Photo by
Kobi Richter/TPS on 4 November, 2023
Israeli Airstrikes Isolate Gaza Hospitals Serving as Hamas Headquarters
Jerusalem, 5 November, 2023 (TPS) -- The Israeli military has fully encircled Gaza City and is carrying out widespread air strikes on Hamas targets, said Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari on Sunday night.
“There are now widespread strikes on terror infrastructure, below ground and above it,” Hagari said.
The strikes are targeting tunnels, ammunition, and rockets all around Shifa. Hamas expects the IDF will enter the hospitals in one or two days.
According to statements made by Hamas figures, it appears the IDF is encircling a triangle area of three hospitals where Hamas maintains its headquarters, the Shifa, Al-Quds and Indonesian Hospitals.
Earlier on Sunday, Israel presented evidence that Hamas also uses the Qatari-funded Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital. This included visual proof of a terror tunnel entrance that was exposed by Israeli soldiers, and a video of Hamas fighters firing on Israeli troops from the medical facility.
Hagari also showed footage of Hamas rocket launching pads located 75 meters away from the Indonesian Hospital, which was built in 2016 on top of already-existing underground terror facilities.
Hamas’s main headquarters is located under the massive Shifa Hospital complex in the northern Gaza Strip.
As reported by the Tazpit Press Service, Hamas makes extensive use of Shifa Hospital. Knowing that Israel would not dare attack a hospital during a war, Hamas leaders hide there, launch rockets from its compound, hide hostages in the bowels of the building, torture collaborators, and dig tunnels connecting Shifa to nearby sites. On Friday, Israel released a recording of a phone call confirming that Hamas also stores at least a half-million liters of fuel underneath Shifa.
“Hamas is hiding behind hospitals, sickly behind hospitals to hide its war machine,” Hagari said. “We will not accept Hamas’s cynical use of hospitals to hide their terror infrastructure. It must come to an end. It is a war crime.”
