Israel has faced international criticism for its Gaza campaign, including its attacks on Shifa, the enclave’s largest hospital. Medical officials say Israel has killed around 13,000 people in the strip since Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israel in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage.
Outside on the ground, the army showed scores of guns, grenades and other explosives that military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said had been collected in recent days inside the hospital, a motor home and nearby cars.
He said the body of one hostage, Noa Marciano, 19, had been recovered by the army outside a nearby medical clinic. Hamas earlier released a video saying she had died in an Israeli air strike. It was impossible to verify the claim.
In Washington, the White House has said its independent intelligence supported Israel’s claim that Hamas was using Gaza’s hospitals, including Shifa, to hide command posts.
Hamas responded at the time: “The White House and the Pentagon’s adoption of the false (Israeli) narrative, claiming that the resistance is using Al Shifa medical complex for military purposes, was a green light for the occupation (Israel) to commit more massacres against civilians.”
But Hagari, referring to Hamas’ use of a hideout beneath the hospital, said: “The world now should say what happened in Shifa, what happened in the hospitals, is a war crime.”