The Israeli military claims it has uncovered a tunnel shaft beneath the beleaguered al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.
In a press release on Sunday, the military mentioned it discovered a 55-metre-long (180 ft), 10-metre-deep (32 ft) tunnel beneath Gaza’s largest medical facility, which has been beneath siege by Israeli troops for a number of days.
The military revealed a video on its official Telegram channel exhibiting a soldier decreasing himself into the tunnel. The footage was shot with two separate cameras on November 17, it mentioned.
The movies present a staircase resulting in an arched concrete passage that ends in what seems to be a door. The military says it’s the entrance of the tunnel shaft with “a blast-proof door and a firing hole”.
According to the assertion, the tunnel was discovered “in the area of the hospital underneath a shed alongside a vehicle containing numerous weapons including RPGs, explosives, and Kalashnikov rifles”.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari instructed reporters the doorway was uncovered when a army bulldozer knocked down the skin wall of the hospital advanced and located a fortified shaft with a spiral staircase descending 10 metres.
“It’s a huge one which has metal [spiral] stairs, then it goes along for 55 metres… and reaches a blast door,” mentioned Hagari, indicating that troops had not but tried to open the door for concern it will be booby-trapped.
Beyond the door, intelligence advised both the tunnel would break up or there can be “a big room for command and control”, he added, saying troops would proceed looking out the realm as there might be entry shafts from close by homes.
Israel has made al-Shifa Hospital a focus of its operations for the reason that military entered it on Wednesday, claiming it harbours a Hamas command centre – a declare Hamas in addition to workers working on the hospital have denied.
“It’s probably one out of dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of tunnels. We all know there are tunnels in Gaza,” Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara mentioned.
“The problem is not finding a tunnel. The problem is the Israeli excuse – and their supporters in London and Washington too – that there was ‘a city under a city’.”
Israeli occupation forces breached the surgical division of Al Shifa Hospital at present, staying for over 5 hours.
Medical workers and sufferers endured an unwarranted investigation, leading to humiliation. One affected person was arrested. Urgently calling on the @UN United Nations and…— Ahmed El Mokhallalati (@AMokhallalati) November 19, 2023
The Israeli military on Sunday additionally mentioned {that a} captive soldier was executed and two international captives held at al-Shifa Hospital. The military is looking for some 240 individuals Hamas kidnapped to Gaza after the October 7 cross-border assault.
One of the hostages was a 19-year-old Israeli military conscript, Noa Marciano, whose physique was recovered close to al-Shifa final week. Hamas mentioned she died in an Israeli air strike and issued a video that appeared to point out her corpse, unmarked aside from a head wound.
The Israeli army mentioned a forensic examination discovered she had sustained non-life-threatening accidents from such a strike.
“According to intelligence information – solid intelligence information – Noa was taken by Hamas terrorists inside the walls of Shifa hospital. There, she was murdered by a Hamas terrorist,” Hagari mentioned with out elaborating.
In his televised briefing, Hagari mentioned Hamas attackers had additionally introduced a Nepalese and a Thai captive, amongst international employees seized within the October 7 raid, to al-Shifa. He didn’t title the 2 hostages.
Hamas didn’t instantly touch upon Hagari’s statements. It beforehand mentioned it took some hostages to hospitals for therapy.
At least 13,000 Palestinians, 5,500 of them kids, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its air and floor assault, the Gaza well being ministry mentioned.
The siege of al-Shifa Hospital, the focus of the six-week “genocide”, has sparked worldwide outcry, with the World Health Organization describing it as a “death zone” when its staff visited the power on Saturday.
More than 7,000 individuals, together with sufferers in vital situation and new child infants preventing for his or her lives, have been sheltered inside al-Shifa earlier than those that have been capable of transfer have been pressured out this weekend.
Thirty-one untimely infants have been evacuated on Sunday and brought to the European and Nasser hospitals within the south of the Gaza Strip.
According to experiences from medical workers inside al-Shifa, some sufferers stay on the hospital and have been interrogated earlier on Sunday.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/19/israeli-army-says-it-found-a-55-metre-tunnel-under-gazas-al-shifa-hospital?traffic_source=rss
