Israel has published footage of what it claims is a 55m-long tunnel under Gaza’s main hospital used by Hamas terrorists.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the tunnel, which was said to run 10m deep and led to a blast-proof door, proved Hamas’s “cynical use” of patients and civilians sheltering at the Al-Shifa complex as “human shields”.
“This type of door is used by the Hamas terrorist organisation to block Israeli forces from entering the command centres and the underground assets belonging to Hamas,” said a military statement accompanied by a video showing a narrow passage with arched concrete roofing, ending at a grey door.
The statement did not say what was beyond the door. The tunnel was accessed via a shaft discovered in a shed within the Al-Shifa compound that contained weapons, the IDF said.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, said that Israeli troops had found a “command and control room on the minus 2 floor” of the hospital.