Is Israel’s military strategy working to eradicate Hamas?

Israel blames the civilian deaths – 11,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry – in part on Hamas’ decision to hide its military fortifications and command centers in residential areas and hospitals such as Al-Shifa.

But U.S. officials said Israel’s quick decision to launch ground operations in the enclave left Israeli commanders little time for comprehensive plans to limit risks to civilians and virtually guaranteed a high number of civilian casualties.

The hospital has become a special focal point. The military has not yet provided public evidence of an extensive tunnel network and command center under Al-Shifa, and Israel is coming under increasing international pressure to demonstrate that the hospital was a crucial military target.

On Friday, Israeli military officials said the search of the hospital would take some time due to the risk of encounters with Hamas members and booby traps, and that they would have to use dogs and combat engineers. According to three Israeli officers, Israeli forces are advancing slowly and currently control only part of the hospital grounds. They also avoided entering a shaft that was discovered there.

But the military already claims to have evidence of at least part of an underground tunnel complex beneath the hospital. A video, which an Israeli official said was filmed by a camera lowered into the shaft by troops on Friday and reviewed by The New York Times, indicates it is a man-made tunnel, with at least one lane wide. enough for the passage of people. The tunnel appears to be 50 feet or more long, and at its end is a door that the official said is reinforced to withstand explosives. The video shows that the door has a small porthole through which shots could be fired into the tunnel from the other side of the door, according to the Israeli official.

Attacking Al-Shifa Hospital was “not the result of a strategy,” said Giora Eiland, a retired major general in the Israeli army and former head of Israel’s National Security Council. “Rather, it is an important tactical maneuver” in Israel’s attempt to control the Hamas narrative, he said.

Although Hamas commanders may have been under Al-Shifa at the start of the war, Mr. Eiland said, most of them have been evacuated south. As a result, he said, Israel will have to evacuate civilians and attack Hamas brigades there in the coming weeks and months. Mr. Eiland predicted that this could be complicated by an international community losing patience with Israel.

Yagil Levy, an expert on the Israeli military, said the attack on Al-Shifa was “a show of power and might, rather than part of a clear strategy.” By doing this, Dr. Levy, Israel could have potentially endangered the lives of the hostages.