The IDF and Shin Bet say that they have captured approximately 650 terror suspects, including several senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders, during an the ongoing operation at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital. The operation, which began on Monday, has resulted in the capture of at least 358 confirmed members of terror groups, according to the IDF.

Senior commanders captured during the operation include Hussam Salameh, commander of PIJ’s observation and intelligence unit in Gaza City, and his brother Wissam Salameh, head of the terror group’s propaganda unit in Gaza City. Additional senior PIJ operatives captured at Shifa include the commander of the terror group’s Shejaiya Battalion, the deputy commander of PIJ’s Northern Gaza Brigade, and a PIJ commander charged with the terror group’s tunnels in northern Gaza.

Three senior officers in Hamas’s so-called West Bank headquarters, tasked with advancing attacks against Israel from the West Bank, were also captured at Shifa. These include Amr Asida, head of the Nablus unit; Mahmoud Qawasmeh, one of the planners of the 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens; and Hamdallah Hassan Ali, who was involved in directing recent attacks in the West Bank.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi stated that the operation was “very important for pressuring Hamas, it’s very important for pressuring the negotiations.” The detained terror suspects have been taken to Israel for further interrogation by the Shin Bet.

According to the IDF, troops have killed more than 140 gunmen in the raid so far, and the operation is expected to continue for several more days until all terror operatives in the area are captured or killed. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has hailed the ongoing raid, stating that it “surprised the terrorists” and that those still holed up at the hospital “are considering their future: surrender or death.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)