Hamas using Qatari, Indonesian-funded hospitals for terror, says Israel

Tel Aviv [Israel]: Israel on Sunday presented evidence that Hamas is using a Qatari-funded medical centre in the Gaza Strip to pursue its terrorist warfare.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a briefing for international media showed visual proof of a terrorist tunnel entrance that was exposed by Israeli soldiers at Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital, located along the coast north of Gaza City.

Hagari also presented a video of Hamas terrorists firing at Israeli soldiers from inside the hospital, which was established in 2016 by its namesake, the former emir of Qatar. The facility specializes in physical rehabilitation and providing prosthetic limbs.

Hagari also showed evidence that the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, which was funded by NGOs from Indonesia and was also inaugurated in 2016, was built on top of Hamas terror infrastructure. There were underground terrorist facilities there before the hospital was constructed, he demonstrated.

The IDF spokesman showed a rocket launch pad located some 245 feet (75 meters) from the hospital.

“Hamas launches rockets on Israel 75 meters from a hospital,” he said.

The evidence from the Qatari and Indonesian hospitals builds upon the case presented earlier about Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza, that Hamas uses these medical centres for terrorism and their patients and staff as human shields.

Hamas’s headquarters is located under the massive Shifa Hospital complex in the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF said.

As reported by the Tazpit Press Service, Hamas makes extensive use of Shifa Hospital. Knowing that Israel would not dare attack a hospital during a war, Hamas leaders hide there, launch rockets from its compound, hide hostages in the bowels of the building, torture collaborators, and dig tunnels connecting Shifa to nearby sites. On Friday, Israel released a recording of a phone call confirming that Hamas also stores at least a half-million litres of fuel underneath Shifa.

“Hamas is hiding behind hospitals, sickly behind hospitals to hide its war machine,” Hagar said.

“We will not accept Hamas’s cynical use of hospitals to hide their terror infrastructure. It must come to an end. It is a war crime.”

Hagari also provided more evidence that Hamas steals fuel from these hospitals to wage war against Israel.

Israel is prioritizing efforts to evacuate Gaza civilians to the safe zone in the south, beyond Wadi Gaza, at the expense of other missions, he said.

The military has dropped more than 1.5 million leaflets warning civilians to evacuate and relayed nearly six million phone messages in Arabic and conducted nearly 20,000 phone calls with Gaza residents urging them to leave for their safety.

Hamas continues to try to prevent Gazans from leaving the northern danger zone, Hagar said.

“Hamas is weak without human shields. They are actively stopping Gazans from moving to safer areas,” he said.