Security official: Shifa operation will be widened if necessary, troops know exactly what’s there

An unnamed security official says that the Israeli operation at Al-Shifa Hospital will be widened if necessary, and implied that the military knows exactly what it is going to find there.

“We are starting small, and the operation will expand as necessary,” the official tells Army Radio. “The entry of troops into Al-Shifa is more of a challenge for media [optics] than operations.”

“The decision was that we enter Al-Shifa only if we know exactly what is there and where it is, as we did at Rantisi Hospital, which was only [raided] when we knew exactly what was in its basement,” the official says.

The Israel Defense Forces has said it is carrying out a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area” of the Gaza City medical facility.

Earlier this week, the Israeli military revealed what it said was proof that the basement of Gaza City’s Rantisi Children’s Hospital was used by the Hamas terror group to hide arms and possibly hold hostages kidnapped on October 7, as Jerusalem seeks to dispel criticism of fighting near hospitals thought to hold terrorist hideouts.