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Israel is pressing its case that Hamas is using hospitals as cover, releasing a video from inside Gaza’s main children’s hospital that purportedly showed weapons and explosives found in the centre and a room where hostages were kept.
While Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas, disputed nearly every assertion made in the video, it acknowledged the footage was taken from inside Al-Rantisi Specialized Hospital for Children.
“This is not the last hospital like this in Gaza, and the world should know that,” Israel military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. “It’s a crime.”
The six-minute video contained assertions that could not be independently verified, and evidence whose provenance could not be confirmed.
A piece of paper taped on a wall in the basement, for instance, became an immediate source of contention. Admiral Hagari said the paper – a grid with Arabic words and numbers within each square – could be a schedule for guarding hostages “where every terrorist writes his name.” The paper though did not include people’s names – the words were days of the week and the numbers underneath dates.
The Gazan health ministry said the paper was nothing more than “a regular work shift timetable, a standard administrative practice in hospitals.” The ministry failed to address one detail: The calendar begins on October 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel, and an Arabic title at the top uses the militants’ name for the assault: “Al Aqsa Flood Battle, 7/10/2023.”
In the video, Admiral Hagari enters a room with children’s drawings on blue and pink walls. Neatly laid out on the floor is an array of weapons he says were found in the hospital.
He then shows what he says is an area connected to the hospital basement where hostages were purportedly held. There is a windowless room with couches and curtains covering bare walls where he says hostage videos were made. There is a chair with a rope on the floor next to it, an “improvised toilet,” a baby bottle and a package of diapers. “You don’t build an improvised toilet in the basement, unless you want to build an infrastructure to hold hostages,” he says.
The Gazan health ministry said the rooms shown were shelters “for those fleeing airstrikes. The bathroom shown is a necessity.” The baby bottle and diapers were nothing special, it said. As for the weapons, it added: “We don’t know where they got them.”
While Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas, disputed nearly every assertion made in the video, it acknowledged the footage was taken from inside Al-Rantisi Specialized Hospital for Children.
“This is not the last hospital like this in Gaza, and the world should know that,” Israel military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. “It’s a crime.”
The six-minute video contained assertions that could not be independently verified, and evidence whose provenance could not be confirmed.
A piece of paper taped on a wall in the basement, for instance, became an immediate source of contention. Admiral Hagari said the paper – a grid with Arabic words and numbers within each square – could be a schedule for guarding hostages “where every terrorist writes his name.” The paper though did not include people’s names – the words were days of the week and the numbers underneath dates.
The Gazan health ministry said the paper was nothing more than “a regular work shift timetable, a standard administrative practice in hospitals.” The ministry failed to address one detail: The calendar begins on October 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel, and an Arabic title at the top uses the militants’ name for the assault: “Al Aqsa Flood Battle, 7/10/2023.”
In the video, Admiral Hagari enters a room with children’s drawings on blue and pink walls. Neatly laid out on the floor is an array of weapons he says were found in the hospital.
He then shows what he says is an area connected to the hospital basement where hostages were purportedly held. There is a windowless room with couches and curtains covering bare walls where he says hostage videos were made. There is a chair with a rope on the floor next to it, an “improvised toilet,” a baby bottle and a package of diapers. “You don’t build an improvised toilet in the basement, unless you want to build an infrastructure to hold hostages,” he says.
The Gazan health ministry said the rooms shown were shelters “for those fleeing airstrikes. The bathroom shown is a necessity.” The baby bottle and diapers were nothing special, it said. As for the weapons, it added: “We don’t know where they got them.”
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