Day 37: IDF will evacuate babies from Shifa Hospital, provide safe passage routes from Gazan hospitals

Fighting near the Shifa hospital was reported on Saturday night and Sunday morning, as IDF troops moved to secure Gaza City. 

The military denied it had put the Shifa Hospital under siege, as had been reported by some Arab news sites. 

The World Health Organization on Sunday claimed it had lost contact with the hospital. 

Israel Defense Forces accused Hamas fighters of attacking its troops that were patrolling the safe passage evacuation routes on Saturday, endangering the lives of Gazans attempting to flee southward. 

The IDF also said it would help evacuate babies from the hospital to a safer position on Sunday after it received a request from Shifa staff on Saturday to relocate the babies to a safer hospital location. 

On Sunday morning, the IDF released audio clips of phone calls between a senior officer and hospital staff at Gaza City’s three largest hospitals, explaining how to evacuate safely to the southern Gaza Strip. 

IDF forces will again secure a safe passage route from the Shifa Hospital along al-Wahda Street towards the evacuation corridor of Salah al-Din Street. 

In a message to Gaza citizens, the IDF’s Arabic spokesman also instructed Gazans to contact the IDF if Hamas acts to prevent their evacuation to the southern Gaza Strip. 

"If Hamas elements prevent you from moving south, contact us,” the message said. 

According to the IDF, some 50,000 civilians fled to the south of Gaza on Saturday. 

A spokesman for the Rafah Crossing Authority said Sunday afternoon that around 800 people with foreign passports crossed into Egypt Sunday.

Israel is expected to begin the difficult work of clearing the hospitals and underground tunnel systems as soon as the hospitals have been evacuated. 

The Rafah border crossing from Gaza to Egypt will also be reopened for foreign passport holders to cross into Egypt on Sunday. 

Overnight, IDF soldiers operating in the al-Shati refugee camp, a Hamas outpost in the northern Gaza Strip, killed several terrorists and freed some civilians who were trapped in a residential building. 

As the civilians were evacuating, terrorists fired at the troops securing the evacuation route. The troops responded with live fire and tank rounds, killing the terrorists. 

In another engagement, troops identified a terrorist cell barricaded inside a house. The soldiers directed an airstrike which killed all of the terrorists. 

An IDF drone also identified a group of four terrorists in the vicinity of IDF ground soldiers. The drone then struck the group, killing three of the terrorists. The fourth terrorist fled before eventually being struck and killed by the drone. 

The IDF said it eliminated about 150 terrorists overall during the fighting on Saturday. Among them was Ahmed Siyam, commander of the Nasser Radwan Regional Company of Hamas. 

The Hamas commander had prevented about 1,000 people from evacuating the Ranteesi Hospital. 

"Ahmed Siyam was killed while hiding in the Al-Buraq school, where several Hamas terrorists under his command were hiding and were killed along with him," the IDF spokesperson said.

Later on Sunday morning, the IDF announced it had captured a group of Hamas terrorists who surrendered during fighting in Gaza City. 

Reserve soldiers from the Harel Brigade operating in the al-Qarman area found long-range launchers aimed at Israel, anti-tank launching positions, tunnel shafts and observation posts of the Hamas terrorist organization.

Since the beginning of the ground operations, Israeli forces have captured 11 Hamas outposts and struck more than 5,000 Hamas targets.