WHAT HAS ISRAEL FOUND?
The Israeli military has released videos showing AK47s, ammunition and other military equipment it said was found in the hospital’s MRI unit. It also said it discovered a Toyota pickup truck filled with weapons in a hospital garage. The vehicle appears to be the same type of truck used by Hamas militants during the Oct 7 incursion.
On Sunday, it released a video of a 55-metre tunnel in a hospital courtyard. The underground structure was heavily fortified and led to a blast-proof door with an opening that Israel says was meant to be used by Hamas snipers.
It also released security-camera images of Hamas militants escorting what Israel said were two hostages – one from Thailand, the other from Nepal – who were seized in the Oct. 7 cross-border attack. One video showed a group of men forcefully dragging their hostage through the hospital’s main entrance and down a hallway. The other showed a group of men, including at least one gunman, pushing a motionless man on a stretcher in a hallway. Hospital workers could be seen in both videos looking on.
The videos had time stamps from the morning of Oct 7, matching the time of the attack. However the faces of the two purported hostages were blurred, making it difficult to verify the authenticity of the videos.
The army also released photos of what it said were two military jeeps stolen from the Israeli military. The photos showed the jeeps parked in the hospital complex on the morning of the attack.
“By now the truth is clear: Hamas wages war from hospitals, wages terror from hospitals,” said the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. “Everyone who cares about the future of humanity must condemn Hamas.”
Hamas played down the images, saying it had been offering the men in its custody medical treatment.
“We put our fighters at risk to guarantee the injured prisoners the best treatment possible in the Gaza Strip’s hospitals,” the militant group said in a statement.
Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas leader based in Beirut, acknowledged that Israel could find a tunnel “here or there.”
“We don’t deny there are hundreds of kilometres of tunnels in and around Gaza,” he told a news conference. But he said Hamas does not use hospitals for militant activities.