Israeli forces said they uncovered weapons and other evidence that “totally confirm” Hamas was using Gaza’s largest hospital for covert military purposes after an early-Wednesday raid that brought an extra level of chaos to a medical facility lacking electricity and other basic needs for days.
The Israel Defense Forces posted a seven-minute, one-take video from inside the Al-Shifa Hospital’s MRI wing showing rifles, grenades, ammunition and fighting vests with the Hamas logo, which the IDF says it found during its incursion.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an IDF spokesman who demonstrates the weapons and other military equipment in the video, said the items “totally confirm, without any doubt, that Hamas systematically uses hospitals in their military operations in violation of international law.”
The findings could not be independently verified. The video did not show any tunnels or the command center the Israeli military says Hamas maintains at the hospital.
In a statement blaming Israel and President Joe Biden for a raid based on a “false claim,” Hamas said the White House and Pentagon had given the Israelis a free pass “to commit more massacres against civilians.”
The U.N. estimates at least 2,300 staff, patients and displaced Gaza civilians have taken refuge at the sprawling Al-Shifa complex as Israeli forces have been rolling through Gaza since Hamas militants’ violent border rampage on Oct. 7.
After storming through the hospital earlier in the day, the Israeli military…
