According to the military, the terror operatives returned to Kamal Adwan after the IDF last operated in the medical center in late October.
In all, some 600 civilians and another 95 patients, caregivers, and medical personnel were evacuated from Kamal Adwan.
Of a first group of 21 patients leaving the hospital, the military said that 13 turned out to be suspected terror operatives.
Palestinians evacuate from northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, in a video issued by the military on December 29, 2024.
The IDF said it has no plans to demolish Kamal Adwan following the raid there.
When Hamas-run health authorities and some international media reported that 50 people, including hospital staff, had been killed in a military raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday that the raid had killed 19 terror operatives and left no civilian casualties.
Army sources gave fresh information about the operation on Sunday, saying that the IDF was almost finished with its operations in the Jabalia region of northern Gaza after the raid.
Following reports that hundreds of terrorists used Kamal Adwan Hospital as a shelter from Israeli strikes, the IDF referred to the medical facility as “Hamas’s last bastion in Jabalia.”.
Following the IDF’s final operation in the medical facility in late October, the military claims that the terror operatives made their way back to Kamal Adwan.
240 of the 940 Palestinians who went through an army checkpoint outside the hospital were arrested, according to the IDF, on suspicion of belonging to terrorist organizations. About 600 civilians and 95 additional patients, caregivers, and medical staff were evacuated from Kamal Adwan in total.
The IDF claimed that at least 15 of the 240 terror operators took part in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the current conflict. The military stated that several others are regarded as important leaders in the terrorist organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The IDF also said that a number of criminals who killed soldiers in Jabalia earlier this month were apprehended.
The IDF claimed that some of the terrorists attempted to flee in ambulances and on stretchers, while others pretended to be medical personnel and patients. The military claimed that 13 of the initial group of 21 patients who were discharged from the hospital were suspected terrorists.
Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, was also taken into custody. According to the IDF, he is thought to be a Hamas agent.
The Kamal Radwan raid was one of the biggest arrest operations in Gaza since the start of the conflict, according to the IDF.
Military sources said that since early October, the IDF has been conducting operations in the Jabalia region, where it has encountered comparatively strong opposition from the remaining Hamas cells.
In an effort to clear roads so that the hospital raid could take place over the weekend, the IDF has been conducting operations in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan for the past few weeks. The IDF reported that several explosive devices in the vicinity of the hospital had been neutralized.
According to the IDF, the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) organized the evacuation of 350 patients, caregivers, and medical staff to other hospitals prior to the start of the operation.
On December 29, 2024, the military released a video showing Palestinians leaving Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. (Israeli military).
On Friday morning, the 401st Armored Brigade, according to the IDF, surrounded the hospital in an hour after approaching it from two directions. According to the military, the troops also destroyed a sizable explosive device that had been placed on a road that led to the medical facility.
Meanwhile, two Hamas cells tried to escape the hospital and were killed by drone strikes, according to the IDF.
Within an additional hour, patients and civilians taking refuge at the medical center started to leave after the IDF issued evacuation orders. They went through a military checkpoint as part of the evacuation, where people thought to be terrorists were arrested.
In the meantime, the IDF transported fuel, generators, and other medical supplies from Kamal Adwan to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, where the patients, caregivers, and medical staff were transferred.
According to the IDF, Navy Shayetet 13 commando unit members conducted “precise activities” inside the hospital after all Palestinians had left. During these activities, they found and took weapons, including grenades, handguns, ammunition, and other military supplies.
While the IDF admitted that only a small number of weapons were discovered within the hospital, it claimed that many weapons were discovered and taken from apartments near Kamal Adwan that Hamas used as combat zones, some of which were boobytrapped.
Three operators fired RPGs at an armored personnel carrier from a location close to the hospital during the operation, according to the IDF. According to the military, the attackers were killed and no Israeli forces were hurt.
The IDF said it was not aware of any civilian casualties in the operation, did not fire directly at the hospital, and did not target any medical personnel.
Due to the transfer of its personnel, patients, and equipment, including generators and vital medical supplies, to the Indonesian Hospital, which is also situated in Jabalia, Kamal Adwan Hospital is currently closed.
To make sure there were no terrorists hiding there, the IDF also conducted operations at the Indonesian Hospital prior to the evacuation, according to military sources.
After the raid, the IDF stated that it has no intention of demolishing Kamal Adwan. Troops will stay in the Kamal Adwan area, according to a military source, to “closely monitor” the hospital to make sure it doesn’t reopen as a terrorist base.
There are still operations to be conducted in Jabalia against the remaining Hamas cells, according to military sources, but overall, the IDF is almost finished with its mission there after the hospital raid.
From October 7, 2023, when about 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel from the enclave, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, Israel has been at war with Hamas in Gaza and other Iranian-backed forces that have joined the conflict.
Throughout the war, Hamas has operated from inside hospitals, and on occasion, it has concealed some of the Israeli hostages taken on October 7 inside of them. Targeting hospitals during a conflict is normally forbidden by international law, but if a hospital is used for military objectives, this protection may be revoked.
Israel has increased its air and land offensive in northern Gaza since October of this year, claiming that its objective is to stop Hamas from reorganizing there.
This report was written by Times of Israel staff.
