IDF: The Khan Yunis Brigade Commander was involved in the holding of hostages in Hamas captivity.

The terrorist Abu Ismail currently serves as a central figure in the management and command of the Khan Yunis brigade, even more so after the elimination of the commander of the Khan Yunis brigade, Muhammad Yazouri, at the beginning of September.

Similar to other hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis is used by Hamas. For example, the second floor of the hospital serves as a Hamas military headquarters, where civilians are not allowed to enter and it is strictly guarded, as it is used by the organization’s commanders, including Muhammad Abu Ismail. Throughout the war, dozens of hostages were held at Nasser Hospital, many of them from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, including women, children, the elderly, and foreign civilians.

He was also responsible for holding many hostages during the war, including the hostages: Nimrod Cohen, Matan Tsangauker, Idan Alexander, Avraham Mengistu, Colonel Assaf Hamami z”l, Sergeant Major Oz Daniel, and Captain Omer Naotara z”l.

Alongside the strike on Abu Ismail, other terrorists who were in the hospital complex were also attacked, including Mu’awad Tawfiq Mahmoud Abu Zarifa, head of a team in the Engineering Department of the Combat and Administrative Support Company, and Khaled Osama Abu Anza, head of the Communications Section in the Operations Department of Hamas’s Intelligence Directorate.

The terrorists were attacked from the air to remove the threat after they turned the Nasser Hospital complex into a headquarters and after they operated from within it to advance dozens of terrorist attacks against our forces and to rebuild the brigade’s strength, which suffered severe damage throughout the war.

Prior to the attack, precautionary measures were taken to minimize damage to the hospital building and to uninvolved individuals as much as possible. The attack was also carried out in a targeted manner on the room from which the brigade commander and the terrorists operated militarily. 

In addition, prior to the attack, the IDF warned and demanded that the military activity in the hospital cease, on several occasions, including recently. Despite the warnings, the military activity in the hospital did not stop.