Israel has been bombing Gaza in a retaliation to the terrorist attack by Hamas on 7th October. Several hospitals have been reduced to rubble. Al Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, has also sustained damage including to the neonatal unit as Israel targets “Jihadi” infrastructure in Gaza. Here’s why Hamas is responsible for the same.
Amid the treated images of debris and dust that Gaza has become, the Al Shifa hospital, albeit partially damaged, stands as a reminder of the terrorism that has been unleashed historically from the contested land.
The Al Shifa Hospital has been the headquarters for Hamas terrorists. The Washington Post in 2014 reported that Al Shifa Hopital had become the “de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders who can be seen in the hallways and offices”.
In 2014, when Israel and Palestine agreed to a ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt, a protester from a mosque opposite to the Al Shifa hospital blared on a loudspeaker calling the then-Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his administration “traitors” and “collaborators”.
Crowds had gathered at the hospital in July 2014 throwing shoes and eggs at the health minister who was turned away before he reached the hospital. The Al Shifa hospital is just one among the several civilian structures that have regularly been used by Hamas to launch attacks at Israel.
According to a report by Tablet dated 2014, one of Hamas’ main command bunkers was located beneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The bunker was equipped with sophisticated communications equipment and housed a part of the Hamas leadership.
The report claimed that in 2006, PBS aired a documentary showing how gunmen roamed the halls of the Al Shifa Hospital, intimidated the staff, and denied them access to protected locations within the building where the camera crew was prohibited from filming.
A reporter from the Finnish Helsingin Sanomat TV had also confirmed during her reporting of the 2014 war that Hamas had been firing rockets out of the Al Shifa Hospital. It was reported that a rocket was launched “right in the back of the parking lot of the hospital”.
According to a 2014 report by The Times of Israel, “The Wall Street Journal‘s Middle East correspondent, Nick Casey, wrote on Twitter that Hamas uses Shifa “as a safe place to see media,” but removed the post afterwards”.
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (MAITIC) has alleged that Hamas and other terrorist organisations “have frequently made use of hospitals and other medical facilities for various military purposes”.
It revealed that Hamas used ambulances to move terrorists and weapons. The modus operandi, according to MAITIC, has been used by Hamas during several Israeli operations including Operation Protective Edge and Operation Cast Lead.
During Operation Cast Lead, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades – which were established in 1991 to provide Hamas with military capability – located themselves at the Al Shifa Hospital closing off some of its wings.
According to MAITIC, in 2014, the Israeli Defense Forces identified two Palestinian terrorists using ambulances to move through the Gaza Strip. The driver was reportedly wearing a white coat. The IDF did not attack the ambulance.
A video of the same was shared by the IDF on YouTube. Moreover, terrorists established positions near the hospital to launch mortar shells. Evidence collected by the IDF and Israeli intelligence has revealed the following:
“Senior Hamas and Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades figures hid in the hospital during Operation Cast Lead. They closed off some of the departments, stationed armed guards and closely examined everyone in the hospital. Hamas transferred weapons from buildings close to the hospital. The teaching and training area of the hospital next to the new delivery room was used as living quarters by Hamas operatives. A tunnel was dug under a mosque near the hospital, which served as a direct escape route from one to the other. A Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel was executed in the hospital.”
In September 2014, Hamas itself confessed to have used residential and civilian areas to launch an offensive against Israel. It also admitted to have used human shields to fire rockets into Israel.
Images accessed from the IDF and published by The Daily Mail showed Hamas using four rocket launch sites next to a cluster of schools and residences.
In 2021, after another escalated conflict with Hamas, Israel bombed the Al Jalaa building in Gaza, which contained the offices of several media organisations. Shortly after issuing a warning, Israel had bombed the Al Jalaa building that housed Al Jazeera and other international media outlets in Gaza city citing the presence of terror organisation Hamas’ military intelligence office in the high-rise.
In the recent conflict too, Israel has been repeatedly sharing evidence of how Hamas locates its weapon silos, and intelligence units close to schools and residential areas, creating a ‘shield’ around itself at the cost of civilian lives.
Israeli civilians are not Hamas’ only victim.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 9, 2023
Hamas intentionally positions itself deep among Gaza's population.
For example…this terrorist site that the Israel Air Force targeted, located next to a mosque and just a football field away from a school. pic.twitter.com/ROs3iMdnLz
Israel has been pounding Gaza with hundreds of airstrikes. Meanwhile, the country is preparing for an all-out ground offensive on Gaza.
