What has Israel discovered beneath Al-Shifa hospital? World still waits to see evidence of Hamas HQ – with IDF saying only that there is ‘substantial infrastructure in the vicinity’ hours after IDF troops moved in
- Israeli soldiers stormed the sprawling al-Shifa hospital early on Wednesday
The world is still waiting to see evidence of Hamas terrorists’ secret headquarters hidden beneath Gaza City’s main hospital — hours after heavily armed Israeli soldiers stormed the medical facility in front of terrified patients and doctors.
Dozens of Israeli soldiers, some wearing face masks and firing guns in the air, entered the sprawling al-Shifa hospital early Wednesday in what the IDF called a ‘precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area’ of the facility.
They ordered around 1,000 male Palestinians seeking refuge in the hospital to enter the vast courtyard outside, where some were stripped naked by Israeli soldiers checking them for weapons and explosives, a journalist trapped inside said.
Israel has consistently insisted Hamas terrorists are hiding in a secret command centre located within makeshift tunnels beneath al-Shifa hospital building and using patients as human shields – claims the terrorists deny.
But several hours after launching the raid, where Israeli forces ransacked the hospital’s basement and other buildings, the world is still waiting to see evidence of the terrorists within the medical centre or their underground headquarters.
A senior Israeli official, who was not named, claimed Israeli troops had found weapons and other ‘terror infrastructure’ during the raid, adding: ‘We saw concrete evidence that Hamas terrorists used the al-Shifa hospital as a terror headquarters.’ Hamas denies those claims.
The Israeli official did not say what type of weapons had been found, nor details on what he meant by ‘terror infrastructure’. He also failed to provide any visual evidence to support the claims, saying this would be presented later.
And after the Israeli official’s comments, IDF military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht did not mention whether any arms had been found, saying only that ‘there is substantial Hamas infrastructure in the vicinity of the hospital’.
Israeli soldiers with rifles storm the Al Shifa hospital and are pictured here within the complex on Wednesday
This handout picture released by the Israeli army on Thursday shows soldiers during a military operation around at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City involving tanks
Video grabs appear to show medics evacuating patients from Al Shifa hospital during raid
Hecht appeared to backtrack on Israel’s earlier insistence that the Hamas headquarters are definitely located in tunnels underneath the hospital.
‘[Hamas infrastructure] is potentially under the hospital, and it’s something we’re working on. It’ll take us time. This war is a complex war,’ Hecht said.
Hamas terrorists denied the unnamed official’s claim that soldiers had found weapons and ‘other terror infrastructure’ in the hospital.
‘(This claim) is nothing but a continuation of the lies and cheap propaganda, through which (Israel) is trying to give justification for its crime aimed at destroying the health sector in Gaza,’ Hamas said.
The storming of the hospital is a key moment in the war and will show once and for all whether Hamas terrorists have indeed based their secret headquarters underneath the hospital while using the most vulnerable civilians as human shields.
But the move to enter the sprawling hospital by Israeli forces could see civilians, patients and doctors in the middle of the fierce battles, prompting the UN to say it was ‘appalled’ by Israel’s decision to raid the medical facility.
The United Nations has said it estimates that at least 2,300 people – patients, staff and displaced civilians – are inside and may be unable to escape because of fierce fighting.
Hecht said the Israeli forces went into a specific area inside the hospital during the raid, adding: ‘There wasn’t an all-out attack’. He said fire was exchanged before the Israeli soldiers moved into the hospital but insisted there was ‘no engagement whatsoever’ once they entered.
Hecht said the raid at al-Shifa was not focused on rescuing hostages. Israeli officials have previously suggested that some of the 240 hostages seized by Hamas terrorists when they went on the rampage in Israel on October 7 might be located underneath Gazan hospitals.
‘We were focused on bringing intelligence and dismantling certain capabilities that we had intelligence on,’ he said.
The Al-Shifa hospital, which the World Health Organisation has said is turning into a ‘cemetery’, has been a primary target for Israeli troops in their battle to seize control of the northern half of the Gaza Strip. Medics and the hundreds of civilians trapped inside have told how newborn babies and patients are dying for lack of fuel.
This morning, Israeli tanks rolled into the medical compound while scores of soldiers and commandos stormed buildings including the emergency and surgery departments, which house intensive care units, as patients screamed in terror, medics trapped inside said.
Footage released by the IDF this morning shows dozens of tanks rolling down the streets towards the hospital and scores of soldiers emerging from the vehicles before they entered the building. Israel claimed other video showed soldiers delivering medical supplies to the hospital.
Israeli soldiers inside a military vehicle are seen on their way to storm the Al Shifa hospital in this picture released by the IDF
Footage released by the IDF this morning shows dozens of tanks rolling down the streets towards the hospital
Footage shows Israeli tanks parked outside hospital and scores of Israeli soldiers storming building
The IDF said Israeli troops delivered medical supplies to the Al Shifa hospital as pictured here
At Al-Shifa, doctors said patients and people taking shelter were stranded in horrific conditions in the facility
Israeli soldiers take part in an operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at a location given as Al-Shati, Gaza, on Tuesday
As Israeli forces raced through the corridors, hundreds of young men emerged from different wards, including the maternity section, which was hit in a strike a few days ago, a journalist trapped inside reported.
Soldiers were firing warning sots as they moved from room to room looking for Hamas terrorists, he said, adding that the troops were also searching women and children, some of whom were in tears.
After sharp warnings from the US and others that Al-Shifa must be protected, Israel said the raid was being executed based on ‘an operational necessity’.
READ MORE: IDF prepare to storm Hamas terror tunnels: How Israeli troops now face the most dangerous stage of the ground invasion as they enter booby-trapped Gaza passages where terrorists lie in wait
This is a key moment in the war after weeks of conflicting claims about what lies underneath Al Shifa hospital, where hundreds of patients, including newborns, have been stranded with dwindling supplies and no electricity.
Hours after the raid began, a senior official with Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry said Israeli soldiers were still operating inside al-Shifa hospital.
Speaking by phone from the hospital, Munir al-Boursh said Israeli soldiers ransacked the basement and other buildings, including those housing the emergency and surgery departments.
‘They are still here… patients, women and children are terrified,’ he said. He said doctors vowed to stay with their patients ’till the end.’
Al-Boursh called for the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to secure a safe corridor for patients, medical staff and displaced families trapped in the facility to leave.
Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gaza, said the patients who are trapped inside the medical facility are terrified after they saw the heavily armed soldiers storm the hospital in the early hours of this morning.
‘They are screaming, it’s a very terrifying situation. We can do nothing but pray,’ Zaquot said.
Meanwhile, in a sign of how bleak the situation is in the hospital, the head of the WHO said it had lost touch with health personnel trapped inside after Israeli soldiers began raiding the facility.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: ‘We’ve lost touch again with health personnel at the hospital. We’re extremely worried for their and their patients’ safety.
International concern over the fate of the people inside the hospital has been steadily increasing, especially as the civilian toll in Gaza has climbed during the war.
‘The protection of newborns, patients, medical staff and all civilians must override all other concerns,’ UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on X, formerly Twitter. ‘Hospitals are not battlegrounds.’
Griffiths stressed in a separate video statement that he understood Israel wanted to find Hamas leaders, but insisted that was no excuse for turning hospitals into a battlefield.
‘Hamas must not, should not, use a place like a hospital as a shield for their presence,’ he said.
The White House reiterated its concerns for the safety of civilians shortly after the raid began.
‘We do not support striking a hospital from the air and we don’t want to see a firefight in a hospital,’ a National Security Council spokesperson said.
Earlier, the White House had said that US intelligence sources corroborated Israel’s claim that Hamas and another Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, had buried an operational ‘command and control node’ under Al-Shifa.
Citing the Hamas-run health ministry, UN humanitarian agency OCHA said 40 patients had died in Al-Shifa on Tuesday, while hospital director Abu Salmiya said 179 bodies had been interred in a mass grave inside the complex.
As the Israeli soldiers launched their raid of the hospital, they killed several Hamas terrorists during intense battles, the IDF said.
Palestinians injured in Israeli raids arrive at Nasser Medical Hospital on Tuesday
The US statement comes as pressure ramps up on Israel over its blockade of the sprawling Al-Shifa compound, where doctors say patients and people seeking shelter are stranded in horrific condition
An Israeli military armoured vehicle operates amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at a location given as Al-Shati, Gaza, in this still image taken from video released on Tuesday
Israeli soldiers operate, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Hamas, in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday
Israeli soldiers operate, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Hamas, in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday
Injured Palestinian people sit in front of a destroyed building, belonging to Abu Jazar family, following the Israeli attacks in Rafah, Gaza, on Wednesday
An injured Palestinian man looks at an injured child lying on a gurney at the hospital following the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday
‘Before entering the hospital our forces were confronted by explosive devices and terrorist squads, fighting ensued in which the terrorists were killed,’ the Israeli military said, without specifying exactly where the firefight took place.
Israeli Army Radio said five terrorists had been killed and that weapons were found inside the Al Shifa compound.
Earlier on Wednesday, Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the health ministry for the Hamas-led administration in Gaza, told Al Jazeera television that Israeli forces had raided the western side of the medical complex and believed an explosion occurred inside the hospital.
The surgery and emergency departments were raided first, Zaqout told the broadcaster.
Youssef Abu Rish, an official from the Hamas-run health ministry who was in the hospital, said he could see tanks inside the complex and ‘dozens of soldiers and commandos inside the emergency and reception buildings’.
Dr Ahmed El Mohallalati, a surgeon, told Reuters by phone that staff were in hiding as the fighting unfolded outside the hospital overnight.
‘So yesterday early evening it started… shooting around the hospital and within the hospital. And the sound was really horrible. Look, you can feel that it’s, you know, it’s very near to the hospital,’ he said.
‘And then we realized that the tanks are moving around the hospital. One of the big tanks entered within the hospital from the eastern main gate, and they were, they were they just parked in the front of the hospital emergency department.’
‘All kinds of weapons were used around the hospital. They targeted the hospital directly. We try to avoid being near the windows,’ he said.
Another witness inside the hospital, reached by telephone, said tanks had entered the compound at 3:00 a.m. The Israeli troops dismounted and spread out in the yard, and began searching the basement and entering buildings.
‘It was very dangerous looking from the glass window. The administration of the hospital told us the occupation army informed them they wanted to search us and search room by room. I am very scared,’ the man said, asking that his name be withheld for fear of Israeli reprisals.
‘There was no shooting because there were no gunmen inside the facility. The soldiers were acting freely as were people inside the hospital, the doctors, the wounded and the displaced,’ the man said. He later told Reuters that gunfire could occasionally be heard and he was remaining in hiding.
Israel says Hamas has a massive command centre inside and beneath Al Shifa, but has not provided visual evidence, while Hamas and the hospital staff have repeatedly denied the allegations.
Witnesses have described conditions inside the hospital as horrific, with medical procedures taking place without anaesthetic, families with scant food or water living in corridors and the stench of decomposing corpses filling the air.
A Palestinian woman covered in dust rushes with her child in her arms into the hospital following the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday
Smoke rises during an Israeli military bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday
Palestinians survey the destruction following the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday
Smoke rises from Gaza following an explosion, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, as seen from southern Israel on Wednesday
Israeli soldiers take part in an operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at a location given as Al-Shati, Gaza, in this still image taken from video released on Tuesday
A tank manoeuvres amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, as seen from southern Israel on Wednesday
Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told CNN the hospital and compound were for Hamas ‘a central hub of their operations, perhaps even the beating heart and maybe even a centre of gravity.’
In recent weeks, Israeli defence forces have ‘publicly warned time and again that Hamas’ continued military use of the Al-Shifa Hospital jeopardies its protected status under international law,’ the military said.
READ MORE: Gaza’s biggest hospital has almost 180 people buried in mass grave as Hamas-run health ministry refuses Israeli offer to evacuate babies
‘Yesterday, the IDF conveyed to the relevant authorities in Gaza once again that all military activities within the hospital must cease within 12 hours. Unfortunately, it did not.
‘The IDF has also facilitated wide-scale evacuations of the hospital and maintained regular dialogue with hospital authorities. We call upon all Hamas terrorists present in the hospital to surrender.’
Hamas and hospital staff have denied the Israeli accusations that it uses the hospital for cover. Military officials gave no further details but said they were taking steps to avoid harm to civilians.
This comes after pressure ramped up on Israel over the blockade of the sprawling Al-Shifa compound. Doctors said patients and people seeking shelter have been stranded in horrific conditions.
Hamas-run Palestinian authorities called for a ceasefire yesterday to evacuate three dozen newborns and other patients trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital as Israeli forces battled Hamas in the streets just outside and seized more ground across northern Gaza.
The United Nations estimates that at least 2,300 people – patients, staff and displaced civilians – are inside the hospital and may be unable to escape because of fierce fighting from the facility where supplies are nearly exhausted.
Supplies in the hospital are dwindling and there is no electricity to run incubators and other life-saving equipment. With refrigeration out for days, morgue staff dug a mass grave in the yard for more than 120 bodies yesterday, officials said.
At Al-Shifa, doctors said patients and people taking shelter were stranded in horrific conditions in the facility.
‘There are bodies littered in the hospital complex and there is no longer electricity at the morgues,’ said Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya, adding that 179 bodies had been interred so far.
‘We were forced to bury them in a mass grave,’ he said, adding that seven babies and 29 intensive care patients were among those who had died after fuel for the hospital’s generator ran out.
A witness said the stench of decomposing bodies was everywhere in the Gaza City facility as bombardment and gunfire echoed constantly in the area.
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