On 14th November (Tuesday), the Israel Defense Forces released additional footage from the raid of a hospital in Gaza that was being used by Hamas for their terror activities. According to the IDF, this Hospital was the place where Hamas terrorists held Israeli hostages. The additional footage shows the moment when the Israeli Navy’s elite Shayetet 13 commando unit and the 401st Armored Brigade raided Gaza City’s Rantisi children’s hospital.
During their raid, the Israeli troops found a cache of weapons and a room that the IDF believes was used by Hamas to hold Israeli hostages.
מצורף תיעוד נוסף מפעילות כוחות שייטת 13 וחטיבה 401, במהלכה נחשפה תשתית טרור של חמאס בבית החולים ׳רנתיסי׳ pic.twitter.com/rE7FkzhiXu
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 14, 2023
Beneath the Rantisi Hospital in Gaza, IDF forces found a room where Israeli hostages are believed to have been held.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 14, 2023
The calendar found in the room marked the days since October 7 Massacre with the title “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, Hamas’ name for their horrific attack on Israel. pic.twitter.com/sK4FPaOlHJ
Earlier on 13th November, the IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari gave a press conference in English. The IDF spokesperson presented evidence that the Islamic terror outfit Hamas used the Al Rantisi Hospital in Gaza as a terror base. In a 6-minute-long video, Hagari informed that Hamas terrorists stored weapons at the hospital premises and kept Israeli civilians as hostages for some time.
EXCLUSIVE RAW FOOTAGE: Watch IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari walk through one of Hamas' subterranean terrorist tunnels—only to exit in Gaza's Rantisi hospital on the other side.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 13, 2023
Inside these tunnels, Hamas terrorists hide, operate and hold Israeli hostages against their… pic.twitter.com/Nx4lVrvSXH
In the video, Hagari also walked through an underground tunnel which according to him connected the residence of a senior Hamas terrorist with the Rantisi Hospital from beneath. He highlighted that the building was close to the hospital and it was not far off from UN-affiliated buildings.
Apart from the 6-minute video, the post read, “EXCLUSIVE RAW FOOTAGE: Watch IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari walk through one of Hamas’ subterranean terrorist tunnels—only to exit in Gaza’s Rantisi hospital on the other side. Inside these tunnels, Hamas terrorists hide, operate, and hold Israeli hostages against their will.”
IDF confirms the death of a captive female soldier who was shown in a Hamas video
Additionally, on 14th November (Tuesday), the IDF confirmed the death of Cpl. Noa Marciano (19). She was captured by the Hamas terror group on 7th October.
Marciano was part of the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps 414th unit and was serving on the Nahal Oz IDF base when it was overrun by Hamas terrorists during the 7th October onslaught on southern Israel. She lived in Modiin and was the oldest of three siblings.
Several terror groups in Gaza have been holding around 240 people hostage since 7th October. On several occasions, Hamas has made unsubstantiated claims that some hostages have been killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
Since the Hamas terror attack, four hostages namely Judith and Natalie Ra’anan, Yocheved Lifshitz, and Nurit Cooper have been released by Hamas while one captive, Ori Megidish, was rescued by IDF troops.
On Monday evening (13th November), Hamas published a propaganda video of Marciano. In the video, she was seen speaking to the camera four days after being taken hostage and she identified herself and recited the names of her parents and her hometown. The propaganda video which Israel calls are part of psychological terror, then showed her dead body. Subsequently, the military said it sent representatives to the Marciano family home to inform them of the video.
Later, today, on Tuesday (14th November), the IDF said that it now recognises Marciano as a “fallen soldier held captive by a terror group.” The IDF added that “Hamas continues to use psychological terror and behaves inhumanely, through videos and photos of hostages, as it has done in the past.”
Despite Hamas’s propaganda video claiming to show her dead body, Channel 12 news reported that the IDF said it made its declaration about Marciano’s death based on intelligence information, and not based on the Hamas video.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has been reiterating that it is “using all means, both intelligence and operational, to bring the hostages home.”
Amid reports of a potential hostage deal, Israel’s War cabinet minister Benny Gantz asserted that even if Israel pauses fighting as part of a potential hostage deal, it will continue pursuing its war to dislodge Hamas’s control over the Gaza Strip. He made this assertion while visiting military leadership in Israel’s north.
He said, “Even if a ceasefire is required in order to return hostages, there will be no stopping the war. We continue until our goals are achieved.”
Notably, Israel’s stated goals include uprooting Hamas’s political and military control over the Strip, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a post-Hamas Gaza must be demilitarised and de-radicalised.
