoing ceasefire-hostage release talks between Hamas and Israel.
The head of the World Health Organization called on Monday for the immediate release of Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan, who was being held by the IDF following its operation at the facility.
WHO also said that the IDF operation in Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahiya left northern Gaza’s last major health facility out of service and emptied of patients.
“Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X. “Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza is out of service following the raid, forced patient and staff evacuation and the detention of its director. His whereabouts are unknown. We call for his immediate release.”
The IDF said Sunday that its forces had killed 19 Palestinian terror operatives and apprehended “240 terrorists” in the raid, calling it one of the largest operations it has conducted in the territory. The military also said it had detained Abu Safiya, suspecting him of being a Hamas terrorist. When asked if he had been transferred to Israeli territory for further questioning, the military did not offer an immediate comment.
Kamal Adwan Hospital was described by the IDF as “Hamas’s last bastion in Jabalia,” after hundreds of terror operatives allegedly used the medical facility as a shelter from Israeli strikes. According to the military, the operatives returned to Kamal Adwan after the IDF last operated in the medical center in late October.
The IDF said that of 940 Palestinians who passed through an army checkpoint outside the hospital, 240 were detained for being alleged members of terror groups. In all, some 600 civilians and another 95 patients, caregivers, and medical personnel were evacuated from Kamal Adwan.
There is no way to verify the military’s claims.
The military added that some of the terror operatives posed as medical staff and patients, and some tried to leave on stretchers and in ambulances. Of a first group of 21 patients leaving the hospital, the military said that 13 turned out to be suspected terror operatives.
Tedros said the patients in critical condition at Kamal Adwan had been moved to the Indonesian Hospital, “which is itself out of function.”
“Amid ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, WHO and partners today delivered basic medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to Indonesian Hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to Al-Shifa Hospital,” he said. “We urge Israel to ensure their health care needs and rights are upheld.”
Tedros said seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remained at the “severely damaged” Indonesian Hospital, “which has no ability to provide care.”
“Al-Ahli Hospital and Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City also faced attacks today and both are damaged,” Tedros added. “We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals. People in Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid.”
Before launching the operation, the IDF said it enabled the evacuation of 350 patients, caregivers, and medical personnel to other hospitals, in an effort coordinated by the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).
