JAKARTA - Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant praised the actions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in a briefing on Monday, after they withdrew from the Al Shifa Hospital Complex in Gaza.
Defense Minister Gallant expressed his appreciation to IDF and Shin Bet personnel for their "decisive and professional actions" inside the medical complex. Describing the 14-day hospital siege as a "precise and deadly operation".
Furthermore, Minister of Defense Gallant also said that Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters were shocked by the hundreds of people killed or captured.
"The terrorist base in Shifa has been eliminated," said Minister of Defense Gallant, quoted by CNN.
A day before the withdrawal of Israeli troops, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday that 21 patients had died since the siege began on March 18, while dozens of patients were still trapped in the facility.
"107 patients are in inadequate buildings, within hospital complexes, lacking the necessary health support, medical care and supplies," he said.
When Israeli forces surrounded the medical complex on March 18, the Health Ministry in Gaza said some 30,000 people were taking refuge in the area.
As previously reported, at least 300 bodies have been recovered so far at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Palestine, following the withdrawal of the Israeli military from the medical complex on Monday, according to the Gaza Civil Defense.
The organization said it was difficult to determine the exact number of people killed because Israeli forces buried bodies in and around the Al Shifa compound, and bulldozed nearby streets.
The Israeli military announced the withdrawal of all its troops from the Al Shifa Hospital Complex in the Gaza Strip, ending a siege operation that had lasted for two weeks.
"IDF and ISA forces have completed appropriate operational activities in the Shifa Hospital area and exited the hospital area," said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), using the acronym for Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet.
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Israel said its operations in and around the hospital were a "proper" anti-terror mission, saying it had done its best to avoid harm to civilians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said more than 200 militants had died in hospitals.
Meanwhile, in a briefing Monday, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said 900 suspected militants had been detained in the two-week operation. More than 500 militants have been identified as members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hagari added, adding that some of those detained were "commanders and important people."
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