The military confirmed that its forces had left the hospital after earlier describing the Shifa raid as one of the most successful operations of the nearly six-month war, saying it killed scores of Hamas and other terrorists, as well as seizing valuable intelligence.
The military also said Monday that it had lost its 600th soldier since the war began on October 7. Staff Sergeant Nadav Cohen, 20, from Haifa, was killed fighting in southern Gaza as part of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion. He was the 256th soldier to fall during the military’s ground offensive in Gaza. Most of the other soldiers were killed repelling Hamas’s assault, and 10 have been killed in clashes with Hezbollah on the northern border.
During the Shifa Hospital raid, which began March 18, the IDF said troops captured some 900 suspects of whom more than 500 were confirmed to be terror operatives, and killed more than 200 gunmen. Among those killed and detained were top commanders in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Eyewitnesses said dozens of airstrikes and shells had hit the area around the medical complex overnight Monday, with Hamas saying the Israeli strikes had provided cover for the withdrawing tanks, armored vehicles, and troops. READ MORE
