Israel Can’t Prove Gaza Hospitals Were Command Centers

When the Israeli military tore through al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza Strip’s main hospital, they kicked out patients and refugees as part of a siege to ferret out Hamas “command centers,” and killed dozens of civilians, Nikki McCann Ramirez reported for Rolling Stone.

Analysis of tunnel footage, as well as maps and other materials released by the IDF, contradicted claims by Israel that several hospital buildings were connected to and could be accessed from within the tunnel network. I Photo: Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages; Wikimedia Commons

Israel’s months-long assault on Gaza has already resulted in more than 20,000 Palestinian deaths since Oct. 7, 40% of them children and women. The Israeli propaganda line was that Hamas used patients and doctors as human shields against Israeli military action.

An analysis by the Washington Post of open-source materials and evidence provided by Israel in the aftermath of the attack found very little proof that the tunnels under al-Shifa led to a major Hamas command center.

Former prime minister Ehud Barak said Israel itself built some of the tunnels and rooms under al-Shifa in the 1980s.

Analysis by the Post of tunnel footage, as well as maps and other materials released by the IDF, contradicted claims by Israel that several hospital buildings were connected to and could be accessed from within the tunnel network.

The analysis also found that several small rooms attached to the tunnel, one of which the IDF had described as an evacuated Hamas “operational room,” had no signs of recent use or occupancy.

A November analysis of IDF footage by CNN found that Israeli forces have moved or rearranged weapons within al-Shifa Hospital before providing news organizations access to the scene.

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