2023-11-21 04:30:00
The Israeli army has provided numerous evidence that points to military use of the Shifa Hospital. However, it remains unclear whether there is actually a Hamas headquarters beneath the clinic.
Around a week has passed since Israeli soldiers entered Shifa Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip in the dark of night on November 14th. Various voices had warned against this step – they feared a bloodbath in the hospital, where there were still patients, doctors and civilians seeking protection. Some warned of the risk of a war crime. A hospital is protected under international law as long as it is not used for military purposes.
Israel did not allow itself to be dissuaded from its plan. It has been asserting for weeks that there is a sprawling complex beneath the hospital that is used by Hamas as its headquarters. On October 27th, the army published a visualization showing a huge tunnel complex. She accused Hamas of using the hospital – as well as other hospitals in the Gaza Strip – for terrorist activities. Last Tuesday, the USA also supported these statements, citing its own intelligence findings. The Israeli operation began shortly afterwards.
A 3-D visualization released by the IDF on October 27 shows the alleged tunnel complex under Shifa Hospital.
Israel’s armed forces (IDF) were under great pressure to provide evidence for these statements and to counter the criticism – especially since Hamas and hospital employees vehemently deny the allegations. Several days later, two conclusions can now be drawn: The feared bloodbath did not occur – although numerous patients died due to the lack of electricity, a large proportion of the people in Shifa Hospital, including dozens of premature babies, were able to be evacuated. Only a few doctors and patients remain in the clinic.
Israel has now presented various pieces of evidence that point to military use of the hospital. However, Israel has not yet publicly presented conclusive proof of the existence of a large terrorist complex. What did the army find? And what not?
A 55 meter long tunnel
On Sunday evening, the Israeli military released the most significant evidence to date. Several videos show a tunnel, the entrance to which is apparently in the northeastern area of the hospital grounds. In a probably uncut shot, you can see a vertical shaft with a spiral staircase that leads into a concrete tunnel. After a few meters, the narrow corridor turns sharply to the left into a longer tunnel. At the end you can see a white, explosion-proof metal door with an embrasure, according to the IDF. Then the recording ends.
A photo released by the army shows the interior of the suspected Hamas tunnel.
Israel Defense Forces
According to the army, the tunnel is 55 meters long and extends to a depth of around 10 meters. Opposite the «Washington Post» said an army spokesman, the tunnel leads away from the hospital grounds and is connected to the large tunnel network under Gaza. The approach to the tunnel was discovered after it demolished a small building on the site, according to the Army.
It is unclear whether the IDF has since advanced further. The army generally avoids sending soldiers into the tunnels. “We don’t want to go down there. We know they left us a lot of explosives,” said one Israeli officer last week.
Two hostages in the hospital
Also on Sunday evening, the army released two recordings from surveillance cameras in Shifa Hospital. In the first shot, armed men in civilian clothes can be seen violently dragging a person in a blue T-shirt to the hospital. In a second shot, another man can be seen lying injured on a stretcher. Next to them, some of the men who were seen in the first sequence are gesturing. At least three of them are carrying guns and one is carrying a knife.
In another video released by the Israeli army, a hostage can be seen being dragged to the hospital.
Twitter / X / Israel Defense Forces
According to the time stamp on the videos, they were recorded on the morning of October 7 – the day of the Hamas attack on Israel. According to the IDF, the men are hostages with Nepalese and Thai citizenship. The man in the blue T-shirt presumably also dives in a video which was previously recorded by a surveillance camera at Kibbutz Alumim on October 7th. There you can see him being escorted by Hamas terrorists.
Hamas did not deny on Sunday that hostages were taken to the hospital. A member of the Politburo said: “The care of the prisoners, the treatment and the necessary medical care are points that speak for us and not against us.” However, this contradicts the assurances of Hamas and the doctors that there were no terrorists or hostages in Shifa Hospital.
Last Thursday, the IDF said it discovered two bodies of hostages in the immediate vicinity of the hospital. One of them, 19-year-old soldier Noa Marciano, was killed by a Hamas terrorist in Shifa Hospital, according to an army spokesman. Hamas, however, says Marciano was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Surveillance images from Shifa Hospital also show that Hamas also brought Israeli military vehicles onto the hospital grounds on October 7th. Nothing is known about their whereabouts.
Telegram / Mannie’s War Room
Footage from a surveillance camera at Shifa Hospital shows two Israeli military vehicles being brought onto the hospital grounds on October 7th.
Allegations of manipulation
The IDF had already released recordings from Shifa Hospital last week. The photos and videos show firearms, hand grenades and other equipment that the army says were found in the hospital. The Palestinian side, however, said that the Israelis had placed the weapons in the hospital. The army also presented a computer that allegedly stored information about hostages.
A supposedly caused a stir uncut video from November 16, in which Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus gives a tour of the hospital and shows the locations of various objects. Users on social networks quickly pointed out that the video had indeed been edited. Conricus also presented a backpack that had apparently been hidden behind an MRI machine. An assault rifle can be seen in it.
When international journalists were able to visit the hospital just hours later, they were lying in the same place two assault rifles. The accusation was again made that Israel had manipulated evidence. The army announced later, she first had to remove explosives and mines. Only then could the material be brought back to show the media.
Criticism also in Israel
It was not the first time that there have been discrepancies in an army video. That is why pro-Palestinian and other channels deny the recordings any credibility. This is also part of the information war that rages fiercely online – and which Israel seems to have long since lost in the Arab world.
But criticism of the operation in Shifa Hospital has also become loud in Israel. So an Israeli journalist wrote last weekthe capture of the hospital should have been the biggest moment of the war, but the IDF “presented the world with much weaker evidence of Hamas’s presence in the hospital than expected.”
It has been clear since Sunday that Hamas terrorists brought hostages to the hospital. It is also undisputed that Hamas uses civilian buildings for military purposes: a war crime. But most of the evidence presented cannot be independently verified. International pressure remains high on Israel to provide evidence of the existence of Hamas headquarters – especially since it was Israel that raised expectations.
Text: Jonas Roth
Research: Seda Motion, Forrest Rogers
Chart: Adina Renner
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