Under children’s hospital: Israel’s army likely discovers secret hideout for Hamas hostages The dilemma of the Arab summit: “We have no influence”

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has apparently discovered a command center of the terrorist organization Hamas beneath a children’s hospital in Gaza. Hostages may also have been held there. This is reported by Israeli media, citing IDF spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari. He made the latest findings public on Monday evening in a situation report on the short message service X. This information cannot initially be independently verified. Hagari bases his explanation on videos that show the deployment of the Israeli army on the ground and the alleged Hamas headquarters.

Accordingly, the Navy’s elite commando unit Shayetet 13 and the 401st Armored Brigade raided Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City and encountered a weapons cache of Hamas terrorists. The terrorist organization regularly uses civilian facilities such as hospitals, homes and schools to hide from attacks by the Israeli army. International observers accuse the terrorists of using the civilian population in Gaza as ‘human shields’, in violation of international law.

‘They used the hospital to hide’

This would also be the case in Rantisi Hospital: “Hamas terrorists returned from the October 7 massacre [in Israel] back to this hospital. They used the hospital to hide,” Hagari said at the press conference. Accordingly, the Israeli army is said to have found in the suspected command center a motorcycle with a bullet hole and a hair band attached to it. It was similar to the motorcycles used by terrorists in the October 7 massacres in Israel.

Below the hospital, in the basement, the Israeli army also encountered “suicide vests, grenades, AK-47 assault rifles, explosives, RPGs and other weapons,” Hagari said. A tunnel entrance of more than 20 meters deep was also found in the immediate vicinity of the hospital. It is believed that the tunnel was used for military purposes. Video fragments must prove this.

Suspect held hostage prison

According to Hagari, the Israeli army also believes that the hospital’s basement was used to hold hostages. The terrorist organization Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 240 civilians during its attack on Israel on October 7. “There are signs that there were hostages with them, there are plenty of signs of that,” Hagari said. For example, the soldiers discovered improvised toilets. “You don’t build toilets unless you want to hold hostages. We also found baby items,” Hagari said.

Hamas also built a small kitchen next to a hidden room with external ventilation. “We assume that this area and this room were for terrorists or terrorists and hostages. No one hangs a curtain on the wall unless he wants to create a place that doesn’t exist,” says Hagari. A handwritten calendar was also discovered on the wall, counting the days since October 7. Forensic teams from the Israeli army must now investigate the investigate the location and shed light on a possible hostage situation under the hospital.

The terrorist organization Hamas responded only briefly to the press conference. Hamas leader Khalil al-Haja told broadcaster Al-Jazeera that the accusations were false.

The Israeli army has asked the hospital to be evacuated

According to Hagari, the Israeli army has been working to evacuate Rantisi Hospital over the past week. The BBC reports that the small specialized children’s hospital and nearby Al-Nasr hospital in northern Gaza City were evacuated on Friday, except for a handful of patients and staff. Earlier, an official in Rantisi and a senior IDF official discussed detailed arrangements for the evacuation of civilians.

The hospital houses the only pediatric cancer unit in Gaza. However, due to the Israeli air strikes, more and more people from the civilian population fled to the hospital and sought protection there. As the BBC reported, citing information about a telephone conversation between an Israeli official and an official in Rantisi, the IDF had asked them to wear something white to show that they were not Hamas and then leave in a certain manner. Leave the hospital to safety.

“They will all walk out with their hands up,” the hospital official reportedly said. “Perfect,” the BBC quoted the Israeli as saying. Then, in a video verified by the BBC, people were seen waving white flags and apparently coming under fire as they tried to leave Al-Nasr Hospital on Friday. It is unclear where the shots came from and who fired them.

“The war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza.”

However, according to Hagari, all patients from the hospital have been safely evacuated. This information cannot be independently verified at this time. “Israel helped hospital managers evacuate the Gaza patients to a safer hospital,” Hagari said, adding that the IDF had been informed that the last 18 patients in the Rantisi hospital had been safely evacuated to a safer hospital.

“That’s because our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza. “Especially not the sick, the women or the children,” Hagari said. The Israeli army’s war is against the terrorist organization Hamas, which abuses civilians as human shields, he reiterated. The IDF also suspects that the largest hospital in Gaza – Al-Shifa Hospital – is a Hamas headquarters.

Hamas repeatedly fires rockets at civilian targets in Israel. The Israeli army had already called on the people of the Gaza Strip to flee south shortly after October 7 and responded with air strikes on the Gaza Strip to combat Hamas. However, the actions of the Israeli army have been sharply criticized internationally; for example, the UN has repeatedly called on Israel to respect international law.

Used sources: