Waging war from hospitals

Hamas terrorists operate inside hospitaals precisely because they know the IDF distinguishes between terrorists and civilians.

Terror group Hamas never fails to amaze the world with its brand of treachery and cruelty deserving of its tag as modern-day Nazis.

The Israel Defense Forces recently located the Hamas terror group’s main base of operations under the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the biggest medical facility in the territory.

IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, in a briefing, provided visuals and intercepted audio to prove the terror organization’s activities exploiting the hospital as cover.

Hagari revealed several underground complexes under Shifa that the terror organization’s leaders use to direct attacks against Israel.

Information from Israeli intelligence indicated there are several tunnels leading to the underground base from outside the hospital so that Hamas officials do not need to enter the hospital to reach it. But Hagari added that there is also an entrance to the underground complex from within one of the wards.

The same setup of hospitals with underground Hamas bases is found in other parts of the Gaza Strip.

“Right now, terrorists move freely in Shifa Hospital and other hospitals in Gaza,” Hagari said.

He then spoke of “concrete evidence” that “hundreds of terrorists flooded into the hospital to hide” following the 7 October massacre, in which some 2,500 terrorists burst through the border with Israel under cover of a deluge of rockets and rampaged through more than 20 communities near the Gaza Strip.

They killed some 1,400 people, the vast majority of them civilians, slaughtered in their homes and at an outdoor music festival. They also abducted over 220 people, taking them to the Strip as hostages.

Rocket operations targeting Israel are conducted from a command center inside Shifa Hospital.

Reflecting on the United Nations General Assembly’s approval of a “humanitarian truce” to allow the entry of aid, including fuel, into Gaza to mainly supply hospitals, it would be easy to imagine that all the deliveries will benefit Hamas.

The UNGA adopted a resolution early Saturday, Manila time, calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in Gaza.

It also demanded a “continuous, sufficient and unhindered” provision of lifesaving supplies and services for civilians trapped inside the enclave, as news reports suggested Israel had expanded its ground operations and intensified its bombing campaign.

Israel has blocked the entry of fuel into the Strip since the war began, as this will likely end up in the hands of Hamas.

Hamas’ underground bases use the energy infrastructure of hospitals, Hagari said.

He then accused the terror group of using Shifa Hospital and its occupants, with 1,500 beds and some 4,000 staff, as human shields.

The information on Hamas’s use of the hospital is based on a wide range of intelligence sources collected by the Military Intelligence Directorate and Shin Bet security agency and was shared with allies, according to Hagari.

Hagari said, “Hamas’ use of hospitals is systematic.”

“Hamas terrorists operate inside hospitals precisely because they know the IDF distinguishes between terrorists and civilians. Israel targets terrorists, Hamas targets Israeli civilians and Gazan civilians,” Hagari said.

“There is fuel in the hospitals in Gaza, and Hamas is using it for its terror infrastructure,” he said.

Hagari then played a recording of a conversation between two Gaza residents who made the revelation to intelligence operatives.

In another conversation aired by the military, a senior Gazan energy official revealed that Hamas currently has at least a million liters of gasoline and possibly more, which it stole from civilian projects and is presently hoarding to power its tunnel networks.

The revelation puts into question the ultimate beneficiary of UN aid.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, denied any aid was being diverted.

On 16 October, however, UNRWA  posted on X that Hamas in Gaza had stolen fuel and medical supplies meant for refugees from its premises. Shortly after, the UN agency deleted the post and later asserted that nothing had been looted.

Hamas used deception and treachery to launch a terror assault on Israel. The UN has allowed itself to be another shield for Hamas when it called for a truce that, fortunately, is non-binding on Israel.

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Credit belongs to : tribune.net.ph