Israeli military says it arrested 350 Palestinians in raid at Shifa Hospital

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has arrested 350 Palestinians in its raid on Gaza’s main hospital, now in its third day.

The military said forces were still operating in the area of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday. It says it found rifles, grenades and other weapons inside the hospital.

Israel said it raided the hospital because Hamas fighters had regrouped inside and were directing attacks from the compound.

The military says it has killed dozens of terrorists in the raid.

Gaza officials said thousands of Palestinian patients, medical staff and displaced people were trapped inside the sprawling complex during the raid, although the military said it was allowing passage for anyone who wanted to leave.

The Shifa medical complex had only partially resumed operations after an Israeli raid in November.

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike has killed at least three Palestinian terrorists traveling in a car in the northern West Bank, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said three passengers in the car were killed in Wednesday’s strike near the town of Jenin, while another was wounded. The Islamic Jihad terrorist group claimed the three dead men as members.

The Israeli army said that all four occupants of the car were wanted terrorists.

Violence across the West Bank has surged since the Israel-Hamas war broke out last Oct. 7, when Palestinian terrorists broke into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 others. Hamas is still believed to be holding some 100 people hostage, as well as the remains of 30 others.

Fighting in Gaza has left at least 31,819 Palestinians dead, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers semi-autonomous parts of the West Bank, has a limited foothold in Jenin.

At least 435 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli fire since the conflict broke out, according to Palestinian health officials.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel this week as part of his sixth urgent mission to the Middle East since the Israelis’ war with Hamas began in October.

The State Department said the Israel stop would cap Blinken’s latest Mideast tour that started in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and will continue in Egypt on Thursday.

In the Red Sea city of Jeddah, Blinken was to meet with Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman and the Saudi foreign minister. The prospect of normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel is seen as a potential point of leverage in pushing the Israelis on easing civilian suffering in Gaza.

In Cairo on Thursday, Blinken will see Egyptian officials as well as meet with a six-member Arab committee that includes foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Morocco and the Palestinian Authority, according to an Egyptian diplomat.