From the Eyes of a Search and Rescue Soldier: The Terrorist Tunnels Under Shifa Hospital

During complex and precise operational activity, IDF troops exposed Hamas terrorist infrastructure inside and below the Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City. The Shifa Hospital was used as a military command center by Hamas as well as a place to hold hostages captured by the terrorist organization on October 7th.
 
“I was not afraid,” explains SSGT Ziv, recalling what she felt as she and her team from the IDF’s Search and Rescue Brigade entered Gaza. “The only moment I felt worried was when we crossed the border and entered the Strip, but that worry was quickly transformed into a sense of security, because I knew my friends were there with me.”

The activity of the S&R Brigade in Gaza:
 

When the war began, SSGT Ziv was deployed to southern Israel with the other soldiers in her team. “In emergencies, one of the Search and Rescue Brigade’s tasks is to be on standby in case of building collapse incidents, so we started off by scanning areas in the city of Ashkelon, dealt with some incidents, and were then sent to provide backup at the Zikim training base (the brigade’s training base).
 
After long weeks of being on operational standby, SSGT Ziv and her fellow soldiers were given a crucial task–to locate and expose Hamas’ underground terrorist infrastructure at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
 
"We have dedicated tools that other forces don't have," explains LTC Biani, a battalion commander in the Search and Rescue Brigade. "For example, ‘cold breaking’ is the ability to break through a floor without exploding it. That's why we were called to conduct the mission shoulder-to-shoulder with the other units."
During excavations in the basement of the hospital’s main building, a Hamas room was found. "Inside it," describes SSGT Ziv, "we discovered a tunnel shaft with rooms, a kitchenette and toilets. The soldiers that were there with us fought the Nukhba terrorists who were there and found a lot of weapons in car bombs in the area. It’s not normal to have such things under and around a hospital, a place that is supposed to be a humanitarian zone."

For almost a week, SSGT Ziv and the other soldiers in her team worked tirelessly with the goal of uncovering the underground tunnels. They developed a sort of routine alongside the ongoing fighting. "We worked in an enclosed place, so we didn't know when it was dark and when it was light out. We made sure to go up for some fresh air, and we had a fixed schedule, which we wrote down on some cardboard," she elaborates: "There were moments outside of the operational activity when we got to talk a lot as a team to handle the bad thoughts and the fears."

After five days, the terrorist tunnel was exposed, and with it came valuable intelligence information and lots of illegal weapons that were used for terrorist purposes. When the magnitude of the situation became clear, the responses were not slow to arrive. “I got a phone call from the division commander, who told me ‘the entire Israeli nation is looking at Shifa’, and I realized we did something with great significance,” LTC Biani shares. “We felt the enormity of the responsibility in every step we took, and we carried out the task in the best, most precise way."

SSGT Ziv added: "This is a very significant achievement for the entire IDF and also for us as a brigade, which for the first time receives such a mission. I am proud to take part and continue to operate for the security of the country."