Is Hamas using Gaza hospitals to carry out terror operations?

As the Israel-Hamas war rages on, hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza are dragged into the conflict. The largest hospitals in the Hamas-controlled enclave, Al-Shifa Hospital and Al-Quds Hospital, are no longer functioning because of the lack of fuel and electricity. If Israel is to be believed, they are used by Hamas operatives to carry out terror activities.There is intense fighting going on around Al-Shifa, where thousands including patients and medics are trapped, despite criticism from the United Nations. Even United States president Joe Biden has urged Israel to protect the hospital. But the Israeli military is not backing down.Israel said that Hamas is using Al-Shifa Hospital for military purposes. And it is not the only one. The Israeli military has claimed to have discovered a Hamas-operated tunnel leading to another medical facility – the Al-Rantisi Hospital – and that terrorists also operated from Al-Quds Hospital.According to a report in The Washington Post from last week, at least five Gaza hospitals were targeted by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The army confirmed that they had surrounded several hospitals and demanded health officials to evacuate.But are Hamas operatives using Gaza hospitals as cover? We take a look at what the Israeli military claims.Which hospitals has Israel accused of harbouring Hamas? Al-Shifa HospitalAl-Shifa is the largest and the most well-equipped hospital in Gaza. Thousands have taken refuge inside it as the Israeli onslaught in Gaza City continues. There are also patients, newborns, and hospital staff trapped inside the sprawling medical complex.Israeli forces have moved in on the hospital. It is reportedly encircled by tanks and since Sunday, Israeli bombing has been targeting the facility’s external surroundings and anyone walking inside the courtyard or between its various buildings, according to media reports.Israel claims that the Al Shifa hospital is used by Hamas for military purposes. It says Hamas has built a vast underground command complex centre below the facility, connected by tunnels, something Gaza health officials and Hamas deny. However, the Israeli military has not provided any visual evidence so far.Also read: Babies dying, bodies rotting: Inside Gaza’s largest hospital which has stopped functioningAn Israeli military spokesperson had claimed last month that the Israeli authorities had “concrete evidence” that hundreds of Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October terrorist attack afterwards “flooded” into Al-Shifa hospital. Rear Admiral Hagari then showed what he said was a reconstruction of a network of underground tunnels that ran under the hospital.These accusations have been backed by Israel’s biggest ally, the US recently, even though Biden has urged that the hospital be protected.A US official with knowledge of American intelligence was quoted as saying by CNN that Hamas has a command node under the Al-Shifa Hospital. They said that the militant group uses fuel intended for its purpose and its fighters regularly cluster in and around Gaza’s largest hospital.The remark came after the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that Hamas uses hospitals and civilian facilities. “You can see even from open-source reporting that Hamas does use hospitals, along with a lot of other civilian facilities, for command-and-control, for storing weapons, for housing its fighters,” Sullivan said on CNN’s State of the Union. “Without getting into this specific hospital or that specific claim, this is Hamas’ track record, both historically and in this conflict.”[caption id="attachment_13387782" align="alignnone" width="640"] A wounded Palestinian boy arrives at the emergency room of the Al-Shifa Hospital, following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City on 17 October. Israel claims Hamas uses the facility for military purposes and has built a vast underground command centre below it. AP[/caption]However, Al-Shifa is not the only hospital that is on Israel’s radar.Al-Rantisi HospitalOn Tuesday, the Israeli military officials claimed that the Al-Rantisi Hospital, the only children’s hospital in Gaza, was used as a command centre by Hamas.Israeli forces claimed to have discovered a tunnel operated by the Palestinian militant group leading to the hospital. The tunnel is reportedly next to the house of a Hamas operative who heads the naval operations of the group, said a military spokesperson.The Israeli military officials gave several journalists a tour of the hospital. The IDF also posted a video on X, which shows, spokesperson Daniel Hagari, walking through one of the tunnels, which has an exit in Gaza’s Al-Rantisi.“Inside these tunnels, Hamas terrorists hide, operate and hold Israeli hostages against their will,” IDF said in a post on X.Officials claim that they found abandoned AK-47s, grenades and what Hagari said were suicide vests inside the basement of the hospital, which has now been evacuated. “Hamas is using hospitals... people shooting RPGs from hospitals. This is Hamas. The world has to understand who is Israel fighting against,” he said.According to the spokesperson, the Israeli military will detonate the grenades and vests, which they claim were found inside. A forensic team is going to probe the hospital for more evidence, reports ABC News.In another room of the basement, was a chair, on which a hostage was kept, claimed Hagari. He said that hostages were brought from the Gaza border and held in the basement, as he pointed to a bike with bullet marks. There were women’s clothes, ropes tied to chairs, diapers and a feeding bottle in the basement.[caption id="attachment_13387792" align="alignnone" width="640"] Hagari shows a weapons cache which he claims was recovered by IDF troops in a tunnel linked to Al-Rantisi Hospital. Image courtesy: IDF[/caption]Inside the tunnel, a makeshift washroom was seen. “We see infrastructure like toilets, showers and a small kitchen provided the terrorists their needs,” said Hagari.The tunnel is electrified with the help of solar panels and leads to a bulletproof and explosives-proof door about 20 metres down the ground level, he claimed. “It looks like a hard and clear evidence that the hospital is connected," he concluded.The tunnel remains covered so that no one can find it and the hospital is next to a school and a UN building, the Israeli forces claimed.The Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital was surrounded by tanks from Thursday into Friday, its director had said. The operations at the facility ceased then, according to UNICEF. By Friday, Al-Rantisi Hospital had only a small generator powering the intensive care and neonatal intensive care units, UNICEF said.The tour came after the hospital’s resources deteriorated due to nearby attacks according to UNICEF.Also read: International law protects hospitals during war. Then why is Israel attacking them?Al-Quds HospitalOn Monday, the IDF released footage that it claims shows Hamas terrorists firing from two rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) launchers at the entrance of the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City. An IDF tank is said to have been damaged in the attack.According to the Israeli military’s statement, “The soldiers identified a terrorist squad with two RPG launchers amongst the civilians. During the exchange of fire, civilians were seen leaving the hospital building, and other terrorists who came out of adjacent buildings hid among them and joined the attempted attack.”The terrorists returned to the hospital after the clash, the IDF claimed. It said that it killed 21 terrorists during the incident.[caption id="attachment_13387842" align="alignnone" width="640"] People wait outside Gaza City's Al-Quds Hospital on 29 October. File photo/AFP[/caption]What have been the reactions to Israel’s claims? Hamas and officials of the Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza have denied Israel’s claims about hospitals, saying they are propaganda used to justify attacks on health facilities.Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British doctor working at Al-Shifa told Sky News that the Israeli claim was an “outlandish excuse” to target hospitals.International non-profit organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) also said that it could not corroborate the allegation that Hamas had its headquarters underneath the Al-Shifa Hospital.On Tuesday, HRW said that Israel’s repeated attacks on medical facilities, health personnel and ambulances in Gaza should be “investigated as war crimes”. “Despite the Israeli military’s claims on November 5, 2023, of ‘Hamas’s cynical use of hospitals’, no evidence put forward would justify depriving hospitals and ambulances of their protected status under international humanitarian law,” HRW said.With inputs from agencies