The IDF announced on Tuesday that during its two-day operation in the Shifa Hospital complex in northern Gaza, it killed around 50 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists and arrested around 300.
According to the IDF, among them were senior and mid-level operatives who oversee operations in the West Bank, handle public relations issues, and steer broad rocket firing strategy and operations. IDF Special Intelligence Unit 504 is interrogating many of them on the spot.
The operation started in the middle of the night between Sunday and Monday and included the killing of Hama Interior Ministry Operations Chief Faack Mabhouh. The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar newspaper reported new claims regarding his killing on Tuesday. According to the report, in the past few weeks, Mabhouh has been holding meetings with UN representatives along with local Gaza clans, which resulted in the arrival of two sets of trucks delivering goods and humanitarian aid to the Strip.
Other reports have said that Mabhouh was behind the killing of local Gazan clans who were considering cooperation with Israel and the international community to facilitate delivering humanitarian aid without Hamas’s involvement.
Al-Akhbar said that in the early stages of the operation, a large number of troops breached the western area of Shifa, accompanied by fighter jets. In parallel, there were reports that tanks had surrounded and cut off the area.
The report added that IDF soldiers broke into the residential building where Mabhouh’s family lived, blew up the entrance gate, and opened fire inside. When it became clear that he was not in the vicinity, the report said, the IDF ordered his family to leave the house and evacuate to southern Gaza.
An additional military force entered a different part of the sprawling Shifa complex, where Mabhouh himself was staying, according to the report.
Although the soldiers asked him through loudspeakers to come out, raise his hands, and turn himself in, Mabhouh opened fire, and he was subsequently killed in an exchange of fire.
During the Monday battle, 20-year-old St.-Sgt. Matan Vinogradov, from Jerusalem, was also killed.
In addition, the military announced on Tuesday that Chief Warrant Officer (res.) Sebastian Haion, 51, from Rosh Ha’ayin, was killed in a battle in northern Gaza.
It was still unclear how long the Shifa operation would last.
Israel's second Shifa operation
This is the second time the IDF has taken over Shifa. The first time was in mid-November, when it destroyed an extensive tunnel network and command center.
There have been several vacuums in northern Gaza in areas where the IDF initially cleared out Hamas forces but did not install any new authority to manage the situation.
Shifa is one of many areas where Hamas has started to reconstitute itself pending a months-long, delayed government decision about how to handle Gaza going forward.
In the center of the Gaza Strip, fighters of the Nahal Brigade continued to eliminate terrorists in the area. One of those killed, according to Palestinian reports, was Hamas Nuseirat police commander Abu Nir al-Bayumi. The IDF did not confirm this by print time.
During one of the operations, the fighters identified a terrorist shooting at them and, within minutes, killed him in conjunction with the battalion’s tank force.
Troops also operated in the Al-Qarara area in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, where, along with the IAF, they killed terrorists and destroyed terrorist infrastructure in the area.
Anti-tank missiles were launched at the IDF earlier this week from one of these terror locations, said the IDF.
Efforts to ease tensions along Israel's northern border
Meanwhile, in the North, a soldier was moderately wounded and another was lightly wounded by rocket fire near Manara on Tuesday, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
Additionally, on Tuesday afternoon, the IDF struck Hezbollah targets in Ayta Ash Sha’ab, Mays al-Jabal, Odeissah, Naqoura, and Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon. Throughout the day, Lebanon fired several rockets toward Israel, and the IDF intercepted a suspicious aerial object near the border.
The IDF also struck a Hezbollah observation post near Marwahin in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, shortly after an IDF observer from Unit 869 spotted a terrorist in the structure.
Earlier in the day, the IDF struck a Hezbollah building near Odaisseh in southern Lebanon.
At a conference held by Makor Rishon and the Tachlith Institute on Tuesday, the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, Avichai Stern, warned that Israel needs to “restore deterrence.”
“The situation we are in today is an ever-increasing erosion of our deterrence against our enemies. The State of Israel has no right to exist without its deterrence,” said Stern.
“Our power of deterrence begins with unity among ourselves and then with our army. We have no other army, and there is no reason for Israel to remain deterred as it is today. It does not make sense that the residents of Kiryat Shmona have been displaced from their homes for five months,” added Stern.
“In the South, I know what the goals are, but what are the goals and objectives in the North?
“The threat has not been removed,” he said. “In such a reality, there is no way to talk about returning, and therefore, we must restore deterrence. If there was deterrence, it would be possible to finish everything in a week.”
Stern added that a survey conducted among those evacuated from their homes found that 40% were unwilling to return. “This must be changed. The state must understand that this is, first of all, in its interest,” he said.
The Saudi Al-Arabiya news channel reported on Tuesday that the US had warned Lebanon that a full-on war with Israel would erupt unless Hezbollah responded to demands to withdraw from the border area.
According to the report, there are four main figures involved in the efforts to solve the crisis: US envoy Amos Hochstein, Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri, Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab, and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Berri and Bou Saab are serving as in-betweens for Hochstein, and Nasrallah and the parties have so far failed to reach any agreement on how to end the growing escalation.
Additionally, according to the report, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the US, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., told the commander of the Lebanese Army, Joseph Aoun, two weeks ago that the US was prepared to provide substantial support to help the Lebanese army restore control in southern Lebanon, including financial support and help deploying forces. European leaders have similarly expressed their readiness to provide further financial support to the Lebanese army.
During a meeting of the Lebanese cabinet on Tuesday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati referenced the fighting in southern Lebanon, saying, “We will continue to work towards reaching a ceasefire, halting the war of destruction and extermination, and enabling the return of the people of the south to their towns and villages, despite everything that is happening.”
“We are confident that the ceasefire being worked on in Gaza, despite the high tone of threats from Israel, will include the countries of the region and witness long-term stability,” added Mikati.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) marked its 46th anniversary on Tuesday, with UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Aroldo Lázaro renewing calls for Israel and Hezbollah to recommit to UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and work toward a diplomatic solution to the current crisis.
UNIFIL has been widely criticized for failing to prevent Hezbollah from taking over southern Lebanon before October 7, which was a core aspect of UNSC 1701.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.