Shifa Hospital in Gaza has become a center of fighting and a symbol, both for Hamas, which uses the IDF raid for its image needs around the world, and for the IDF, which has exposed daily since the beginning of the ground maneuver the cynical use made by the terrorist organization of an institution that is supposed to treat patients but serves as an operational headquarters for the terrorists.
In special footage revealed Sunday evening, the IDF and Shin Bet show the terror tunnel built under Shifa Hospital. IDF forces under the command of the 36th Division, with the participation of special forces from the Shaldag, Yahalam and Oketz units, uncovered the route of a terrorist tunnel about 55 meters long and 10 meters deep under Shifa Hospital.
Transfer of food and water to Shifa Hospital, photo: IDF Spokesperson
Shifa Hospital, photo: Reuters
IDF forces inside Shifa Hospital, photo: IDF Spokesperson
Weapons seized inside Shifa Hospital, today, Photo: IDF Spokesperson
The tunnel shaft, which has a deep staircase leading to its entrance, contains various means of defense including a blast door and a firing slit. Such a door is used by the Hamas terrorist organization to block the ability of military forces to enter the organization's headquarters and underground assets. The shaft was located in the hospital area under a shed, where there was also a vehicle carrying a large quantity of weapons, including RPGs, IEDs, Kalashnikov weapons and more.
On the tactical level, the IDF did not enter Shifa from the main entrance, but breached the perimeter wall of the hospital and thus penetrated the compound. During the operation, the forces exposed the tunnel shaft in a shed - a tunnel through which a Hamas battalion could be run.
Hamas obscures evidence
The IDF believes that Hamas prepared in advance for the possibility of exposing the shaft, and therefore sealed the shaft opening. A heavy D-9 bulldozer exposed the shaft containing a spiral of stairs descending from below.
The army notes that Hamas' logic in Shifa is not necessarily as a hiding place for its senior figures, but is intended for the purpose of conducting fighting. The hospitals serve as a hiding place for operatives, a place to store weapons, an area for digging tunnels and a place for holding abductees. As far as the IDF is concerned, and in light of the clear facts on the ground, the IDF expects continued intensive activity in the Shifa area until the tunnels are destroyed.
In addition, the IDF published aerial photos of the hospital, along with the locations of the terrorist infrastructure found, including explosives in the physiotherapy department, an interrogation room in the cardiac department, weapons and intelligence in the MRI compound, and the tunnel shaft located near the hospital's Qatari building.
Aerial photographs, photo: IDF Spokesperson
Aerial photographs, photo: IDF Spokesperson
Aerial photographs, photo: IDF Spokesperson
Aerial photographs, photo: IDF Spokesperson
The findings prove beyond any doubt that buildings in the hospital compound serve as infrastructure for the Hamas terrorist organization for terrorist activity. This is further proof of the way in which the terrorist organization uses the residents of the Gaza Strip as human shields to cover up its activities.
Hospitals in the Gaza Strip serve as a kind of Iron Dome for Hamas battalion commanders and commanders, who conduct the fighting from within them using the extensive tunnel network and weapons.
For example, in the MRI building, the IDF found weapons that included grenades, vests, explosive vests and weapons. In the hospital's cardiac ward there is a storeroom with weapons, and in the physiotherapy department there are also weapons.
In addition, the IDF found motorcycles on which the terrorists may have left for the massacre on 7.10 and a Toyota vehicle ready and equipped with weapons – exactly the same procedure as 7.10 – that was also ready to go to the massacre. The army believes that some of the terrorists may have gone on to massacre Shifa. The IDF also says that for several weeks Hamas has been concealing incriminating evidence from the field.
At the end of several days of fighting, the IDF reports that no IDF soldier was injured in the operation in Shifa, nor was a single Gazan civilian injured.
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