IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in his briefing on Saturday night that the IDF continues to operate in the tunnel shaft which was discovered at Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
“IDF forces continue to fight and deepen their gains in the northern Gaza Strip. We are focusing on combat with Hamas battalions in these areas,” Hagari said.
“Israeli aircraft, along with reserve soldiers, killed the cell that launched rockets into Israel yesterday evening. The terrorists were killed within less than an hour, as our reservist forces on the ground identified the cell and directed aircraft to strike, killing the terrorists. This is a significant level of coordination between the air and land forces, along with precise and quality intelligence, that resulted in the targeting of terrorists that just launched a rocket to the center of Israel. This is the way we operate, all the time, in addition to our ongoing ground operation in Gaza,” he added.
“Our forces also continue to deepen the operation and uncover terrorist infrastructure, including in hospitals.”
“This morning, we responded to the request of the Shifa Hospital management and opened a secure passage south for civilians in the hospital. We also brought in food and water into the hospital complex,” the IDF Spokesperson said.
He noted that the four main objectives of the IDF as it operates at Shifa Hospital are gathering information on the hostages, locating weapons and command and control rooms, finding terrorists in the hospital complex, and making a significant effort to uncover the underground area underneath the hospital and to destroy it.
“Even at this hour, special forces are operating in the shaft that we discovered last night at the Shifa hospital. We will distribute the visual documentation from there, in the near future,” said Hagari.
“The efforts continue in other hospitals as well, in Rantisi and Al-Quds hospitals, and in other hospitals. I came back from the field, having met soldiers from various forces—armored, reservists, and special forces. I saw troops determined to accomplish these four objectives, which I mentioned, and to deliver results,” he continued.
On the northern front, he said that on Saturday, “aircraft struck a variety of Hezbollah terror targets in south Lebanon, including military compounds and terror posts. IDF fighter jets destroyed an advanced land-to-air missile system, in response to fire at a UAV used by our forces. The UAV made an emergency landing in Israeli territory. I want to emphasize that this UAV was not hit by Hezbollah fire.”
“We continue to return fire immediately every time, to sources of fire toward Israeli territory. We are maintaining high preparedness in the north,” stressed Hagari.
“In Judea and Samaria, the ISA and the IDF killed last night several terrorists in a hideaway apartment in Nablus who were planning to carry out attacks against Israel. The IDF, along with the ISA and Israel Border Police, are deployed across the entire area, both defensively and offensively. We work together, day and night, to ensure the safety of the citizens of Israel,” he said.