by Hillel Fendel, Writer & Translator for Bet El Institutions.
The ten-day IDF military operation to destroy the renewed Hamas headquarters in Shefa Hospital in northern Gaza has ended, having been declared a very successful campaign. Over 200 Hamas and other terrorists were killed, and at least 500 were arrested. The latter are being interrogated and supplying vital intelligence information regarding the hostages, Hamas leaders, and more, even as these words are being written.
Satellite photo shows that many buildings in and around the hospital have been destroyed. At the same time, many are still standing, proving that the IDF did not wantonly bomb the complex; only those structures from which terrorists attacked or used as command posts and the like were hit. In addition, thousands of civilians were safely evacuated from Shefa, and the IDF acted to bring medical equipment into the hospital during the course of the battles.
Built in 1946, Shefa was Gaza's primary hospital. It is/was located in the upscale neighborhood of A-Rimal in western Gaza City, where many top Hamas leaders resided until the current war. IDF and other sources have both already stated that Shefa will not be able to serve as a hospital in the near future.
Hamas headquarters were located, up until last week, in the basement of one of the hospital buildings, to which many tunnels led. At the beginning of the current war, some of the over 200 Israeli hostages taken captive on Oct. 7th were held there. In nearly every building of the complex were found huge amounts of weapons and arms – under patients' beds, in the ceilings, and elsewhere.
It should be noted that the use of civilian infrastructures as a military/terrorist command post, as well as the use of civilians as live shields, are clearly war crimes committed by Hamas against the population it governs.
The just-ended campaign, code-named "Local Operation," was the second time the IDF acted in Shefa Hospital, after conquering it and leaving it earlier in the war. Besheva's Assaf Mishnayot noted that while last time it took the IDF several weeks to make its way into the hospital and take it over, this time it took only a few hours - an indication of the IDF's success in dismantling Hamas' military stronghold in northern Gaza.
However, this begs the question: Does this second campaign not indicate that the first conquest was not successful or effective? Mishnayot presented this question to IDF Lt.-Col (res.) Yaron Buskila, who explained:
"Just as in Operation Defensive Shield in Judea and Samaria 20 years ago, we first acted intensively to dismantle the terrorist infrastructures and the terrorist organizations' stronghold in the area – and it then took us another five years to empty the entire region of terrorists… Of course, in the current situation, we will not be able to end this war without destroying the last Hamas brigades in Rafah [in southern Gaza, on the Egyptian border]."
But Buskila's explanation does not end there:
"This was a complex exercise that the IDF planned in advance. Israel set up a honey trap for the Hamas terrorists. We knew that they would return to some of the places they had left – and we ensured that they would return to specific places that are now easier for us to enter, and to catch them there. We knew that Shefa was a likely place for them to return to, because they would never guess, after we acted already very intensively in their most important civilian infrastructure, that we would return there. When we surprised them by returning to Shefa so quickly and quietly, they were basically trapped."
Lt.-Col. Buskila explained that this strategy was largely formulated by Brig.-Gen. Itzik Cohen, Commander of Division 162: "It brought about a situation in which we closed in on the terrorists from all directions, cutting off all escape routes both below and above ground. If we hadn't left Shefa, thus enticing them to return there, we would have had to hunt them down one by one, without the successes that we registered in this campaign."
The IDF success occurred even in the face of strong military opposition by many terrorist elements in the area, such as Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, and even ISIS, among others. These tried to attack the Israeli forces from different angles, but were repelled.
What Next?
With the conclusion of this operation, the IDF is continuing in the rest of the Gaza Strip: in western Khan Yunis [very close to the former site of Gush Katif's largest community, N'vei Dekalim] around the Am-Amal and Nasser hospitals; in Karara, north of Khan Yunis; south of the Netzarim corridor; and elsewhere. Long tunnels, even one 2.5 kilometers long, have been found and destroyed.
It now appears likely that when the western Khan Yunis operation ends, the IDF will begin to deal with the camps in central Gaza – and, of course, Rafah. The IDF apparently has plans to evacuate large amounts of refugees in these areas, and is poised to act despite the concerns of both the Egyptians and Americans. It is estimated that the Israeli hostages, as well as the surviving Hamas leaders, are located in Rafah.
The expected capture of Rafah will all but cement the victory over Hamas and the liquidation of its military leadership, as well as deal a great blow to the terrorist organization's civilian control over the Gaza Strip.