IDF confirms hostages taken to Al-Shifa Hospital on Oct 7

Tel Aviv: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a footage of hostages being forcibly taken to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza following the unprecedented attack on October 7.

Taking to X in the early hours of Monday, the military posted a video where the alleged Hamas terrorists can be seen forcing hostages into the medical complex, while staffers were helping taking a wounded person into a ward.

“This is documentation from Shifa Hospital from the day of the massacre, October 7, 2023, between the hours of 10.42 a.m and 11.01 a.m. in which hostages, a Nepalese civilian and a Thai civilian, were abducted from Israeli territory are seen surrounded by armed Hamas terrorists,” the IDF said in the post on X.

“One of the hostages is injured and is being carried on a hospital bed and the other is walking. These findings prove that the Hamas terrorist organisation used the Shifa Hospital complex on the day of the October 7 massacre as terrorist infrastructure,” it added.

On Sunday night, the IDF also confirmed that the 19-year-old corporal Noa Marciano, whose body was found last week near the Al-Shifa Hospital, was murdered by the Hamas.

In a media address, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Danie Hagari said that on November 9, Marciano was injured from an Israeli Air Force (IAF) strike and the terrorist holding her hostage was neutralised.

“Following a preliminary pathological report, it was revealed that Noa’s injury was not life-threatening. Noa was murdered by a Hamas terrorist in the Shifa hospital, he said, adding that the IDF will continue to support the Marciano family and operate in every way possible to return the hostages home.

According to authorities, Marciano was serving as a lookout at the Nahal Oz kibbutz when it was stormed by the Hamas militants on October 7.

Marciano’s body was found a day after the remains of of a 65-year-old abductee Yehudit Weiss was discovered in the premises of the largest medical facility in the Hamas-controlled enclave, where the Israeli military conducted a large scale search operation last week.

Weiss, who was suffering from cancer, was a resident of kibbutz Be’eri, and was kidnapped by Hamas militants on October 7.

Her husband, Shmuel, was also killed.

It was not immediately clear if the bodies of the two women were found together.

According to authorities, 237 people are being captive in Gaza, including Israelis, foreign nationals and children.

So far, four civilian hostages have been released by Hamas, and a female soldier was rescued by Israeli forces.

Israel has maintained that the Hamas operates a command centre underneath the Al-Shifa Hospital and also uses the medical complex as a base.

The allegations however, have been repeatedly denied by the militant group as well as the Palestinian Health Ministry and the hospital authorities.
IANS