After concluding its activities in Rafah last week, the IDF's Nahal Brigade began operations against terror targets in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, following intelligence regarding the presence of terrorist infrastructure and operatives in the area, the military stated on Saturday morning.
Before the operations began, the Israeli air force and IDF artillery units reportedly struck terror targets in the area, including a terrorist meeting point.
The IDF confirmed that troops were enabling civilians to evacuate the area through designated routes - ensuring they could safely remove themselves from the combat zone.
The military added that the 4th Brigade would continue the Nahal Brigade's operations in Rafah.
IDF activity in northern Gaza
On Friday, the military reported that soldiers from the 401st Brigade, under the command of the 162nd Division, began operations in the area of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. The hospital is in Beit Lahiya, a city in northern Gaza just West of Beit Hanoun.
The Kamal Adwan Hospital has served as a Hamas stronghold in northern Gaza, the IDF claimed, noting Hamas’s presence in the institution since the onset of the war. Hamas’s hold on the hospital has previously been reported on by the IDF, which published footage in October 2024 of a staff member at the hospital confirming, "Hamas military operatives are present; they are in the courtyards, at the gates of the buildings, in the offices of Kamal Adwan Hospital. They operate ambulances to transport their wounded military operatives, and to transport them for their missions, and this is instead of using the ambulances for the benefit of civilians."
Last month, terrorists detonated an explosive device near a humanitarian convoy evacuating civilians from the hospital grounds. While no medical staff or patients aboard the convoy were wounded in the attack, the IDF reported that six children at the hospital were harmed by the explosion and the hospital building was damaged.