2023-11-20 17:33:00
Israel releases CCTV video it says shows hostages at Al-Shifa Hospital on October 7
Still image from a CCTV video released by the Israel Defense Forces that it says shows Hamas fighters carrying hostages to Al-Shifa Hospital on October 7. (Credit: Israel Defense Forces)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have released closed-circuit television (CCTV) videos and still images that they say show Hamas fighters carrying hostages to Al-Shifa Hospital on October 7.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari presented two short videos, along with several still images, which he said show Hamas fighters carrying the hostages (a Nepali and a Thai) through the hospital, the most great of Gaza.
One of the CCTV videos shows a hostage being admitted to the hospital through the main entrance, Hagari said. The hostage is being forcibly taken through the building.
Hagari, at a news conference on Sunday, said the second CCTV video shows a second hostage, who has a bandaged hand and is clearly bleeding, being pushed on a stretcher down a hallway to a room.
Hagari did not explain how the IDF had acquired the videos, although he did say that Israeli intelligence officers were part of the operation inside the hospital to try to locate the hostages.
CNN cannot independently verify the content of the videos and still images.
Opposing narratives: The Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry responded to the IDF briefing by questioning the authenticity of the videos and photographs, but went on to say that, if true, the images showed that the hospitals were providing medical care to anyone that I needed it.
The IDF spokesman dismissed suggestions that the hostages had been taken to the hospital because they were injured, stating that one of the two hostages was not injured and did not need medical treatment. They were first taken to the hospital and then moved to hiding places, such as nearby apartments, he said.
“If medical care had been provided in the hospital, if the hostages had remained there, then the Red Cross would have come and the people would have been freed. None of these things happened,” he stated.
In a statement issued on Saturday before the release of the CCTV videos, Hamas said it had taken several hostages to hospitals for medical treatment following they were injured in Israeli airstrikes.
Hagari said the latest videos had been shared with diplomats from the hostages’ countries of origin, adding that the IDF has not yet located the Nepali and Thai hostages in Gaza.
The Nepalese Embassy in Israel and Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had confirmed to CNN before the release of the video that a Nepali national remained missing following the October 7 attack and was believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas.
Ten Nepalese citizens were killed and several others wounded when Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on October 7, Nepal’s ambassador to Israel told CNN following the attack.
More context: Following the assault on Al-Shifa Hospital last Wednesday, the IDF is under tremendous pressure to prove its claim that Hamas uses Gaza’s largest medical center for combat and command purposes.
The military also released video on Sunday from inside an exposed tunnel in the Al-Shifa complex, showing an underground tunnel extending downward.
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