The IDF said on Thursday that its 162nd Division has been operating in recent days at the main Hamas military headquarters in the heart of Gaza City, near Shifa Hospital.

IDF combat soldiers, tank forces, and special forces raided the area, which is the center of Hamas’s intelligence and operational activities and was used, among other things, to plan and prepare for the murderous October 7th assault of Israel.

Over the past several days, IDF soldiers fought intense battles in the area, eliminating over 50 terrorists and locating and destroying a number of significant tunnel shafts, anti-tank missile launching sites, and weapons production sites.

The military quarter consists of strategic terrorist sites for Hamas, including its central intelligence and air defense headquarters as well as Hamas offices including its political bureau offices and police station. In addition, the area houses the largest training facilities in the Gaza Strip for fighting in urban areas, military outposts, warehouses, and various munitions factories (rockets, anti-tank missiles, UAVs and payloads) along with commanders’ offices, underground infrastructure, and command rooms from which Hamas commanders lead battles and direct fire.

“All the terrorist infrastructures mentioned above are located in the heart of a civilian population,” the IDF stated. ” This is further proof of the terrorist organization’s cynical use of the residents of the Gaza Strip as a human shield for its murderous terrorist activity.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)