The body of a hostage captured by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas last month was found near Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip during Israeli army operations in the hospital ward, Tel Aviv’s armed forces revealed Thursday .
“The body of Yehudit Weiss, kidnapped by the terrorist organization Hamas, was removed by IDF forces [Forças de Defesa de Israel] of a structure adjacent to the Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, and transferred to Israeli territory,” said a statement from the armed forces, which stressed that inAt the place where the hostage was located, military equipment was also discovered, including Kalashnikov machine guns and [lança-granadas] RPG”.
Following the identification process, the 65-year-old hostage’s family was informed of her death.
Live update: Hamas terrorists killed hostage Yehudit Weiss in Gaza, IDF says https://t.co/BPWYoqByRe. Click to read ⬇️
– TOI ALERTS (@TOIAlerts) November 16, 2023
According to the IDF, the woman was kidnapped from her home in the Beeri Kibbutz on October 0, during a bloody operation orchestrated by Hamas in southern Israel that left about 1,400 people dead and more than 200 kidnapped.
In the statement, the IDF stressed that they are “operating together and in full coordination with the relevant national and security institutions” to continue the task of finding the hostages and that they will not end this mission “until it is completed.”
Earlier, the IDF said images related to hostages had been found on computers seized from Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
The images were found on equipment “belonging to Hamas,” an IDF official said in a statement, adding that the operation was underway today for the second day in a row in the largest hospital ward in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of patients, personnel and civilians remain protected from the war in the enclave.
Al Shifa is presented by Israel as a strategic and military center for Hamas, a claim rejected by the Islamist movement, which has been in power in the area since 2007.
Also today, Israeli authorities announced that the western part of Gaza City has been cleared and will move on to the next phase of the offensive.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant indicated that the IDF is now moving to the “next phase” of its ground operation in the Gaza Strip, more than a month after the start of the military intervention in the area.
Gallant said the military had made “important discoveries” regarding Hamas activities at Al Shifa Hospital, although he did not provide details on what materials soldiers had found at the health facility.
On October 7, fighters from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel – carried out an unprecedented attack on Israelis. since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, which has left 1,200 dead, mostly civilians, around 5,000 injured and more than 200 hostages.
In retaliation, Israel declared a war to “eradicate” Hamas, which began with cuts to food, water, electricity and fuel supplies in the Gaza Strip and daily bombing, followed by a ground offensive around Gaza City.
The war between Israel and Hamas, which entered its 41st day today and continues to threaten to spread across the Middle East, has so far resulted in 11,500 deaths in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians, 29,800 injured and 3,250 missing under the rubble. and more than 1.6 million people have been displaced, according to the latest report from local authorities.
Source: DN
