Israel Captures Key Gaza Sites, Hamas Government Overthrown, Hospital Raided (In-Depth)
By Worthy News’ George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos
GAZA CITY (Worthy News) – The troubled Gaza enclave appeared to be without a functioning government on Wednesday after Israeli forces captured several governmental sites in the territory, footage obtained by Worthy News confirmed.
Heavy battles, in which scores of Israeli soldiers died, also extended to the Al-Shifa complex, Gaza’s largest hospital. Eyewitnesses said tanks and over a hundred soldiers entered the Al-Shifa area, where Israel and the U.S. believe Hamas is running a major command center.
With fighting unfolding, U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Benjamin Netanyahu had urgent talks, in a further sign that both countries were coordinating their efforts against Hamas.
In a statement, the White House said both leaders “discussed at length ongoing efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, including many children and a number of Americans.”
The talks came after Israel’s military said troops of its 7th Armored Brigade and Golani Infantry Brigade captured Hamas governmental sites in the Gaza City neighborhoods of Sheikh Ijlin and Rimal amid heavy fighting that killed dozens of Israeli soldiers in recent days.
Among the locations captured by the troops was the Hamas parliament, where Israeli forces were proudly standing with several Israeli flags, Worthy News monitored. Similar footage emerged from the government complex and the police headquarters they captured.
Yet fierce battles were still underway in Gaza City as Hamas gunmen desperately tried to maintain control of the few streets they were still holding.
ROCKET BARRAGES
In Israel, rocket barrages fired by Hamas or their sympathizers from Gaza injured several people, including one person hospitalized in severe condition after shrapnel rained on a part of Tel Aviv after an interception, Israeli authorities said.
While Israeli forces appeared to make progress, scores have died in the ground operation. Late Tuesday, the military said that the number of Israel Defense Forces killed in the Gaza ground operation rose to 46.
Yet despite setbacks, troops captured the so-called governor’s house in Gaza, which housed Hamas offices for its military wing and police, offices of Hamas’s intelligence division, and other sites that were used to prepare for the October 7 onslaught, the army said.
And in a significant diplomatic boost for Israel, the United States confirmed reports, including from Worthy News, backing Israel’s claim that Hamas uses hospitals to hide weapons and fighters.
The Pentagon said, “We have information about tunnels and headquarters under [Al]-Shifa Hospital,” the largest hospital in Gaza. “We know that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are stockpiling weapons to fight against Israeli forces.”
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby earlier Tuesday said that U.S. intelligence indicates Hamas has a command center in Al-Shifa.
The Hamas-run health ministry has denied the allegations. Medical staff also denied Hamas fighters were based there, but it remained unclear whether they had spoken under duress.
HIDING WEAPONS
Earlier footage obtained by Worthy News suggested that Hamas fighters had been hiding along with hostages and weapons beneath Gaza’s Rantisi Hospital for Children.
Israeli troops raided the hospital on Monday, a day after the facility’s last patients were reportedly evacuated. It remained unclear whether the fighters had been killed or captured.
Radio communications obtained by Worthy News showed concerns within the Israeli military that armed men may be among people fleeing hospitals.
Despite mounting evidence Hamas has been operating near and beneath hospitals or other civilian sites, including schools, churches, and mosques, Israel had been urged by the United Nations to implement a ceasefire.
Israel, fearing that Hamas would use such breaks to rearm, said its military is carrying out an operation against Hamas in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
However, staff at the hospital said it was short of fuel and added that 200 patients had been buried there in a mass grave.
Israel suggested that Hamas has been preventing innocent Palestinians from leaving the hospital grounds and that it has repeatedly offered to help safely evacuate babies.
SAFE CORRIDORS
The IDF also said it would offer safe corridors for innocent people inside Al-Shifa, but staff says many have remained due to their injuries or safety concerns.
The IDF stressed that its operation is not intended to harm patients, medical teams, or civilians who are sheltering in the hospital.
“Ahead of the operation, we made an effort to evacuate the hospital from its patients and even opened a specific safe passage from the hospital. We notified the hospital’s management ahead of the entry into the compound,” the IDF explained.
The hospital, where thousands of injured and displaced people are reportedly sheltering, has been a focal point of the IDF as both Israel and the U.S. believe that Hamas houses one of its headquarters and tunnels under the hospital.
Hamas, condemned as a terrorist organization by both Israel and the United States, has denied it is hiding there.
On Wednesday, local time, IDF forces could still be seen surrounding the hospital compound. “The operation is based on intelligence and operational need,” the IDF said.
White House spokesperson Kirby stressed that the Biden administration does not want the facility or the civilians taking shelter there to be harmed.
“We do not support striking a hospital from the air, and we do not want to see a firefight in the hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people are simply trying to get the medical care that they deserve,” Kirby added.
‘TROOPS IN HOSPITAL’
Khader Zaanoun, an eyewitness inside Al-Shifa Hospital, said, however, that Israeli forces were entering the hospital. “I saw six tanks inside the hospital and more than a hundred commandos soldiers. They entered the main emergency department, and some of the soldiers were masked and screamed in Arabic, ‘Don’t move, don’t move.'”
Worthy News wasn’t immediately able to verify the claims, but the comments appeared to confirm that Israel’s army wasn’t randomly attacking the facility.
Yet, with clashes ongoing, thousands of people were sleeping in tents in Gaza while facing a night of torrential rain.
Israel said it began striking Gaza after experiencing the worst atrocities against Jews on October 7 when Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 200 others hostage.
The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since – of whom more than 4,500 were children. Those figures have been difficult to verify, and it remained unclear how many fighters were among them.
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