Israel this Friday accused the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas of using hospitals in the Gaza Strip to camouflage its command and planning infrastructure, as well as to hide fuel.
In a press appearance, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated today that "Hamas uses Gaza hospitals to keep an entire command and control infrastructure hidden and as a refuge for some terrorists and their commanders. "
Similarly, Hagari stated that, according to intelligence information held by Israel, "there is fuel in Gaza hospitals and Hamas is using it to power its infrastructure."
Israel has systematically rejected the entry of fuel into Gaza despite the appeals made in recent days by various actors in the international community, due to the collapse in which the strip's essential services such as electricity and water have entered.
Hagari illustrated his appearance with a series of aerial photos, audio recordings and a computer recreation of what the device set up by Hamas in Gazan hospitals would look like, especially in Shifa, in Gaza City and the largest in the strip.
Said device would consist, according to the Israeli Army, of a complex network of tunnels and rooms in the basement of the hospital in which a sophisticated command and control center of the Palestinian organization, author of the terrorist attacks against Israel in the On the 7th, more than 1,400 people died and more than two hundred were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
For its part, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported this Friday that since last day the 7th the number of victims due to Israel's bombings against the strip, controlled by Hamas, has risen to 7,326 dead and 18,967 injured.
Hamas "is cynically using Gaza's hospitals as a refuge to camouflage its complex terrorist operation. It is not only using hospitals, but also schools and other sensitive places," Hagari said.
After the October 7 attacks, "hundreds of terrorists broke into the Shifa hospital and others to hide," said Hagari, who stressed that by operating from these hospitals, "Hamas not only endangers the lives of Israeli civilians, but also "uses innocent civilians in Gaza as human shields."
"Shifa is not the only hospital, it is one among many. Therefore, most of the use of hospitals is systematic. Hamas terrorists operate inside hospitals precisely because they know that the Israel Defense Forces distinguish between terrorists and civilians," he said.
The Israeli military spokesman stressed that "when medical facilities are used for terrorist purposes, they risk losing protection against attacks in accordance with international law."
Hagari stated that "the Israel Defense Forces will continue to strive to minimize harm to civilians and will continue to act in accordance with international law as they have been doing for more than two weeks. The IDF has asked and continues to ask civilians in the northern Gaza and Gaza City to temporarily move, for their own safety, to the south.
