Israel tries to kill militants in Gaza: The Nuseirat attack on the Rafah hospital, which Israel attacks inside the country
The few Gaza hospitals that remain in operation have often been overwhelmed by the numbers of dead and wounded, while experiencing sporadic telecommunications blackouts. A New York Times reporter who visited Al Aqsa hospital on Thursday after the Nuseirat strike saw medics pushing through crowds of people to reach operating rooms.
He said that an official at the facility was prepared to receive ambulances and begin to register the dead and wounded as soon as he heard of a major strike. The officials try to find a marker that would help identify the person, according to Mr. Khattab.
Israeli troops continued their offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, on the Egyptian border, where the military seized much of the border area with Egypt. The Israeli military said it was carrying out “intelligence-based, targeted operations,” without providing further details.
In its full-throated defense, the military said that its forces had attacked 20 to 30 fighters using three schools as a base. The international criticism focuses on the civilian toll.
The Israeli military on Thursday said it was not aware of any civilian deaths in the strike, and later released the names of men it said had been killed, identifying them as militants with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. On Friday, the military released the names of an additional eight men it said were among the dead, identifying them as militants as well.
Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza have built tunnels to fight a guerilla war against Israeli forces rather than confronting them. Israeli troops have returned to previously embattled areas like Bureij, in an effort to crack down on what the military says is a renewed Hamas insurgency there.
The Israeli military claimed to have struck at militant groups affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad who were holed up in the complex. To back up that account, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief Israeli military spokesman, late Thursday listed the names of nine militants he said had been killed in the attack and said the Israeli authorities would soon verify the identities of more.
The Israeli military on Thursday said that Hamas still possesses capabilities above and beneath ground, describing the attacks as being carried out by small cells.
Hamas came out of a tunnel in an attempt to launch an attack inside the country on Thursday, the Israeli military said. The army said that Israeli tanks and drones attacked the terrorists and that a soldier was also killed in the battle.
ELECTRICITY: The Al Aqsa Hospital Mortuary System and the First Operation of Hostage Retrieval
Amid conflicting information over the death toll and the identities of the victims, Mr. Khattab, the Al Aqsa hospital morgue official, said the hospital had a system designed to document mass casualty events as accurately as possible, despite the severe challenges of the war.
The Israeli military’s mission to rescue four hostages was a rare operation that required weeks of planning, and was given the final go-ahead just a few minutes before it commenced on Saturday morning, according to Israeli officials.
The defense official said that Israeli intelligence first learned that the woman was being held near the market area. Three other hostages are in a separate building in the same section, according to information received later.
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