Israel releases videos of what it says are weapons in Gaza hospital
Faced with international outrage over increasingly dire conditions in the Gaza Strip’s besieged hospitals, Israel sought Tuesday to bolster its case for military action by releasing a video of what it said were weapons at a children’s hospital and stories of sexual violence and other atrocities. committed by Hamas during the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s efforts came as conditions for patients, including about three dozen premature babies, grew bleaker in the main hospital complex in Gaza City, which has been surrounded by Israeli forces for days and without power. Workers at Al-Shifa hospital there are digging a mass grave for bodies that have begun to decompose, according to Gaza medical authorities, which Hamas controls.
The hospital’s director, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, said doctors there had performed operations without anesthesia and oxygen on Monday, and several people had died at the medical complex. He added that health workers were forced to bury bodies on the premises.
Israel presented the video – its second in two days – after weeks in which demonstrators, for and against the military campaign, have demonstrated around the world and as the United Nations, aid groups and many countries have criticized Israel and called for a ceasefire -fire. and warned of disaster in hospitals. In recent days, President Biden has also urged Israel to exercise restraint around medical centers, saying, “Hospitals must be protected.”
Israel claims that Hamas has dug a network of tunnels under Gaza’s hospitals, using the patients and workers therein as human shields for its command centers and safe houses. The United States has backed Israel’s description, saying it has intelligence to do so. Hamas and hospital officials have denied the allegations.
To convince skeptics of its claim, Israel released the videos from Gaza’s main children’s hospital, showing the discovery of weapons and explosives and a room where, according to the army, hostages had been held.
“This is not the last hospital like this in Gaza, and the world should know that,” said Admiral Daniel Hagari, chief spokesman for the Israeli army. “It’s a crime.”
While Gaza’s health ministry on Tuesday disputed virtually every statement in the first Israeli video, it acknowledged that the footage was shot at Al-Rantisi Specialized Hospital for Children in northern Gaza. The last patients and staff are said to have left the hospital this weekend after it was surrounded by Israeli forces.
The first Israeli video, a six-minute presentation released Monday, shows Admiral Hagari walking viewers through what he says is the entrance to a tunnel supposedly leading to the hospital, and weapons found in the hospital’s basement. It shows guns, explosives and other weapons arranged as if lined up by police, displaying the loot from a drug raid. The origin of the weapons could not be independently confirmed.
The Israeli army followed suit on Tuesday post a second, shorter video on social media. It lasts just over two minutes and purports to show troops storming the building, and includes clips of them finding explosives, weapons and a room where, Admiral Hagari claims, hostages were being held in the previously released video.
Osama Hamadan, a Hamas spokesman, spoke at a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, calling the initial presentation a “lie and charade.” There was no immediate comment from Gazan officials or Hamas on the second video.
Both videos contained claims that could not immediately be verified.
For example, a piece of paper taped to a wall in the hospital basement quickly became a topic of discussion. Admiral Hagari said the paper – a grid with Arabic words and numbers within each square – could be a scheme for guarding hostages “where every terrorist writes his name.”
However, the newspaper did not mention people’s names; the Arabic words were the days of the week and the numbers below them were dates. Gaza’s Ministry of Health said in a statement that the newspaper was nothing more than “a schedule for regular shifts, a standard administrative practice in hospitals.”
The ministry did not elaborate on one key detail: the calendar starts on October 7, and an Arabic title at the top uses Hamas’s name for the attack: “Al Aqsa Flood Battle, 7/10/2023.”
As for the weapons seen in the video, the ministry said: “We don’t know where they got them.”
Dr. Mustafa Al Kahlout, the hospital’s director, said on Tuesday that families fleeing the Israeli bombardment had sought shelter in Al-Rantisi and other hospitals. He called on the Red Cross and other international organizations to “inspect all parts of the hospitals.”
The White House on Tuesday backed Israel’s description of Hamas’ use of hospitals for military purposes, although it declined to provide specific details. “We have information that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are using some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including Al-Shifa, and tunnels beneath them to conceal and support their military operations and to hold hostages,” the National Security Council spokesman said . John F. Kirby, told reporters.
“We are not in favor of bombing a hospital from the air,” he added. “And we don’t want to see a gun battle in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people and sick people are simply trying to get the medical care they deserve.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday that Israeli forces now control “the above-ground area” of northern Gaza — a description that pointedly leaves out the underground tunnels — and could focus on southern Gaza as they prepare on the possibility of “long months” of struggle ahead.
With Israeli forces encircled, hospitals in northern Gaza have become a focus of international concern. The World Health Organization said on Sunday that Al-Shifa was “no longer functioning as a hospital” and warned of a “serious and dangerous” situation for patients and thousands of people sheltering there. Hospital officials said Monday that about three dozen premature babies were left without incubators because of the lack of power.
Israeli officials, defending the campaign, have emphasized that they are trying to limit damage to Gaza’s more than two million civilians. Although the Biden administration has expressed skepticism about the tolls imposed by Gaza authorities, “many thousands” of civilians have been killed, Kirby said last week.
The Israeli military said late Monday it was delivering mobile incubators and ventilators to Al-Shifa hospital in an effort to help evacuate babies there. In a statement, the military said it was “willing to work with any reliable intermediary to ensure the transfer of the incubators.”
The New York Times was unable to reach the hospital director or Gaza Health Ministry spokesman to ask about Israel’s offer, the details of which remained unclear.
Israel also sought to shed further light on the brutality of the October 7 attack, when Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, Kobi Shabtai, the Israeli police chief, showed videos taken from the body cameras of slain Hamas terrorists, surveillance footage, crime scene photos and a video of an Israeli woman who said she saw terrorists group of people raped. young woman captured at a music festival in the desert.
“This is the most comprehensive investigation the State of Israel has ever seen,” Chief Shabtai said. ‘There has been a massacre here – crimes against humanity. We have evidence of murders, rapes, amputations, burning people alive, sexual abuse and confirmation of death and kidnapping.”
The briefing was one of several that Israeli officials have held for journalists in which they shared graphic photos and videos from October 7, and the images included some they had previously shown. Some of the videos seen on Tuesday, including those showing people being killed, were posted on social media by the attackers. Others could not be independently verified.
“The world needs to know what we are dealing with,” Chief Shabtai said.
Reporting was contributed by Anat Schwartz, Iyad Abuheweila, Aaron Bokserman, Daniel Victor, Ronen Bergman, Talya Minsberg, Matthew Mpoke Bigg And Hiba Yazbek.