Two days since the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) raided Gaza's biggest hospital Al-Shifa, Israel has claimed that it found a tunnel entrance in an outdoor area of the hospital complex. The IDF also released a video showing the tunnel, a deep hole in the ground, surrounded by concrete and wood rubble and sand.
IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the troops also located a Hamas pickup truck with weapons in it, allegedly similar to those used by the group in the October 7 attacks. He added that the army was investigating laptops and other technological devices found inside the hospital complex.
But, the military has yet to release evidence of a central Hamas command centre that Israel has said is concealed beneath the complex.
Israel on Thursday said it found substantial evidence of Hamas using the hospital as a military facility, a claim echoed by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The minister said "significant findings" were uncovered at Shifa, as the army moved on to the "next phase" of its ground operation. He gave no details.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also told US media that Israel had "concrete evidence" on the use of Al-Shifa for military purposes. He alleged that Hamas leaders and his "minions" fled as Israeli troops approached the facility. "We are doing this very gingerly because we’re trying to do the moral thing, the right thing, to deprive Hamas of having this safe zone in a hospital, but at the same time to neutralise its use as a command centre for terror. And so far we’ve achieved that," Netanyahu told CBS News.
The IDF's storming of the hospital had drawn flak for Netanyahu from all quarters. Israel's military action has caused widespread civilian deaths. The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the attacks have killed more than 11,200 people, two-thirds of them women and children. The U.N. humanitarian affairs office estimates that about 2,700 people, including 1,500 children, are missing and believed buried in the ruins.
To this, Netanyahu said though Israel wanted to minimize the death of civilians, it hasn't been able to do so. "We’ll try to finish that job with minimal civilian casualties, that’s what we’re trying to do, minimal civilian casualties, but unfortunately we’re not successful," he said.
Netanyahu also said that Israel wants "overall military responsibility to prevent the re-emergence of terror" in Gaza but not to reoccupy the coastal enclave.
