Fighting A War Shielded by Hospitals

"The director of the Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip was apprehended and transferred for ISA [Israel Security Agency/Shin Bet] questioning following evidence showing that Al-Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control centre."

"The Hamas terror tunnel network situated under the hospital also exploited electricity and resources taken from the hospital. In addition, Hamas stored numerous weapons inside the hospital and on the hospital grounds." 

"Furthermore, after the Hamas massacre on October 7, Hamas terrorists sought refuge within the hospital, some of them taking hostages from Israel with them. A pathological report also confirmed the murder of [Israeli hostage] Cpl. Noa Marciano, on the hospital premises."

"In the hospital, under his [Abu Salmiya's] management, there was extensive Hamas terrorist activity. Findings of his involvement in terrorist activity will determine whether he will be subject to further ISA questioning."

"The Hamas terrorist organization builds underground complexes under hospitals while exploiting the hospital infrastructure and conducts warfare from them."

Joint Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency statement

An image grab from a file handout video released by the Hamas Government Media Office shows Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, giving a press briefing on Nov. 1, 2023, regarding the repercussions of fuel shortages on the medical complex, which is the largest in the Gaza Strip.

While making his way southward along the humanitarian corridor out of Gaza City, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of the Al-Shifa Hospital of Gaza City was arrested, along with several other staff members of the hospital. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza a day later stated that the IDF had issued an alert for the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia to be evacuated within four hours.

 

An extensive video of the Hamas tunnel network under Shifa Hospital was released the day before by the IDF, with the explanation that it "unequivocally proves the modus operandi of the terrorist organization Hamas, which systematically operates from hospitals." Since November 15, when Israeli forces reached and invaded Gaza City, they began operating in and around Al Shifa Hospital, uncovering the presence of weapons and infrastructure within the medical centre.

 

This screen grab taken from security camera footage released by the Israeli army shows Hamas fighters leading hostages into Al-Shifa Hospital on Nov. 7. Photo by Israeli Army/AFP

Clashes in the larger hospital compound with Hamas operatives have led to their deaths. Previously, on November 5, the Israeli military presented evidence that the Indonesian Hospital, funded by NGOs from Indonesia, and opened in 2016, had been built entirely over present infrastructure of Hamas tunnel systems. Underground terrorist facilities were built there before construction commenced on the hospital.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the IDF, showed journalists being introduced to the situation a rocket launch pad located close by the hospital. "Hamas launches rockets on Israel 75 metres from a hospital", he explained. As well, he pointed out, Hamas has made use of a Qatari-funded medical centre in the Gaza Strip. He showed visual proof of a terrorist tunnel entrance that Israeli soldiers exposed at Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital, located along the coast north of Gaza City.

Air-raid sirens continue to sound as 48 Katyusha rockets were fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. An Israeli strike killed five Hezbollah operatives, one of whom was the son of the head of the group's Lebanese parliamentary bloc. The sources of the launches were being struck in return by the Israeli military in repeated fire traded across the border since Israel launched its response to the Hamas rampage of rape, mass murder and abductions on October 7.

 

These images released by the IDF on November 21, 2023, show the inside of a Hamas tunnel found under Gaza’s Shifa Hospital. (Israel Defense Forces)

"[Hamas accuses] the Israeli military of arresting the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, along with several other staff members "who remained at the facility to help patients and wounded evacuate." 

"We see this move by Israel as nothing less than despicable, lacking any sense of humanity and morals."

"It is also a flagrant violation of international norms and charters, given obligations to ensure that medical personnel are never harmed, including in times of war."  

Hamas statement of outrage