Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari November 16th, 21:00

Good evening,

IDF troops recovered the body of Yehudit Weiss, z”l who was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri to the Gaza Strip on October 7th. Yehudit’s husband, Shmulik z”l, was murdered by terrorists that same day. Yehudit’s body was identified by forces of the 7th Brigade that were conducting searches near the Shifa hospital. They located the body in one of the nearby houses. Weapons belonging to the terrorists who held her captive were found near her body. This is one example of operational activities that our forces are undertaking to rescue those who have been abducted. Unfortunately, Yehudit was murdered by terrorists from Gaza and we did not get to her in time. Yehudit will be buried in Israel. IDF representatives notified the family and we are embracing them during these difficult hours. We promise that every time we have new information regarding the hostages, the families will be updated, and afterwards the public. We will not hide information from the public, but we will inform the public only after we have completely verified the facts. IDF troops continue to fight deeper in the Gaza Strip, and the main effort is to clear the areas that our forces control. We are especially focused on what’s underground, including under the hospitals.

IDF troops discovered a tunnel shaft in the Shifa Hospital and combat engineering forces are currently unearthing the infrastructure at the site. We also located a vehicle at the hospital that Hamas prepared for the October 7th massacre. It was not used, but it still had a lot of weapons and ammunition inside it. I would like to emphasize this point - a vehicle belonging to Hamas terrorists, with many weapons inside it, was found in the Shifa hospital complex. A vehicle intended to be used in the October 7th massacre, was in a hospital.

In parallel, IDF troops continued activity in the Rantisi Hospital and this evening, we will show you pictures from inside the tunnel that was found near the hospital. I saw with my own eyes during a visit. It is a complex and complicated tunnel, like other Hamas tunnels. This is a combat zone. It includes the Rantisi Hospital, where IDF soldiers are still fighting under fire, while simultaneously uncovering Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure. In the Al-Quds Hospital, a lot of weapons and ammunition were found and the forces continue to operate in the area. This is a complicated activity that takes time. It is founded on the principle of first ensuring the safety of our forces, and only then achieving our operational objectives. We need this time to secure our forces. The troops are going from structure to structure and are searching floor by floor in order to identify terrorists and destroy their infrastructure. The Shifa Hospital, the Rantisi Hospital, the Al Quds Hospital and other hospitals - we are revealing Hamas terrorist activities both above and below ground in each of them. It is not a coincidence, this is Hamas’ method of operation. The entire world is witness and we will continue to reveal this to the world.

Hamas’ leadership is under pressure because they know what they are concealing. In the past few days, there have been media reports regarding a significant number of IDF and ISA attacks. At this stage we can say that there have been two significant attacks on two different underground sites.

A number of senior Hamas commanders were hiding in one of them, including Ahmed Randor, the head of Hamas’ northern Gaza brigade and Hyman Sian, the head of the Hamas rocket brigade. In another underground site that was attacked, senior members of Hamas’ political wing, including Raukhi Mushta, who is a very close associate of Yahya Sinwar, Asam Dalyis, head of the Hamas government in Gaza who is close to Ismael Haniyah, and Samech El Sarg, who is also a close associate to Sinwar and other senior Hamas figures in Gaza. Hamas is trying to hide the aftermath of the attack. At this hour I cannot elaborate further, but we can definitely say that the underground areas that they were in during the attacks were significantly damaged.

In the north, fighter jets attacked terror targets belonging to Hezbollah, including outposts along the border that were used by terrorists. We are continuing to strike back immediately in response to any attempt to fire from Lebanese territory.

At a checkpoint Judea and Samaria, near Jerusalem, IDF and Border Police troops killed three Hamas terrorists from Hebron who planned to carry out a large shooting attack, and strike our troops. The combat soldiers at the barrier were diligent in preventing the attack. An IDF soldier was killed as a result of the attack.

Thus far, the families of 372 fallen soldiers, who fell defending Israel, were notified. They are all heroes of Israel and thanks to them, we will win. May their memory be a blessing.