Day 39: As Israel continues siege of Gaza, IDF takes control of more Hamas command centers

After releasing a photo of Golani soldiers in the Gaza parliament building on Monday night, the Golani Brigade released another photo on Tuesday morning showing the soldiers inside the Hamas military police headquarters, holding an Israeli flag.

Israel Defense Forces also said that many homes in the Shati refugee camp, which it captured on Sunday, were booby-trapped with explosives. The Shati camp was one of Hamas’ most important military centers in the northern Gaza Strip and the IDF said the tunnel system there was complex and extensive. 

Due to the risks involved, soldiers did not enter the tunnels. Instead, engineering crews collapsed the tunnels. 

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari said that troops from the Negev Brigade Patrol and the Givati Reserve Patrol exposed a tunnel shaft inside a mosque. 

He also said that in the previous 24 hours, the Israeli Air Force struck over 200 Hamas targets. 

Last night, the IDF exposed tunnels near the Rantisi Children’s Hospital, as well as evidence that Hamas was using the hospital’s basement for terror activity. 

Hagari also shared a post to social media about the IDF’s efforts to get incubators and respirators to Shifa Hospital for treating infants and children in the hospital. 

Following the IDF's offer of humanitarian assistance to the director general of the Shifa Hospital, the IDF initiated a humanitarian effort to coordinate transfer of incubators from a hospital in Israel to the Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/fitejzWFUZ

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) November 14, 2023

The troops continued fighting near Shifa Hospital and Rantisi Hospital overnight, according to an IDF report.

According to Hebrew media, the IDF is hoping to transfer all patients from Shifa Hospital to the southern Gaza Strip, where field hospitals are being constructed, in the next few days. 

IDF Arabic Spokesman Avichay Adraee posted a message in Arabic to his X account addressing the residents of Gaza. He informed them of the opening of evacuation routes to move south today, and asked them to contact the IDF if Hamas attempts to block their evacuation. 

The IDF also said it would hold a "temporary tactical shutdown” of military activity in the neighborhoods of Al-Daraj and Al-Tufah between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., instructing civilians to reach Salah al-Din Street in order to evacuate to the south. 

In the early afternoon, Arab media reported fierce clashes between IDF forces and Hamas in the Al-Nasser neighborhood in northern Gaza. 

The commander of the 162nd Division, Brig.-Gen. Itzik Cohen, said the IDF is beginning to see significant results in the dismantling of Hamas' military and governmental capabilities in Gaza City. 

He said the war against Hamas will be long and there are many pockets of resistance that have not been thoroughly cleared due to the continued presence of civilians. 

Throughout the morning and early afternoon, there were several rocket launches into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Two impacts were reported in the southern city of Ashkelon, and two residents were reported as lightly injured in the explosions. 

According to the IDF, rocket fire from the northern Gaza Strip has been reduced by over 80% since the start of the ground invasion.