IDF bombed Al-Wafa Hospital - served as Hamas headquarters

July 23, 2014   

Step up: The IDF attacked terrorist targets inside Al-Wafa Hospital in Gaza.

This morning, IDF forces bombed Al-Wafa Hospital, located in the Shuja'iyah neighborhood in Gaza.

The bombing came after days of fire from the hospital compound towards IDF forces, including anti-tank fire. Hamas terrorists also used the hospital buildings as a forward command room to concentrate fighting in the Shuja'iyah neighborhood.

In recent hours, the shooting has intensified and endangered IDF forces, so it was decided to bomb the terrorist targets in the hospital compound.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Yoav (Poly) Mordechai, delivered repeated warnings to international organizations, to the director of the Palestinian hospital directly, and to other Palestinian officials.

According to IDF sources, there were no casualties in the attack, and the hospital was evacuated in advance of staff and patients. Palestinian sources inside the Gaza Strip also confirm the report that no innocent people were indeed harmed in the attack.

Immediately after the IDF bombing, a series of secondary explosions were heard at the site, which apparently indicates that weapons were indeed stored there.

After the attack on Al Wafa Hospital, the IDF also asked Shifa Hospital to evacuate.

IDF uniforms, maps and weapons עשרה מחבלים חוסלו על ידי כוח צה"ל בדרום הרצועה, ביומו ה-16 של מבצע 'צוק איתן'. כוח של חטיבת גבעתי חשף בצהריים פיר מנהרה ברצועת עזה, בתוכה נמצאו מדי צה"ל, מפות ואמצעי לחימה. ממנהרה נוספת שנחשפה הגיחה חוליית מחבלים. בתום חילופי אש זוהתה פגיעה באחד המחבלים. במקרה אחר פתח כוח שריון באש לעבר שתי חוליות מחבלים שעסקו בהכנות לשיגור טיל נ"ט לעבר כוחותינו. במהלך הלילה כלי טיס של חיל האוויר בסיוע כוחות שריון ביצע ירי מדויק לעבר חוליית מחבלים שעסקה בהכנות לשיגור טיל נ"ט לעבר כוחותינו. זוהתה פגיעה. בלילה זוהה ירי נ"ט לעבר כוח מחטיבת גולני. אין נפגעים לכוחותינו. הכוח השיב באש ובוצעה תקיפה אווירית של מקור הירי. זוהתה פגיעה. Since the start of the fighting in the Gaza Strip, 2,239 rockets have been fired at Israeli territory. 422 were intercepted by Iron Dome, 1,730 exploded in open areas, and the remaining rockets' landing sites were not located.

Earlier today, a third civilian was killed in Operation Protective Edge: a foreign worker who was seriously injured by a mortar shell in one of the communities in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. The worker was working in a greenhouse at the time.

He was taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, where doctors were forced to pronounce him dead.