23 March 2024; MEMO: The Israeli army and Shin Bet published misleading reports about the military operation at Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, which has been ongoing since late last Sunday night, as well as the martyrdom of dozens of Palestinians there, claiming that “very senior” leaders of Al-Qassam Brigades had been arrested. However, on Friday, the Israeli army withdrew the misinformation campaign.
Following its announcement of the arrests of “very senior” leaders, the Israeli army claimed it could not publish their identities at present. On Thursday, it published pictures of hundreds of Palestinians who it claimed were arrested at the medical complex.
Publishing the photos created the impression that the Israeli army was being deceptive to justify attacking the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip and the martyrdom of dozens of Palestinians. Among the photos it published was a photo of Al-Qassam Brigades operations commander Raed Saad. However, on Friday, the army announced that Saad had not been arrested, according to Israeli media reports.
To cover up their failure, the Israeli army and Shin Bet published a joint statement that publishing a photo of Saad as if he were among the detainees was the result of “human error”. They also claimed that the announcement of his arrest was not intentional misinformation.
The joint statement noted: “Due to human error, there are several photos in the graphic of terrorists who have not yet been caught but are, according to the information we have, in the hospital and are holed up there,” adding that the Israeli army forces are continuing their efforts to arrest them and will provide the identities of all those captured once the operation is over.
Furthermore, it denied that the photo collage it published was an attempt at “psychological warfare”.
The Israeli army predicts that Saad is still present at Al-Shifa complex, but this is unconfirmed, according to the Ynet website.
It seems that the Israeli army is promoting this claim in an attempt to cover up its crimes in the war on Gaza, as it believes the arrest of Saad would be a “major achievement in the war”, according to Ynet.
Saad is described as one of the “shadow men” in Hamas’ military wing, like the commander of Al-Qassam Brigades Marwan Issa, whom Israel attempted to assassinate last week by targeting a tunnel in the Nuseirat camp with an airstrike. However, his fate remains unknown, and Hamas has not yet announced his martyrdom.
Israel described Saad during the attack on Gaza in 2021 as part of the “leadership quartet” that managed the fight against Israel, along with Issa, leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar and Commander of Al-Qassam Brigades Mohammed Deif.
Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced that 500 Palestinians had been arrested at the medical complex, claiming that they were all “suspects” and that 358 of them were fighters in Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
