A Hamas commander believed to have kept 1,000 Gazans as hostages in a hospital was reportedly killed Saturday while hiding in a school, Israeli authorities announced.
“IDF aircraft just struck Ahmed Siam, responsible for holding approximately 1,000 Gazan residents and patients hostage at the Rantisi Hospital, and preventing their evacuation southward,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on X (formerly Twitter).
IDF aircraft just struck Ahmed Siam, responsible for holding approximately 1,000 Gazan residents and patients hostage at the Rantisi Hospital, and preventing their evacuation southward.
Siam was a commander in Hamas’ Naser Radwan Company, and is another example of Hamas using… pic.twitter.com/RGJAISFjxL
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 11, 2023
The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, provided intelligence about Siam’s whereabouts, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari tweeted. A fighter plane killed Siam and “a number of Hamas terrorists under his command” while they were hiding in a school, he added.
“Ahmed Tsiam is another example of the Hamas terrorist organization’s cynical exploitation of the residents of the Gaza Strip and civilian facilities, as a human shield for the organization’s terrorist needs,” Hagari continued. (RELATED: IDF Claims It Killed Mastermind Of Hamas Terrorist Attack In Airstrike)
The IDF had issued evacuation alerts to the Rantisi Hospital in northern Gaza, warning of the presence of Hamas fighters and their weaponry in and around the hospital, NBC reported. The Rantisi Hospital and other hospitals, including the al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, also reportedly came under attack, per the outlet. More than 12 severely ill children were evacuated from the Rantisi Hospital, the outlet noted.
The IDF opened an evacuation route for the hospital but came under attack from “armed terrorists” while securing the route for the evacuees, the IDF claimed. The IDF denied laying siege to the al-Shifa Hospital.
The IDF also claimed Hamas fighters were using civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, children’s playgrounds and mosques, as munitions depots and were commuting covertly in ambulances.
An Israeli fighter jet fatally struck Ibrahim Abu-Maghsib, Head of Hamas’ Anti-Tank Missile Unit in the Central Camps Brigade, Thursday, according to the IDF.