5 soldiers killed as IDF attacks northeast of Gaza City
The IDF has allowed the evacuation of Shifa Hospital following a request by its director.
By
YONAH JEREMY BOB,
JERUSALEM POST STAFF NOVEMBER 18, 2023 19:30
Updated: NOVEMBER 19, 2023 00:42
Israeli soldiers inspect the Al Shifa hospital complex, amid their ground operation against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza City, November 15, 2023(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
The IDF announced on Saturday evening that five soldiers were killed during the fighting in the northern Gaza Strip over the weekend, and released the name of an additional soldier previously killed, as it shifted its attacks northeast of central Gaza City, to the Zeitun and Jabalya neighborhoods.
Until now, the IDF maneuvered around these areas in order to focus on Hamas’s military headquarters
under Shifa Hospital, and other strategic areas, but these two areas are still expected to hold sizable Hamas forces.
The soldiers killed were Capt. Eden Provisor, 21 of Alfei Menashe, Staff-Sgt. Shlomo Gurtovnik, 21 from Modiin, Staff-Sgt. Shachar Fridman, 21 of Jerusalem, and Maj. Jamal Abbas, 23 of Mafkiin. Staff-Sgt. Adi Malik Harb, 19, who was part of the Nahal Brigade, was from the Druze village of Beit Jann, which has the highest percentage of fallen soldiers of any community in Israel. According to Kan News, 64 soldiers from the Druze town have fallen in battle.
The IDF released the name of Master-Sgt. David (Dudi) Digmi, 43 from Rishon Lezion, a paramedic in the southern brigade of the Gaza Division, who was killed on October 7.
An IDF statement said that forces “are operating on the outskirts of Zeitun, including Sheikh Ijlin and Rimal, clearing the areas of terrorists and attacking terror infrastructure.”
Hamas weapons and equipment found in Shifa hospital. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
According to the IDF, located in that area is “the command and control center of [Hamas’s] northern Gaza brigade, and it is where one of the most significant terror positions is located,” with four Hamas battalions operating there.
The IDF said that “numerous” terrorists were killed, and significant terror infrastructure,
including underground, was destroyed.
Hamas announced the death of one of their political officials, Ahmed Bahr.
Bahr, 76, was the vice-president of the Palestinian Legislative Council, according to Arabic media, which claimed that he died on Friday from injuries incurred by an Israeli airstrike. He was also the Speaker of the Hamas parliament in Gaza.
An additional 15 people were killed on Saturday following an IDF airstrike that hit a house west of
Khan Yunis, health officials from Gaza’s Nasser Hospital said.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry raised the civilian death toll on Friday to more than 12,000 of whom 5,000 are children. The UN deems those figures credible, though they are now updated infrequently due to the difficulty of collecting information.
The IDF’s Duvdevan Unit raided Hamas infrastructures and found a large stock of weapons and military equipment inside a high school on Saturday, a military spokesperson said.
Soldiers in the unit encountered and eliminated Hamas terrorists while dismantling their infrastructure.
IDF permits Shifa Hospital evacuation
Following a request by Shifa Hospital’s director the IDF permitted its evacuation, denying reports by Al Jazeera that it had itself ordered the full evacuation of the hospital within one hour.
“At no point did the IDF ask to evacuate patients or medical teams,” the Israeli military said, stressing that the evacuation is being carried out at the hospital director’s request. “[The IDF] has further offered to cooperate with any request for a medical evacuation.”
Israeli forces responded by allowing time for those wishing to leave to do so through a secure humanitarian crossing.
The IDF also emphasized that whenever a request is made to coordinate an evacuation of patients and medical teams, they will work to facilitate it and transfer the patients to other hospitals.
Medical teams will remain in Shifa for the benefit of patients who are unwilling or unable to evacuate.
The IDF delivered to Shifa overnight more than 6,000 liters of water and 2,300 kilos of food rations – including fish, canned goods, bread, spreads and dates.
Later, the IDF eliminated a Hamas terrorist cell that directed a barrage of rocket fire at central Israel on Friday.
Reservists from the IDF’s 16th Jerusalem Brigade identified the terrorists shooting from the roof of a building and directed an IAF aircraft to eliminate them.
Finally, a residential building in Sderot was damaged after a rocket barrage targeted the Gaza border town on Saturday afternoon, the Sderot municipality spokesperson said. No injuries were reported.
