Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas fighters that Israeli forces will find them wherever they hide within the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu's warning, which he delivered while addressing Israeli troops, came hours after Israeli forces engaged in an operation designed to overtake a hospital that Hamas has allegedly been using as a command and control center.
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“Do you remember when they said we wouldn’t invade Gaza? We invaded. They said we wouldn’t get to the outskirts of Gaza City, we did. They said we wouldn’t go into Shifa [Hospital], we went in,” Netanyahu said in a video statement released by his office. “There is no place in Gaza that we won’t reach. There is no hideout, no shelter, no refuge for the Hamas murderers."
“We will get there, and we will take out Hamas, and we will bring home our hostages — those are our two holy missions," he added.
The United States intelligence community has assessed that Hamas operates out of hospitals based in Gaza, including the al Shifa hospital, which is the one Israeli forces raided on Wednesday, U.S. administration officials revealed the day before, after the information was declassified. Israeli military officials made the claim days earlier as firefights raged outside multiple hospitals in the northern part of Gaza, where the fighting is more predominant.
Hamas's use of protected civilian population centers — such as schools, hospitals, and mosques — is likely a violation of international laws of war, though Israel still has a requirement to meet regarding its attempts to protect civilians caught in the crossfire. The hospitals in Gaza have been overwhelmed, and the healthcare system in the tiny enclave is under dire strain, with much-needed international aid slowly trickling in.
"I can confirm for you that we have information that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including al Shifa, and tunnels underneath them to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages," National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday. "Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) members operate a command and control node from al Shifa in Gaza City. They have stored weapons there, and they're prepared to respond to an Israeli military operation against that facility."
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Thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed since Israel's military operation began in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorists. The U.S. is among a growing group of international aid organizations, including the United Nations, as well as foreign nations who have publicly said Israel should do more to prevent the deaths of civilians.
Israel, in attempts to prevent civilian casualties, has dropped flyers warning Gaza residents to evacuate south and made daily pauses in its efforts for additional evacuations.