The Israeli military discovered a slew of weapons hidden inside inside Gaza’s largest hospital, including in bathrooms and in the maternity ward, after a gun battle with Hamas terrorists, military officials said.
Members of the Israel Defense Forces’ Nahal Brigade reconnaissance team conducted a raid in al Shifa Hospital’s MRI center on Monday as the ongoing battles resumed.
After taking out several gunmen inside the facility, Israeli troops located 81 mortars, 60 rounds of ammo, and a plethora of rifles, grenades and other Hamas equipment.
The Israeli military noted that the weapons were tucked away in lockers that were hidden beneath the floors, above ceilings tiles and in bathrooms at the MRI center.
Inside the maternity ward, the soldiers also located several rifles, grenades, mortars and bullet cartridges.
Lt. Col. Noor Bobalil, the Nahal patrol commander, said his unit has been operating inside the al Shifa Hospital for three days, with the Israeli military touting over the weekend that it had killed about 170 terrorists in the medical facility and arrested 800 others.
The World Health Organization and United Nations have condemned the fighting in the hospitals, with doctors complaining that they have to treat and take care of the hundreds of patients amid the bloody battles.
The Hamas-run ministry of health and media office have claimed that many of the alleged terrorists killed in the raids have been wounded patients or some of the thousands of refugees taking shelter inside the hospital.
The latest raid in the MRI center came as the IDF and Shin Bet intelligence agency said they seized another weapons cache as it was being smuggled into the West Bank on Monday.
Officials with Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, said Iran’s Unit 4,000, a special operations division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, was the source of the weapons, which were intended to be used in attacks against Israel, the Times of Israel reports.
Among the weapons seized were two large bombs, five anti-tank landmines, four grenade launchers, more than 55 pounds of explosives, 13 anti-tank missiles, 15 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 16 rockets, 15 hand grenades, 33 assault rifles and 50 handguns.
Shin Bet officials alleged that senior Fatah official Munir Makdah, who is living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, was involved with the smuggling operation.
Intelligence officers are currently working with the IDF to locate additional Iranian weapons believed to have been smuggled into the West Bank, officials said.