IDF says 650 terror operatives captured at Shifa, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders

The IDF and Shin Bet security agency say troops have captured some 650 terror operatives during the ongoing operation at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, including several senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders.

The Islamic Jihad operatives holed up at the medical center surrendered to troops, the IDF says.

Among them were Hussam Salameh, the commander of PIJ’s observation and intelligence unit in Gaza City, and his brother, Wissam Salameh, head of the terror group’s propaganda unit in Gaza City, according to the IDF.

Also captured at Shifa are three senior officers in Hamas’s so-called West Bank headquarters, which is tasked with advancing attacks against Israel from the West Bank, the IDF says.

They are named by the Shin Bet as Amr Asida, the head of the Nablus unit; Mahmoud Qawasmeh, one of the planners of the 2014 kidnapping and murder attack of three Israeli teens; and Hamdallah Hassan Ali, who was also involved in directing recent attacks in the West Bank.

The detained terror operatives are taken to Israel for further interrogation by the Shin Bet.

According to the IDF, troops have so far killed more than 140 gunmen in the raid, which began early Monday and is being carried out by the 401st Armored Brigade, Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit,and other forces.

During scans of the hospital, the IDF says soldiers seized weapons and intelligence documents “which contribute to the continuation of the fighting.”

The fighting at Shifa is still ongoing and is expected to last several more days until all the terror operatives in the area are captured or killed, according to military officials.