Israeli soldiers found the body of a 65-year-old Hamas hostage and a terror tunnel entrance near the struggling al Shifa Hospital Wednesday — as Gaza fell under a total communications blackout that could delay the delivery of supplies and hostage negotiations.
Following its raid at Gaza City’s largest medical complex, the Israeli Defence Forces announced they located the body of Judith Weiss, who was kidnapped on Oct. 7, inside a building near al Shifa.
Weiss, a loving mother and grandmother, undergoing treatment for breast cancer when she was taken.
She was among the nearly 240 people abducted by Hamas last month, with her husband, Shmulik, murdered by the terrorist group when they raided the couple’s safe room in Kibbutz Be’eri.
Along with her body, the IDF said it found Kalashnikov rifles, a rocket-propelled grenade and other military equipment in the building near al Shifa.
The IDF did not indicate how or when Weiss died.
Weiss’ family was among those who were in Washington D.C. earlier this week calling on the US to help speed up the safe return of the hostages, which include nine American citizens and a legal permanent US resident.
The family was recorded singing inside the Senate chambers along with Chabad members and other advocates.
The discovery of Weiss’ body came as the IDF claimed it found a shaft leading to Hamas’ 300-mile-long tunnel system inside the hospital complex, where Israel alleged the terrorist group was harboring a command post.
“Today, Hamas’s tunneling infrastructure was exposed inside the hospital,” the Israeli military touted in a video showing off the entrance after weeks of denials from Hamas and hospital staff.
The discovery of the tunnel occurred after a raid Wednesday morning at al Shifa. Hospital officials said the situation was growing worse, with doctors forced to amputate patients to save their lives as the medical facility ran out of supplies, director Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiyah told Al-Jazeera said Thursday.
The doctor said the amputations were necessary to prevent the spread of infection since the injuries can’t be treated. The hospital also ran out of medicine for children suffering from diarrhea and vomiting.
The exact conditions inside the hospital remain unclear as a “total communication blackout” struck Gaza due to fuel shortages, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the humanitarian group, said during a conference in Geneva that as of Thursday, there were basically “no hospitals, no fuel, no water, …no communications” in Gaza.
The UNRWA said the blackout also means that humanitarian groups are unable to coordinate supply convoys to Gaza, including the resupply operation that was scheduled for Friday.
The blackout will likely hamper Hamas’ ability to contact its political leaders in Qatar, who are in talks with Israel and the US to broker a deal to release 50 hostages in exchange for a three-day ceasefire and the release of imprisoned Palestinian women and children.
Israel has repeatedly said there would be no ceasefire until the hostages were freed and has blamed Hamas for the dire situation the hospitals find themselves in.
The White House and American intelligence has continued to back Israel’s claim that Hamas is using Al-Shifa to hide its headquarters, but has stopped short of providing specific details.
“We have our own intelligence that convinces us that Hamas was using Al-Shifa as a command and control node — and most likely, as well, as a storage facility,” US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Thursday.
“We are still convinced of the soundness of that intelligence,” he added.
Israel has slammed Hamas for operating inside civilian structures, with a recent mission in northern Gaza uncovering a stash of rockets stored inside the bedroom of a little girl.
Video from Thursday’s advancements in the city of Beit Hanoun showed the military rockets lying underneath the bed frame from a bedroom with the sign “baby girl” on the wall.
“Terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip continue to cynically use children of Gaza as a cover for terrorist operations,” the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF said it has turned up similar weapon stashes hidden inside Al Shifa and the Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza City.