Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman said Wednesday that there had been “zero” civilian casualties in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attack on Hamas terrorists at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza city, despite many terrorist casualties.
As Breitbart News has reported, the IDF discovered earlier this month that Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists had returned to Shifa Hospital, which Israel had cleared out late last year, discovering terrorist weapons and tunnels.
When the IDF returned to the hospital, it came under fire from terrorists inside the facility, and began a careful and methodical attack that has seen, at last count, 170 terrorists killed and nearly 500 members of terror groups arrested.
The IDF has tried to ensure that normal hospital services have continued throughout the attack, and said Wednesday that there had been “zero” civilian casualties among the hospital staff and patients, despite a heave toll on terrorists.
Anti-Israel activists around the world have claimed that the IDF attack on Hamas in Shifa Hospital had led to many civilian deaths. Pro-Palestinian students at Harvard University even held a vigil for the “victims” of the IDF attack.
According to Israel, all of those “victims” were, in fact, terrorists. IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari had said Tuesday: “Hamas spreads lies on social media and the Al Jazeera network about harm to civilians in the hospital. Not a single civilian, patient, doctor, or medical staff member was harmed in this operation – only terrorists. The IDF has transferred patients to a building, provided them with treatment, aid and medical equipment, contrary to Hamas’s course of action.”
The IDF also confirmed that it was carrying out similar operations against terrorists who had hidden at other hospitals. The use of hospitals for military purposes is a violation of international humanitarian law.
Hyman said Wednesday that Israel had allowed more aid into Gaza, including four mobile desalination units from UNICEF. He emphasized that unlimited amounts of aid could enter Gaza, but that the United Nations was “hopelessly inefficient” at distributing aid.
Asked by Breitbart News about whether Israel will turn its focus away from individual Iranian-backed terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and confront Iran itself, Hyman replied: “Our focus has always been on the Iranian axis of terror, wherever it raises its ugly head. We have said from the beginning of the war that it’s very much like an octopus .. run by the tyrants in Tehran. … We will take them out one by one when the time is right.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
