Israel has released new evidence that it claims further proves that Hamas is using hospitals in Gaza as military positions.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the top spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), also accused the militant group of preventing remaining civilians in northern Gaza from heeding Israeli warnings to flee south.
He said that Hamas fighters with anti-tank missiles targeted Israeli troops who were trying to set up a humanitarian corridor on Saturday.
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“I want to be clear, the IDF adjusted our ground operations to keep the corridors from the north to the south open, but Hamas is attacking our forces,” the spokesperson told a news briefing.
Israel is under growing pressure over its war against Hamas inside Gaza – launched in the wake of a Hamas terror attack on Israeli soil on 7 October – because of the large number of civilian deaths. Arab leaders are demanding a ceasefire and even the United States appears to favour a humanitarian pause.
The Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza have said more than 9,000 people have died in the past four weeks, more than a third of them children.
Rear Admiral Hagari used the briefing to try to explain the efforts Israel has taken to warn civilians to move out of harm’s way in the north – dropping more than 1.5 million leaflets and calling nearly 20,000 residents.
He also wanted to highlight another allegation by Israel – that Hamas is launching attacks on Israeli forces from hospitals.
The spokesperson said he was revealing declassified intelligence on a large television screen behind him.
He pulled up an image that purportedly showed an entrance to a network of tunnels under Gaza that is used by Hamas in the grounds of the Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa bin Thani hospital, north of Gaza City.
Hamas fighters also opened fire on approaching Israeli ground troops – from inside the hospital, the spokesperson claimed.
“Today we will also release evidence that the Indonesian hospital is being used by Hamas to hide an underground command and control centre,” Rear Admiral Hagari said.
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He pointed to a satellite image of the hospital from 7 October – the day of the Hamas attack.
“I am going to zoom in on the area here – across the street – only 75 metres, 80 metres to the hospital,” the spokesperson said.
“Here the IDF identified a launchpad meaning they launched rockets from here. I want to report it – they launch rockets on Israel, 75 metres from a hospital. Why? They know precisely that if Israel will airstrike a launchpad like that the hospital would be damaged.”
At least 15 people were killed and 60 were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on an ambulance convoy near a hospital in Gaza on Thursday, the Palestinian territory’s health ministry has said.
The health ministry added that the ambulances were carrying injured people to be transferred to Egypt for treatment.
The IDF has said a “number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike”.
Footage seen by Sky News shows injured and dead people outside the Shifa hospital in northern Gaza.
