Status: 14.11.2023, 11:26 a.m.
By: Stefan Krieger
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Israel's army claims to have discovered Hamas hostage stashes in a children's hospital. Findings are supposed to substantiate the accusations – but there are also doubts.
Gaza – The Israeli army says it has tracked down evidence of Hamas hostage stashes at a children's hospital in Gaza. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said they had found "indications that Hamas" was "holding hostages" in the basement of Al-Rantisi Hospital. As evidence, he showed in a video a baby bottle and a rope attached to a chair, among other things. In addition, Israel assumes that in addition to the rooms for the hostages, there was an underground Hamas command center on the site.
In a video posted on X on Monday, Admiral Daniel Hagari walked through the basement of the Al-Rantisi Special Hospital for Children in the western Gaza Strip. Israel said the hospital had been completely evacuated on Sunday evening (Nov. 12) after troops surrounded the building several days earlier.
Rescue workers and volunteers search a destroyed house in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike. © Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
The evidence of the hostage hiding places in the hospital basement in the northern Gaza Strip is now being investigated, Hagari said. However, the Israeli army also has "intelligence information that confirms this."
Alleged "Hamas infrastructure" in the basement of the hospital
Hagari also said in the video that the army had also found "Hamas infrastructure" and weapons in the hospital basement. According to the report, "explosive belts, grenades, AK47 assault rifles, explosive devices, rocket launchers and other weapons" were discovered.
The video also allegedly includes footage of the home of a senior Hamas naval officer, which is located just 200 meters from Al-Rantisi Hospital, as well as a tunnel near the hospital, Hagari said. The tunnel in question is said to be 20 meters long and secured by a bulletproof door.
Hagari pointed to evidence in the basement of the hospital that he said indicated that the building was used as a Hamas command center, including heavy military equipment such as firearms, hand grenades and vests strapped with explosives. "I want you to understand that this kind of equipment is the equipment for a big fight," Hagari said.
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Doubts about the alleged evidence in the video
However, the information provided by the Israeli military cannot be independently verified. Muhammad Shehada, a journalist living in Palestine, claims to have found some inconsistencies in the video. On X, Shehada writes in a post that Hagari refers to a "random calendar" at the Rantisi hospital as "proof" of a "hostage-taker list" with the names of "terrorists." "But the only thing on this 'list' is literally the days of the week (Saturday-Friday)"
Shehada continued: "Israel couldn't find tunnels or weapons in the hospital, so it invented a new lie: 'Hostages were held in the basement of the hospital.' But how were the hostages brought out when Israeli soldiers and tanks completely surrounded the hospital?"
Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and schools as human shields
Israel has long claimed that Hamas uses homes, hospitals and schools as shields for its fighters, in part because the loss of civilians attracts sympathy for the Palestinian liberation movement and international attention. Monday's videos from the Israel Defense Forces were released at a time when troops continued to approach Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest health facility in Gaza. Tel Aviv has so far provided little concrete evidence to support the allegations. Both Hamas and Mohammed Abu Selmiader, head of Shifa Hospital, have repeatedly denied the existence of an underground command center.
According to Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra, who told Reuters news agency that patients, including newborns, had died after the electricity was cut off in the hospital. The New York Times reported that thousands of people fled Al-Shifa over the weekend, and the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that the situation was "terrible and dangerous" for patients there.
Fierce criticism of Israel
Hundreds of fighters from Hamas, a terrorist organization designated by the US and the EU, infiltrated Israel on October 7 and committed atrocities, mostly against civilians, including many children. According to Israeli figures, about 1200,240 people were killed in Israel and about <> people were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip.
Fighting in the Gaza Strip has intensified since the Hamas attacks, and Israel has been heavily criticized for the attack on the Al-Shifa hospital complex. Attacks on hospitals have become a central part of the fighting, and the presence or absence of a Hamas command center could jeopardize international support for Israel and put US President Joe Biden in a difficult position.
"It is my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive actions with regard to the hospital," Biden said. The U.S. is in contact with Israel because of this. (skr)