The terrorist group makes use of underground complexes and the hospital’s energy infrastructure, using patients and staff as human shields, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed today (27) that Hamas’ main base of operations is beneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza, under which the group has underground complexes used to “hide convicted criminals and store weapons for terrorism, putting thousands of patients and hospital staff in danger.” The Israeli military released not only images showing what the Hamas command centers would look like beneath Shifa, but also telephone conversations confirming the location of the headquarters and proving that Hamas uses the hospital’s energy infrastructure for its own interests.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the IDF, said in a press briefing that Israel has information that there are several tunnels leading to the underground base outside the hospital, so Hamas officials don’t need to enter the hospital to get there. But it also adds that, in addition, there is an entrance to the underground complex from inside one of the wards. Also according to the IDF, Hamas’ internal security has a command center inside Shifa Hospital, from where it directs rocket fire at Israel and stores weapons.
Hagari accused Hamas of using the hospital – with 1,500 beds and around 4,000 employees – as a human shield. “Hamas uses Shifa hospital as a shield for Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure,” he said. “Hamas wages war on hospitals. By operating from these hospitals, Hamas not only endangers the lives of Israeli civilians; it also exploits innocent Gaza civilians.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on his X account (formerly Twitter) an illustrative video showing what the Hamas infrastructure would look like in the hospital, both underground and on the surface. The images show two generators in the hospital that would be used to supply the terrorist group’s underground command centers.
The IDF also released a recorded phone call between two Gaza residents, which proves that the main headquarters of Hamas’ Al-Qassam brigades is located in the hospital area, with bathrooms, bedrooms and command centers. The use of the hospital’s infrastructure was also confirmed through another recorded phone call, this time with a senior official responsible for energy issues in Gaza. In the conversation, the man claims that Hamas currently has at least half a million liters of fuel under its control, which it would use to provide the terrorists with oxygen in the tunnels, telephones, showers and lighting in the underground complex. “What’s terrible is that even if all these people died, and even if Israel killed 10,000 civilians every day, it wouldn’t matter [to Hamas]. They don’t care. What is most important to them is to remain in power,” the Gaza official denounced.
The information was published on Israel’s official X account, with the text: “Hamas is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, stealing crucial resources from civilians and using them to murder innocent Israelis.”
“The exposure of this information about Hamas command centers only proves that the terrorist group does not care about the citizens of Gaza and does not really represent the Palestinian population. It is clear that by using a location as important as a hospital, which should have a humanitarian function in the midst of war, for its own interests and for the articulation of its terrorist attacks, Hamas has only one goal: to destroy Israel, whatever the cost,” says André Lajst, a political scientist specializing in the Middle East and executive president of StandWithUs Brasil. “Israel will do everything to protect its citizens and to avoid harm to those not involved, but the terrorist organizations knowingly operate using the civilian population, committing a double war crime: firing indiscriminately at Israeli civilians, and using the civilian residents of the Gaza Strip as human shields.”