Israel: Soldiers apparently find hostage body near Shifa clinic

Almost six weeks after the Islamist Hamas attack on Israel, soldiers have recovered the body of a hostage near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip. The dead woman was discovered in an annex to the hospital, brought to Israel and identified, Israel’s military said on Thursday. The woman was kidnapped from the border town of Beeri on October 7th during the Hamas massacre in Israel. Weapons such as submachine guns and rocket-propelled grenades were also found in the building.

During their operation in the largest clinic on the coastal strip, the Israeli armed forces said they also found command and control centers. A military representative left it unclear what this actually meant. Weapons, computers and military equipment were also found there. It remained unclear whether one of the centers discovered was also the command center of the Palestinian Islamist organization, which the army suspected to be under the hospital. Hamas denies the existence of such a base beneath the clinic.

Fighters from the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas from the Gaza Strip attacked Israel on October 7th and brutally killed around 1,200 people. At the same time, around 240 people were kidnapped as hostages. Israel then began airstrikes and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip at the end of October. According to Palestinian information, more than 11,000 people were killed. According to the UN, the supply situation is catastrophic. Israel is under international pressure for its conduct of the war – especially since the attack on the Shifa clinic.

Netanyahu: We are failing to minimize the number of civilian casualties

The Israeli leader acknowledged that the armed forces are not always successful in their attempt to avoid civilian casualties. The military is trying to end the military operation in the Gaza Strip with a minimum of civilian casualties, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with the US television channel CBS. “We’re trying to do that, but unfortunately we’re not succeeding. Every death of a civilian is a tragedy. We’re trying to do everything in our power to get civilians out of harm’s way, while Hamas is doing everything it can to keep them there.”