The Israeli military claims to have discovered a tunnel shaft beneath the besieged al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza.
In a statement released on Sunday, the army said it had discovered a tunnel 55 meters long and 10 meters deep under Gaza’s largest medical center, which has been besieged by Israeli troops for several days.
The army posted a video on its official Telegram channel showing a soldier descending into the tunnel. The images were shot with two separate cameras on November 17, it is said.
The videos show a staircase leading to a concrete archway that ends in what appears to be a door. The military says it is the entrance to the tunnel shaft with “a blast door and a blast hole.”
According to the statement, the tunnel was discovered “in the hospital area, under a hangar, next to a vehicle containing numerous weapons, including RPGs, explosives and Kalashnikov rifles.”
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters that the entrance was discovered when a military bulldozer tore down the outer wall of the hospital complex and discovered a fortified well with a spiral staircase descending 10 meters.
“It’s a huge metal spiral staircase, and then it goes on for 55 meters…and it comes to a blast door,” Hagari said, indicating that troops had not yet tried to open the door lest she be trapped. .
Beyond the gate, intelligence suggests that either the tunnel would split or there would be “a large room for command and control”, he added, saying troops would continue to search the area as there could be access wells from neighboring houses.
Israel has made al-Shifa hospital a focal point of its operations since the army entered it on Wednesday, saying it houses a Hamas command center – a claim that Hamas as well as personnel working there The hospital denied this.
“This is probably one of dozens, if not hundreds, of tunnels. We all know there are tunnels in Gaza,” said Marwan Bishara, Tel Aviv Tribune’s senior political analyst.
“The problem is not finding a tunnel. The problem is the Israeli excuse – and that of their supporters in London and Washington too – that there was ‘a city under a city’.”
Israeli occupying forces entered the surgical department of Al Shifa Hospital today, remaining there for more than 5 hours.
Medical staff and patients suffered unwarranted investigation, resulting in humiliation. A patient was arrested. Let’s urgently call @UN The United Nations and…– Ahmed El Mokhallalati (@AMokhallalati) November 19, 2023
The Israeli military also said Sunday that a captive soldier had been executed and two foreign captives were being held at al-Shifa hospital. The army is searching for some 240 people kidnapped by Hamas in Gaza after the October 7 cross-border assault.
One of the hostages was Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old Israeli army conscript, whose body was found near al-Shifa last week. Hamas said she died in an Israeli airstrike and released a video that appeared to show her corpse, unmarked except for a head wound.
The Israeli military said a forensic examination revealed she suffered non-life-threatening injuries following such a strike.
“According to intelligence information – solid information – Noa was taken by Hamas terrorists inside the walls of Shifa Hospital. There she was assassinated by a Hamas terrorist,” Hagari said without elaborating.
During his televised press briefing, Hagari said the Hamas attackers also brought a Nepali and a Thai captive to al-Shifa, among the foreign workers captured in the October 7 raid. He did not name the two hostages.
Hamas did not immediately comment on Hagari’s statements. He previously said he took some hostages to hospitals for treatment.
At least 13,000 Palestinians, including 5,500 children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its air and ground attack, Gaza’s health ministry said.
The siege of al-Shifa hospital, the focal point of the six-week “genocide”, sparked international outcry, with the World Health Organization labeling it a “death zone” when its team visited the establishment on Saturday.
More than 7,000 people, including critically ill patients and newborns fighting for their lives, were sheltered in al-Shifa before those who could travel were evicted over the weekend.
Thirty-one premature babies were evacuated on Sunday and transported to European and Nasser hospitals in the south of the Gaza Strip.
According to reports from al-Shifa medical staff, some patients are still in the hospital and were questioned earlier on Sunday.
