Israel released harrowing footage Sunday showing what it said were Hamas terrorists operating from two hospitals around Gaza City – as it vowed to besiege the area within 48 hours and begin street fighting.
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari presented a video to reporters that he said showed Hamas agents using an underground access tunnel at Sheikh Hamad Hospital — and also firing at Israeli forces from the medical center, the Times of Israel reported.
“If it wasn’t enough that we exposed the tunnel under the hospital, the terrorists also shot at our soldiers from inside the hospital,” Hagari said.
An IDF spokesman said Israel also found a network of tunnels under the Indonesian Hospital, as well as rocket launchers placed near the building.
“Hamas systematically built the Indonesian Hospital to camouflage its underground terror infrastructure,” Hagari claimed while producing military aerial shots of the complex.
The IDF said Hamas was operating in the Sheikh Hamad Hospital in Gaza. An IDF video released Sunday shows Hamas fighters walking in and out of medical facilities. IDF
He also presented a recording of Hamas officials allegedly discussing the use of the hospital’s fuel reserves.
Humanitarian groups have warned that much-needed fuel for civilians is running out for medical facilities and water pumps across Gaza.
The IDF video was made after Israel drew criticism from humanitarian groups for airstrikes near hospitals where tens of thousands of Palestinians are being treated and sheltered.
The IDF has claimed that a 300-mile network of Hamas tunnels runs under hospitals – accusing terrorists of hiding behind wounded Palestinians.
The IDF also identified the entrance to the “Gaza Metro” near the hospital, connecting it to the Hamas underground tunnel system. IDF
Israel’s military says it will completely encircle Gaza City within two days and begin a ground invasion there.
But it said Israeli forces would avoid entering the tunnel system, assuming the route was obscured, local newspaper Haaretz reported.
The current invasion plan would see the IDF encircle Gaza and advance cautiously, systematically clearing the area and wiping Hamas off the map in an occupation that would last from months to a year or more, officials said.
The tunnel will be managed in the next stage of the invasion, but the entrance may be hit by air strikes if intelligence determines it is necessary, Israel said.
The IDF also released footage of a Hamas fighter shooting Israeli soldiers from a hospital. IDF
Although the IDF has not ordered its soldiers to storm hospitals, including Shifa Hospital where senior Hamas figures are believed to be hiding, Israeli officials have not ruled out the use of military force there, according to Haaretz.
The Israeli Air Force has dropped more than 1.5 million airmen in northern Gaza and made more than 20,000 calls to urge Palestinians to evacuate before the invasion of Gaza City, Hagari said.
“Our war is with Hamas, not the civilians in Gaza. We will not accept Hamas’s cynical use of hospitals to hide their terror infrastructure,” Hagari said. “Hamas’ exploitation of hospitals must end.”
Despite calls for evacuation, hospital officials repeatedly said it was impossible to evacuate Gaza’s medical center.
Some hospitals operating in the Palestinian enclave say they have many patients in intensive care and children in incubators who cannot be so easily moved to shelter from airstrikes.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
