The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released a related video on the 19th (local time), saying they had discovered an underground tunnel at Al Shifa Hospital, the largest medical institution in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military authorities announced in a statement, “The Israeli military discovered a 55-meter-long underground tunnel 10 meters underground in the Al-Shifa Hospital complex.”
The Israeli military explained, “(The underground tunnel) was discovered when a military bulldozer collapsed the outer wall of the hospital. If you go down 10 meters down the spiral staircase, you will find the main tunnel entrance.”
In the video released by the Israeli military, the entrance to the underground tunnel is under a tent erected in an empty lot next to the hospital building. If you go down vertically about 3 meters from the entrance, you will come across a spiral staircase. If you go down 7m further down the stairs, you will encounter the horizontal main tunnel.
The main tunnel turns to the right after about 5m from the entrance. The length from here to the dead end is 50m.
A video of the inside of an underground tunnel at the Al Shifa Hospital complex released by the Israeli military. Israeli Army X (old Twitter) @IDFAt the end of the tunnel there is a blast door with a hole for shooting. The Israeli military said, “These blast-proof doors are used by (Palestinian armed group) Hamas to prevent our military’s attacks to destroy its operation headquarters or underground assets,” and added, “What was discovered today is evidence that the hospital building was used for Hamas’ terrorist activities.” He claimed.
Military authorities emphasized, “This evidence clearly proves that Hamas used Gaza residents as human shields,” and added, “We will continue our search to find Hamas’ tunnel network near Al Shifa Hospital.”
Previously, the Israeli military had searched the compound, claiming that Hamas had an operations headquarters in the basement of the al-Shifa Hospital complex. They previously announced that they had found space and weapons that were believed to have been used as Hamas’ operational command center. Hamas has refuted this as false.
Hyewon Lee, Donga.com
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.