IDF dismantles Shifa Hospital tunnel complex without damaging hospital
The tunnel under Shifa Hospital spanned over 250 meters, led to significant Hamas terrorist infrastructure and was a base for carrying out terror operations.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFDestruction of tunnel routes in the Shifa Hospital complex, January 3, 2024 (IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
A terror tunnel complex located near Shifa Hospital in Gaza was dismantled by the IDF without causing any damage to the hospital or surrounding buildings, the military announced on Wednesday.
In late November, the Hamas terror tunnel route excavated under the Shifa Hospital and exposed by the IDF was dismantled by the soldiers of the Yahalom Unit together with special forces.Despite the activities to dismantle the expansive underground tunnels, the hospital building above ground was not damaged, and humanitarian services in the hospital were able to continue.The tunnel under Shifa Hospital spanned over 250 meters, led to significant Hamas terrorist infrastructure and was a base for carrying out terror operations. Hamas deliberately developed its subterranean tunnel infrastructure beneath the hospital and connected it to nearby tunnel shafts in order to conduct its activities freely and in disguise underground.
Graphic showing before and after images of the Shifa Hospital complex (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)Hamas destroyed documents
Hamas terrorists took measures to prepare for the IDF's November raid of Shifa Hospital in Gaza by destroying documents and transferring hostages to an alternate location, according to intelligence documents obtained by The New York Times.
The report said that US intelligence found that Hamas destroyed technology and documents crucial to the organization's operation, with Shifa Hospital as a home base.
US intelligence sources emphasized that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad used the hospital as a command center for terrorists in the field fighting against Israeli forces. This intelligence assessment was conducted after Israel insisted that Hamas had built a huge military compound under the hospital – which, according to the report, had become a "legitimate military target for Israel."
