JERUSALEM: Three weeks ago, the Israeli military unveiled a detailed 3D model of Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital — showing a series of underground installations that it said was part of an elaborate Hamas command and control center under the territory’s largest healthcare center.
Days after taking control of the hospital, the military has yet to unveil this purported center. But it has released videos of weapons allegedly seized inside the hospital, a tunnel running through the complex and videos appearing to show Hamas militants dragging hostages through the hospital’s hallways. Israel says there will be much more to come.
What Israel finds — or fails to find — could play a large part in its efforts to rally international support for its war against Hamas.
Gaza’s hospitals have played a central role in the dueling narratives surrounding the war.
Hospitals enjoy special protected status under the international laws of war. But they can lose that status if they are used for military purposes.
Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas leader based in Beirut, acknowledged that Israel could find a tunnel “here or there.”
“We don’t deny there are hundreds of kilometers of tunnels in and around Gaza,” he told a news conference. But he said Hamas does not use hospitals for militant activities.
Hamdan, the Hamas leader, mocked the Israeli discoveries so far. “The Israelis said there was a command and control center, which means that the matter is greater than just a tunnel,” he said.
Israel has long claimed that Hamas uses hospitals, schools, mosques and residential neighborhoods as human shields.
In particular, it says Hamas has hidden command centers and bunkers underneath the sprawling grounds of Al-Shifa. The United States says its own intelligence corroborates those claims. Hamas denies the allegations.
The UN and other international organizations say these evacuations have endangered patients and overwhelmed the remaining hospitals in the besieged territory.
With Israel already facing mounting international criticism of its offensive, a failure to uncover a significant Hamas presence could step up the pressure to halt the operation. Israel has vowed to press ahead until it destroys Hamas.
The Israeli military has released videos showing AK47s, ammunition and other military equipment it said was found in the hospital’s MRI unit.
