Israel shows alleged Hamas “arsenal” under children’s hospital in Gaza

Editor’s Note: CNN reported from Gaza under Israel Defense Forces escort at all times, but did not submit the material to the Israeli army and maintained editorial control over the final report.

The Israeli military’s focus on hospitals in Gaza is intensifying as the operation to eliminate Hamas from the Strip enters its sixth week.

The Israel Defense Forces invited the media to visit a children’s medical center on Monday, where a spokesman claimed parts of the basement were a Hamas “command and control center” and may have been used. to hold hostages.

A CNN team embedded with the Israel Defense Forces saw weapons and explosives in a room located beneath the Al-Rantisi children’s hospital on Monday, which army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari called an “arsenal.” .

Hagari also showed a chair with a rope next to it and a piece of women’s clothing, which, according to him, would undergo a DNA test, as well as an improvised bathroom.

Israel has repeatedly stated that Hamas houses its operational bases in tunnels beneath hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. The access provided by the Israel Defense Forces on Monday was an effort to substantiate these claims, which are denied by Hamas as well as health and hospital authorities in Gaza.

Concerns are growing that hospitals are being targeted by military actions.

Scathing images and reports from civilians continue to emerge, and doctors warn they cannot evacuate the most vulnerable patients.

Speaking by telephone to CNN this Tuesday (14), Mohammed Zarqout, responsible for all Gaza hospitals, said that Al-Rantisi’s basement was used as a shelter for women and children – and not to store Hamas weapons and keep hostages – in addition to being the location of the pharmacy and some of the hospital’s administrative offices before rainwater made their use “impossible”.

Zarqout also told CNN that medical staff were forced to leave the hospital by Israeli soldiers and were unable to take all of the patients with them when they left.

In a statement on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces said it was allowing passage on foot and by ambulance into the isolation of three hospitals: Al-Shifa, Al-Rantisi and Nasser.

Israeli troops were conducting operations inside Al-Rantisi just hours before CNN’s visit, according to Hagari. He added that a forensic team would soon test material left in the basement rooms to confirm any possible connection to the more than 200 hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the attack in Israel on October 7.

The Israel Defense Forces are also working to determine whether there is a connection between what appears to be a tunnel entrance near the site and rooms beneath the hospital.

CNN saw a well, about 200 meters from Al-Rantisi, which Hagari said was located near the home of a Hamas commander as well as a school.

Wires leading to the shaft provided power to the tunnel from solar panels affixed to the roof of the Hamas commander’s house, he also said.

“We put a robot inside the tunnel and the robot saw a huge door, a door that was in the direction of the hospital,” said Hagari.

Zarquot said that “the tunnel that they claim is a Hamas tunnel is actually an assembly point for electrical wires. We raised the wires to avoid electrical shocks caused by flooding.”

Vast destruction

The CNN team witnessed much destruction on the way through Gaza with the Israeli military, as they were taken to Al-Rantisi hospital.

Countless homes, high-rise apartment buildings, hotels and villas were destroyed. Bullet holes and shells were seen everywhere and the shootings continued.

Days of intense fighting near hospitals in the Gaza Strip have led to what medical staff still working there describe as siege-like conditions.

Although hospitals are protected in times of war under international humanitarian law, this protection may be compromised if they are considered sites of military activity. The World Health Organization recorded at least 137 attacks on health facilities in Gaza, which, according to the organization, left 521 dead and 686 injured.

Other protected locations such as schools, civilian shelters and United Nations facilities have already been damaged or destroyed in more than a month of Israeli airstrikes.

On Monday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees announced that more than 100 UN staff have been killed in Gaza since fighting began – the highest number in the organization’s history.

Orders by Israeli forces that hospitals be isolated or risk facing attacks from troops trying to eradicate Hamas have drawn criticism from global health organizations and aid groups. A joint statement from the regional directors of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF and the World Health Organization on Sunday called for “urgent international action to end the ongoing attacks on hospitals in Gaza.”

“We are horrified by the latest reports of attacks in the vicinity of Al-Shifa hospital, Al-Rantisi Naser Pediatric hospital, Al-Quds hospital and others in Gaza City and northern Gaza, killing many people, including children. Intense hostilities around several hospitals in northern Gaza are preventing safe access for healthcare workers, the injured and other patients,” the statement said.

Doctors continue to refuse to leave Al-Shifa – Gaza’s largest hospital – to date because they say they fear hundreds of patients will die if they are left behind. Israel has claimed that a Hamas center is hidden in the basement, a claim that hospital staff and Hamas have denied.

Thousands of civilians are believed to be sheltering at the hospital and approximately 700 at-risk patients are receiving treatment there, according to Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza.

“The problem isn’t the doctors, it’s the patients,” Al-Burish told CNN on Monday. “If they stay behind, they will die, and if they are transferred, they will die on the way, that’s the problem.”