From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 3, 2024
IDF blows up tunnels under Shifa hospital, where it once claimed Hamas command center lurked
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The IDF says it has completed demolishing a Hamas tunnel network under Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, releasing a new 360-degree video showing the underground passages.
The complex is smaller than the expansive Hamas command center Israel had initially declared was beneath the Strip’s largest medical center.
Combat engineers blew up the tunnel, though the IDF says hospital buildings above ground were not damaged.
According to the IDF, the tunnel branches under Shifa were around 250 meters in length, and reach several sites used by Hamas in the area, describing them as used for terror purposes.
Israel’s combat operations around Shifa and other hospitals in the Strip have sparked angry denunciations from the international community.
The IDF says it has completed demolishing a Hamas tunnel network under Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, releasing a new 360-degree video showing the underground passages.
According to the IDF, the tunnel branches under Shifa are around 250 meters in length, and reach several sites… pic.twitter.com/l0XAQ6c1Xf
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 3, 2024
Hamas “systematically operates in the hospitals in the Gaza Strip and in the areas adjacent to them, using the residents as human shields and exploiting the hospital’s infrastructure, including electricity and water,” the IDF says.
Troops also located Hamas weaponry within Shifa as well as evidence showing the terror group brought hostages to the medical center following the October 7 attacks, according to the army.
A US official said earlier today that American spy agencies have intelligence that Hamas used Shifa Hospital to command forces and hold some hostages, but largely evacuated the complex days before Israeli troops entered it.
