Shortly after the announcement that IDF troops had broken into Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis,IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed that, "we have reliable intelligence information about the bodies of Israelis being held in the hospital."
"Since the Hamas massacre on October 7, the IDF continues its mission to dismantle Hamas and return our abductees home," Hagari said in a statement in English. We are also committed to the task of returning all our residents back home."
"Unfortunately, we also know that some of our abductees are no longer alive. We are obligated to return their bodies from Gaza as well, and conduct precise operations as we did in the past," he added. "We have reliable intelligence information from several sources, including hostages who were released, that Hamas was holding abductees in the hospital in Khan Yunis, and there may still be bodies of hostages at the facility."
"According to the information we gathered, over 85 percent of the medical institutions in Gaza were used by Hamas for terrorist operations. Terrorists are hiding behind sick citizens at this moment, and it seems that they used the hospital to hide our abductees there," Hagari explained. "As a result, the IDF is conducting a precise and limited operation inside Nasser Hospital. A central goal of the operation is to make sure that the hospital continues its activities to aid the wounded in Gaza, and we emphasized this in conversations with hospital managers in recent days."
"Our message is clear - we are not looking to harm innocent civilians," Hagari clarified. "We are looking to hit only Hamas terrorists, wherever they are hiding."