Israel SitRep: March 20, 2024

Today’s Issue: In Shifa Hospital Raid, IDF Kills Dozens, Arrests More Than 300, Finds Weapons | IDF Completes Raids in Southern Gaza’s Hamad Town | IDF Establishes Team to Locate West Bank Terror Tunnels, Carries Out West Bank Raids | IDF Establishes New Brigade for Syrian and Lebanese Borders | Latest FDD Analysis

In Shifa Hospital Raid, IDF Kills Dozens, Arrests More Than 300, Finds Weapons: On Wednesday, the IDF issued an update on its operation in Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, where IDF and Shin Bet forces have killed some 90 terrorists, questioned 300 individuals, and kept 160 for further questioning. On Tuesday, the army reported that the 401st Armored Brigade’s combat team, working with the Shayetet 13 naval commando unit, the Duvdevan special forces unit, and the Shin Bet, arrested dozens of prominent Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists who were directing attacks in the West Bank as well as operatives from the PIJ rocket unit. Those arrested have been interrogated by the Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, then taken to Israel for additional questioning by the unit and the Shin Bet. The report includes video footage showing weapons located by IDF soldiers in an office near the hospital director’s office.

IDF Completes Raids in Southern Gaza’s Hamad Town: The IDF on Tuesday reported on its operation in the Hamad Town residential complex in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. In an operation lasting more than a week, soldiers from the Maglan and Egoz commando units raided dozens of targets inside high-rise buildings, including a building used by the deputy battalion commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, and found a large quantity of weapons. Using intelligence and precision airstrikes, troops quickly eliminated terrorists who were holed up in buildings and attacked and neutralized booby-trapped buildings. An Egoz soldier who spotted terrorists in a building called in an airstrike against the building, which killed four terrorists. The IDF released video footage of Egoz soldiers operating in Hamad Town and photos of weapons found by the soldiers.

IDF Establishes Team to Locate West Bank Terror Tunnels, Carries Out West Bank Raids: The IDF Central Command has set up a team whose mission is to locate any terror tunnels in the West Bank after residents of the Israeli town of Bat Hefer, located near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, reported hearing digging noises under their homes. The team includes intelligence forces and engineers. Meanwhile, in overnight West Bank raids, the IDF made 34 arrests. In Anata, one man was arrested, and a rifle was seized. In Al-Eizariya, troops arrested five and confiscated money used to finance terrorism. In Tulkarem and Nablus, soldiers arrested another four wanted men, and in Beit Ummar, they confiscated weapons. Some 3,500 wanted persons have been arrested in the West Bank since the war began, more than 1,500 of them affiliated with Hamas.

IDF Establishes New Brigade for Syrian and Lebanese Borders: The IDF has announced the establishment of a new brigade for Israel’s border with Syria and Lebanon based on an analysis of the IDF’s operational needs during the war. The Mountain Brigade, which will replace the 810th Hermon Brigade, will be under the 210th Bashan Division and will defend the Mt. Hermon and Mt. Dov region. The IDF has appointed Col. Liron Appleman as commander of the Mountain Brigade, which will begin operating in the next few weeks. The brigade will specialize in combat in difficult terrain and mountainous areas. Brig. Gen. Zion Ratzon, who commands the 210th Division, stated that the new brigade “will enable defensive and offensive preparedness for a variety of scenarios that correspond to the terrain and the enemy in the region, on two fronts simultaneously: Lebanon and Syria.”

Latest FDD Analysis:

Today at 8:30am (ET): “FDD Morning Brief,” featuring Jonathan Schanzer and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), FDD Event

“Israel warns Hezbollah as attacks continue in north,” Seth J. Frantzman, FDD’s Long War Journal

“U.S. official confirms Israeli forces killed senior Hamas military leader Marwan Issa,” Joe Truzman and Bill Roggio, FDD’s Long War Journal

“Israel Arrests 180 Terror Suspects in Operation at Shifa Hospital,” FDD Experts, FDD Flash Brief

“IDF Establishes New Unit to Combat Terror Tunnels in West Bank,” FDD Experts, FDD Flash Brief

“Israeli, U.S. Officials to Meet in Washington to Discuss Rafah Operation,” FDD Experts, FDD Flash Brief