JERUSALEM, Israel — The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed Thursday that it had uncovered a tunnel adjacent to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza, the first step toward uncovering an underground complex that Israel has long suspected under the facility.
In a statement, the IDF said:
IDF troops continue to operate and locate terror infrastructure used by Hamas in hospitals; In the Shifa Hospital, IDF troops found an operational tunnel shaft and a vehicle containing a large number of weapons
IDF troops belonging to the Shaldag Unit, the 7th Brigade, and additional special units continue at this hour to conduct targeted activity in the Shifa Hospital. Today, Hamas’s tunneling infrastructure was exposed inside the hospital. Furthermore, a booby-trapped vehicle that was prepared for the October 7th massacre was discovered, containing a large amount of weapons and ammunition.
In parallel, as part of the ongoing ground activity and searches in the Rantisi Hospital, troops of the Yahalom Unit and 401st Brigade continued to unearth an operational tunnel.
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Furthermore, troops of the Paratroopers Brigade are operating in the Al-Quds Hospital, where weapons and ammunition were located.
The IDF released photos of the tunnel entrance, and weapons recovered in the aforementioned vehicle found at the hospital:
The IDF has been operating in the Shifa Hospital for several days, proceeding slowly and carefully to minimize casualties.
It is still probing tunnels at Shifa and other hospitals, moving slowly, in part, because of the risk of booby traps in the tunnels.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari added, in his evening briefing (via IDF translation):
IDF troops discovered a tunnel shaft in the Shifa Hospital and combat engineering forces are currently unearthing the infrastructure at the site. We also located a vehicle at the hospital that Hamas prepared for the October 7th massacre. It was not used, but it still had a lot of weapons and ammunition inside it. I would like to emphasize this point – a vehicle belonging to Hamas terrorists, with many weapons inside it, was found in the Shifa hospital complex. A vehicle intended to be used in the October 7th massacre, was in a hospital.
In parallel, IDF troops continued activity in the Rantisi Hospital and this evening, we will show you pictures from inside the tunnel that was found near the hospital. I saw with my own eyes during a visit. It is a complex and complicated tunnel, like other Hamas tunnels. This is a combat zone. It includes the Rantisi Hospital, where IDF soldiers are still fighting under fire, while simultaneously uncovering Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure. In the Al Kuds Hospital, a lot of weapons and ammunition were found and the forces continue to operate in the area. This is a complicated activity that takes time. It is founded on the principle of first ensuring the safety of our forces, and only thenachieving our operational objectives. We need this time to secure our forces. The troops are going from structure to structure and are searching floor by floor in order to identify terrorists and destroy their infrastructure. The Shifa Hospital, the Rantisi Hospital, the Al Quds Hospital and other hospitals – we are revealing Hamas terrorist activities both above and below ground in each of them. It is not a coincidence, this is Hamas’ method of operation. The entire world is witness and we will continue to reveal this to the world.
Earlier Thursday, the IDF revealed that it had found the body of an Israeli hostage, Yehudit Weiss, near the Shifa Hospital.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.