The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released video Wednesday of the latest Hamas terror tunnels discovered under Shifa Hospital in Gaza — including a command and operations center, and facilities for long-term occupancy, such as air conditioning and a toilet.
IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari provided a guided tour of some of the tunnels found underneath the hospital.
Israel Defense ForcesIn a statement, the IDF said:
IDF and ISA special forces, including the Shaldag, Oketz and Yahalom Units, as well as special forces under the command of the 7th Brigade, are continuing to expose the tunnel complex. They also revealed that the terror tunnel extends from under the hospital building and reaches the Qatari Building within the hospital complex.
Behind the breached blast door, soldiers discovered an air-conditioned hideout room and a bathroom. The soldiers of the 7th Brigade also located two additional tunnel shafts near the hospital: one on a nearby street and the other in a nearby house.
The findings unequivocally display Hamas’ deliberate method of operating underneath hospitals. The terrorist organization also exploits the hospital buildings, using them to store weapons in and as terrorist headquarters.
In a briefing, Hagari said:
This evening we are exposing new footage of the underground terror infrastructure underneath the Shifa Hospital. We discovered an extensive amount of infrastructure, not only underneath the Shifa Hospital compound, but also, right underneath it, going from the hospital, into various streets and entering into different central buildings. From the Shifa Hospital, outward. What we exposed today is in fact underground war rooms, infrastructure built as a hiding place from which Hamas terrorists operate.
Nearby the hospital compound, we exposed two further tunnel shafts that most likely connect the hospital’s underground terror infrastructure to the street. From underneath the hospital to nearby buildings. One of them, that I entered, is an educational institute with classrooms. Inside this apartment were classrooms, a board, on the board were words in English, an English lesson for children. On the side, a tunnel shaft, with a floor that in a disguised manner flows into the wall, and from there, you can go down steps into a tunnel that leads to the Shifa Hospital and continues northward of the hospital. Inside the tunnel are central command and control rooms. Terrorists enter the hospitals, exit through an educational institution, near children, using them as a human shield.
Today we exposed this to the world, we will continue to expose and to break it down. Our forces continue to operate in the area until we have destroyed the entire terror tunnel infrastructure. Through this operation, and this is why Hamas has begun to get stressed, we have located Hamas’ sensitive nervous system and tunnel infrastructure with significant command and control capabilities. This is Hamas’ main means of managing its terror forces through its tunnels. This is a strategic asset of Hamas’ and we will destroy it.
Israel’s critics have tried to argue that it did not find enough underneath the hospital to justify taking it over. In reality, the process of uncovering tunnels is very slow, because many of the tunnels are booby-trapped and soldiers have been killed in them.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
