A British doctor who previously worked at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza, which Israeli officials have claimed Hamas uses as a major command post, said certain areas of the hospital were off-limits to him and other healthcare providers.

Israeli officials have claimed that Hamas operates a command and control base both within and underneath the hospital, which would constitute a war crime, while Israeli forces raided the hospital last week and said they've found evidence that some of the Israeli hostages who were taken during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks were transported through it to their underground tunnel network.

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The doctor, who worked at the hospital three years ago, told France 24 that he was informed when starting employment there that there was a restricted area of the hospital, off-limits to him, with a threat of violence should he disobey.

“When I was first asked to work there [at Shifa], I was told there was a part of the hospital I was not to go near, and if I did, I’d be in danger of being shot,” the doctor, who remained anonymous, said, according to the Times of Israel, adding that while he wasn't told why he should stay away from it, the implication was that it was being used for "nonmedical purposes."

“I stayed away, but I saw a few dodgy-looking nonmedical characters going in and out all the time. It was a ward leading to a basement. As I said, I didn’t go there; so I behaved myself," the doctor added. “Well, I was welcome everywhere else, and as I say, the doctors and nurses there were very welcoming and very kind, and the hushed tones under which this was said were consistent with all the other hushed tones with which Hamas was discussed. You know, people were genuinely fearful."

Hamas has long been accused of using civilians and civilian infrastructure as shields to protect themselves from Israeli forces, and both Israeli and U.S. officials have confirmed the Shifa Hospital has been used by Hamas. Israeli officials have since raided the hospital, and the patients have largely been evacuated elsewhere, including neonatal babies who were evacuated to Egypt. Both a tunnel shaft and weapons were found in it.

As the fighting occurred at the hospital, it threatened the safety of the people in need of care, the providers, as well as a significant number of people who were sheltering from the war there. The bodies of two of the roughly 240 hostages taken on Oct. 7, held now for roughly six weeks, were recovered last week near the hospital.

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Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Sunday that Hamas fighters brought the hostages to the hospital and showed still images and short videos, which he said were of two hostages moving through the building. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry questioned the authenticity of the videos and said that if they are real, it shows that the hostages were brought to the hospital for medical care, according to CNN, a claim that Hagari said is untrue.

“If medical care had been given at the hospital, if the hostages had remained there, then the Red Cross would have come, and the people would have been released. None of these things happened,” he said.