The IDF on Thursday released footage it says documents Hamas activity inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, a day after a rare strike on the hospital compound that, according to Srugim, killed Abu Ismail, commander of Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade.
Nasser Hospital Strike Footage
IDF Shows Hamas Use of Nasser Hospital
The IDF says Hamas commanders used the Khan Younis hospital as a guarded military headquarters and that hostages were held there during the war.
"The terrorist Abu Ismail currently serves as a central figure in managing and commanding the Khan Younis Brigade, all the more so after the elimination of the Khan Younis Brigade commander, Mohammed Yazuri, at the beginning of September," the IDF said in a statement.
"Like other hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis is used by the Hamas terror organization," the military said. According to the IDF, the hospital's second floor serves as a Hamas military headquarters. Civilians are not allowed to enter it, and it is closely guarded because it is used by the organization's commanders, including Mohammed Abu Ismail.
The IDF said dozens of hostages were held at Nasser Hospital over the course of the war, many of them from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, among them women, children, elderly people and foreign nationals.
According to the IDF, Abu Ismail was also responsible for holding many hostages in captivity during the war. They included Nimrod Cohen, Matan Zangauker, Edan Alexander, Avera Mengistu, the late Col. Asaf Hamami, Staff Sgt. Oz Daniel and the late Capt. Omer Neutra.
Other terrorists in the hospital building were also targeted in the strike. One was Mu'ard Tawfiq Mahmoud Abu Zarifa, a team leader in the engineering section of Hamas's combat and administrative support company. Another was Khaled Osama Abu Anza, head of the communications branch in the operations department of Hamas's intelligence headquarters.
The IDF said the terrorists were struck from the air to remove the threat. It said they had turned the Nasser Hospital compound into a headquarters, used it to advance dozens of terror plots against Israeli forces, and worked from it to rebuild the strength of the brigade, which suffered heavy losses during the war.
The military said precautions were taken before the strike to minimize as far as possible harm to the hospital building and to uninvolved civilians. It said the strike was precisely targeted at the room from which the brigade commander and the terrorists were conducting military activity.
The IDF added that before the strike it had repeatedly warned Hamas and demanded that it stop its military activity in the hospital, including recently. Despite the warnings, the military said, that activity did not stop.
