IDF videos of Gaza's Al-Shifa tunnel unearth bathroom, kitchen, and a meeting room

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) recently unearthed a tunnel network beneath Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza, proclaiming Hamas had transformed the hospital and its underbelly into a command centre. The IDF, through a series of videos, gave the world a peek into the tunnel under the largest hospital in Gaza City.

The IDF, for a very long time, had accused Hamas, the Gaza-based terrorist group of operation in the muddy maze, often referred to as the Gaza Metro.

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Details of the tunnel

• The tunnel shown was equipped with amenities such as a bathroom, kitchen, and an air-conditioned meeting room.
• One of the rooms even had a couple of narrow iron cots, probably used for rest by Hamas terrorists.
• In the walkaround presented by the IDF Colonel Elad Tsuri, commander of the Israeli Armoured Brigade, he stressed the use of hospitals and patients as 'human shields' by Hamas multiple times.
• He said, "That's the way that they survive because they use the hospital as a human shield that protects them."
• The corridors in the tunnel shown had vertical concretised walls and arches, used as reinforcement against the huge hospital complex above it.
• The Colonel also pointed out electricity wire lines along the corridor, as well as the scope of communication equipment used in the tunnel.
• He also accused the hospital of providing the Hamas tunnel with electricity to carry out anti-Israel activities.
• The tunnel shown, which had been recently discovered, had a tough armoured door that was to be carefully combed to be sure there were no booby traps.
• The armoured door and the concrete reinforcements probably helped the tunnels to survive the relentless and intense Israeli strikes, the IDF Colonel added.

Previous IDF claims of an extensive underground city-like complex were not fully supported by the videos released.

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Counterclaims

• While Israel has long accused Hamas of using Shifa Hospital as a command centre, Hamas and hospital officials deny these allegations.
• The hospital, which is still operational, has been a focal point of accusations of war crimes, with Palestinians accusing Israel of targeting hospitals and Israel claiming that these sites were used to shelter armed fighters.
• Journalists, on Wednesday, November 22 were given access to the tunnels, revealing a well-constructed tunnel with arches, stone lining, and various facilities, Reuters reported.
• Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had said that the tunnels were part of the hospital's construction in the 1980s.

However, the sophistication inside 'the tunnel' doesn't point that the tunnel had not been used in a long time.

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Military findings

• The Israeli military displayed weapons and explosives it claimed were collected inside the hospital, further intensifying the controversy.
• Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, "The world now should say what happened in Shifa, what happened in the hospitals, is a war crime."
• The White House had been supporting Israel's claims, citing independent intelligence, reported Reuters.
• However, Hamas responded, calling it a "green light for the occupation (Israel) to commit more massacres against civilians" in Gaza.

According to Al-Jazeera, the ongoing war has claimed over 14,500 lives in Gaza since Hamas launched the surprise weekend attack on October 7.

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