WaPo investigation reveals no proof of Hamas using Al-Shifa Hospital
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An analysis by The Washington Post has revealed that many of "Israel's" claims regarding Al-Shifa being used as a Hamas command and control center were false and came with no evidence.
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Wounded Palestinians arrive at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City coming from Al-Ahli Hospital on October 17, 2023. (AP)
After the Israeli occupation forces alleged that Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza served as a base for Hamas, a Washington Post investigation is now revealing that evidence shows otherwise. The Washington Post had previously cited a European diplomat as saying that "Israel" has not found conclusive evidence of Palestinian fighters' presence at Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza.
IOF spokesperson Daniel Hagari had come out with what he claimed was "concrete evidence", implicating 5 hospital buildings in Hamas operations during a briefing on October 27.
This led the IOF to raid the hospital on November 15 and open fire indiscriminately toward its windows and sections, cutting off all communications to the hospital. Dozens of Israeli soldiers also stormed the emergency department at Al-Shifa, leading to the martyrdom and severe injury of scores of Palestinians, including babies.
Afterward, the IOF posted laughable footage of "evidence" linking Hamas to the hospital, and to make matters worse for the occupation, three journalists from The New York Times, who were escorted by the invading Israeli forces through "only a portion of the sprawling Al-Shifa complex," debunked the Israeli claim of a Hamas military facility under the hospital.
The journalists reported that the visit did not conclusively confirm the presence of such a facility.
"Israel" worked on spreading false narratives simultaneously with the incursion of Al-Shifa, claiming that the Hospital housed Israeli captives. However, this narrative was quickly debunked by the military affairs correspondent for the Israeli Army Radio, Doron Kadosh, who confirmed the absence of captives in the Hospital.
Read more: CNN says 'Israel' may have planted arms at al-Shifa hospital for tour
According to the invading Israeli military, at Al-Shifa Hospital, they discovered one tunnel shaft, a vehicle with weapons, and other caches of guns and ammunition. "Israel" also alleged that nearby, its soldiers found the bodies of an Israeli settler and a soldier.
The Times of Israel's military correspondent Emmanuel Fabian later reported that the tunnels that were alleged by the IOF to be operated by Hamas turned out to be "weird looking septic tank/concrete cable duct for power generators/definitely not a Hamas tunnel."
I just got the truth!
— S A R A H 👑✌️🇵🇸 (@Sarah_Hassan94) November 19, 2023
This photo is for a sewage well!
It's clear the video is edited, just focus!
WHERE IS THE HOSPITAL?!!!!!!!!
You are lying again, stop mocking world's minds! https://t.co/ZrQwcxJmZg pic.twitter.com/85SCHJg7BQ
According to a Washington Post study of open-source graphics, satellite photos, and all publicly disclosed IOF files, the proof offered by the Israeli government falls short of proving that Hamas was utilizing the hospital as a command and control center.
According to legal and humanitarian experts, this raises important issues regarding whether the civilian suffering caused by "Israel's" actions against the Hospital — surrounding, besieging, and eventually invading the building and the tunnel beneath it — was proportionate to the estimated danger.
The Washington Post investigation concluded that:
- Rooms connected to the tunnel network "discovered" by the IOF showed no evidence of use by the Palestinian Resistance;
- None of Hagari's claims regarding the five hospital buildings appeared to be linked to the tunnel network;
- The tunnels cannot be accessed from within the hospital wards.
Despite this, the US and "Israel" have defended their false claims, telling The Post last week they are "absolutely confident" with the intelligence, going so far as to claim that Hamas held captives in the hospital right until "Israel" arrived.
One US Congress member told The Post, “Before, I was convinced that [al-Shifa] was where these operations were taking place." He now believes "there has to be a new level of demonstration. They should have more proof at this point.”
Here's how the Israeli propaganda has been failing miserably.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 14, 2023
A calendar hung on the wall is claimed to be a target list.
An elevator shaft is claimed to be a tunnel used by #Palestinian Resistance fighters.
It's hard to distinguish whether "Israel" thinks everyone is dumb or… pic.twitter.com/50TZXENlXu
Adil Haque, a law professor at Rutgers University, expressed that medical facilities are given particular protection, even during wartime, and only losing their status when they are used outside their medical function to commit acts "harmful to the enemy."
Yousuf Syed Khan, a senior lawyer with Global Rights Compliance, a law firm that has drafted UN reports on siege warfare, questioned, “What was the urgency? This is not yet being demonstrated."
