Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, March 18, 2024

Good evening,
Tonight at around 2:30 AM, IDF soldiers embarked on a focused operation in the Shifa Hospital compound.

According to precise intelligence information from the ISA and the Intelligence Directorate, Hamas terrorists, including field commanders, fled to the area of the hospital, are hiding there and turned it into a command center from which they dispatched and managed terrorist operations and managed combat. We have been tracking this compound for some time and waited for the most appropriate time to act.

Before dawn, forces from Shayetet 13 and other special units took control of the Shifa Hospital compound and certain buildings within the compound by surprise based on the precise intelligence. Armored and Infantry forces from 401st Brigade under the command of the 162nd Division encircled the hospital area with tanks and soldiers in order to prevent terrorists from escaping the area. The IAF provided aerial coverage over the entire area throughout the operation.

As our forces entered the compound, surprised terrorists barricaded themselves in several buildings in the hospital and opened fire from within the hospital towards our forces, from rooms within the building and from various parts of the compound, there were a number of encounters with terrorists in the area. Our forces returned fire, and exchanges of fire developed on site. Additionally, a combat helicopter precisely struck one of the rooms from which fire was directed at our forces, and only terrorists were killed inside the room due to this strike.

During the operation, we apprehended over two hundred terror suspects who are currently under investigation, eliminated more than twenty terrorists within the hospital area, including the terrorist Faiq Mabhouh, who served as the head of the Special Operations Directorate of Hamas' Internal Security. He was killed in an encounter with Shayetet 13 forces in the hospital area. In addition, forces from 401st Brigade eliminated more than twenty terrorists just in the area surrounding the hospital.

During the battles, IDF soldier SSGT Matan Vinogradov z"l, fell in combat. I send condolences to his family in these difficult hours. We are accompanying them and share in their grief.

During searches in the hospital, our forces found weapons and money intended for distribution to Hamas terrorists within the hospital. This money indicates a mechanism, a mechanism that the terrorists exploited, including senior field operatives, to manage a Hamas mechanism from within the hospital, to distribute money to terror operatives and from there to dispatch operations. Even while Hamas terrorists hide inside the hospital, the terrorists first and foremost took care of themselves, at the expense of the patients and civilians there.

The Hamas terrorist organization continues to systematically operate from hospitals and civilian infrastructure and exploits civilians and patients as human shields.
Hamas tried to rebuild its base in the hospital and use it as a refuge for fleeing terrorists. We will not allow this and will strike and continue to strike wherever Hamas tries to regain its control.

IDF forces continue to operate in the hospital area tonight. We still have buildings to scan and more terrorists in the area that we know about. Any terrorist trying to escape, we will harm, we call upon the terrorists to surrender, we declare through ISA personnel and soldiers of Unit 504 call upon them to surrender, dozens have already surrendered, many of whom are in field investigations of Unit 504. This unit brings intelligence in real-time during the operation through which we discover more things in the hospital and in the area.

One hundred and sixty-four days. We continue to act in all ways and with all efforts, operational, intelligence, and through negotiation teams, to bring about the important thing - returning the one hundred and thirty-four hostages to their homes.
This is our responsibility, our duty, and we do not forget it, not even for a moment.