The director of Gaza’s largest hospital has been arrested as Israel accused him of allowing the facility to be used as a Hamas command and control centre.

Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al Shifa Hospital, was detained on Thursday along with several doctors while they were evacuating to the south.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said he was being questioned after evidence was uncovered “showing that the Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control center”.

“The Hamas terror tunnel network situated under the hospital also exploited electricity and resources taken from the hospital,” the IDF said in a statement.

“In the hospital, under his management, there was extensive Hamas terrorist activity. Findings of his involvement in terrorist activity will determine whether he will be subject to further questioning.”

After his  arrest, Gaza’s health ministry said it would stop co-ordinating with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on any future evacuations of medical staff and patients from Israeli-besieged hospitals.

“We are deeply surprised by the position of the UN and the WHO which have not provided any explanation for this crime.”

Before gaining control of Al Shifa last week, Israel alleged that the Israeli-built hospital served as the headquarters for Hamas.

Israeli forces in recent days laid siege to the hospital and later raided it. Snipers posted on nearby roofs were reportedly shooting at anyone trying to move from one wing to another.

IDF representatives this week showed reporters underground rooms where they claimed the fighters were holed-up and kept some of the prisoners. But the evidence published so far does not yet corroborate Israel’s assertion that Al Shifa served as  Hamas’s nerve centre.

Stumbling block

As the much-anticipated deal to release some of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza hit a stumbling block late on Wednesday, Israel’s military insisted it would carry on with its offensive for as long as necessary.

Speaking to officers inside the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, IDF chief,  said: “We are not ending the war. We will continue until we win, going forward and pressing on in other Hamas areas.”

Officials in Israel and Qatar on Thursday insisted that the hostage release will go ahead while Israel attributed the stall to the erratic behaviour of Hamas.

Israel Katz, the minister for infrastructure and senior member of the prime minister’s party, told the Army Radio on Thursday: “You have to remember who we’re working with – (Hamas chief Yahya) Sinwar is an insane man who gave orders to kill, rape and abuse.

Mr Katza added, however, that “right now the assumption is the deal will go forward”.

Footage showing tunnels

The Israeli army on Wednesday night released more footage showing tunnels underneath Al Shifa.

The hospital was originally built when the State of Israel had full control of the area.

Ehud Barak, Israel’s former prime minister, told CNN earlier this week that some of the underground space underneath Al Shifa was built by Israeli engineers. Israeli officials said that Hamas dug several further floors and added more tunnels to the basement areas originally built in the 1980s.

IDF videos showed troops walking through cramped, concrete tunnels with sparse lighting. In another video, IDF soldiers were seen in a tiled room with a sink and a steel cabinet underneath that is consistent with a typical design of a medical facility.

Intensified attacks

Meanwhile, Israel and Lebanon reported intensified attacks along their borders on Thursday.

At least 35 rockets were launched from Lebanon on Thursday morning, the IDF said as Lebanon’s militant group Hizbollah claimed to have fired even more.

Israel’s air defence intercepted most of the rockets but two homes on Thursday afternoon were reportedly hit in the kibbutz of Manara from where residents were evacuated last month.

No casualties were immediately reported.