According to the Israeli military, the tunnel is powered with the help of solar panels.
New Delhi:
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that his country had built part of the bunker beneath Gaza’s war-torn al-Shifa hospital. It was in the news last week after the Israeli military announced it had discovered a 55-metre “terrorist tunnel”. Hamas used it as a headquarters outpost.
The former prime minister suggested that the underground space was built by Israel “decades ago,” perhaps around the time Tel Aviv occupied Gaza, “to create more space for hospital operations.”
In an interview with CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, Barak said: “We’ve known for a long time that they (Hamas) have underground bunkers that were originally built by Israeli contractors under al-Shifa. “I’m being treated like that,” he said.
“…used as an outpost for the Hamas headquarters…located at the confluence of several tunnels that were part of this system. I don’t know how ‘main’ it is” …It’s probably not just the command outpost…there are others under other hospitals and sensitive areas, but it was definitely used by Hamas,” he said.
Asked by Amanpour if he had made a mistake, Barak clarified: Located within the limited premises of the hospital. ”
2009, Israeli Press Haaretz In the 1980s, Tel Aviv expanded Al Shifa Hospital, which had been built in the late 1960s when Gaza was under Egyptian rule, with a “large cement basement that housed the hospital’s laundry and various administrative services.” He said he did.
Barak suggested that Hamas may have subsequently expanded the site and connected it with other tunnels and underground bunkers.
Barak also said that thanks to his “cautious” approach to the attack on the hospital, which was initially besieged by Israeli tanks because it lacked food, fuel, water and medicine, Hamas operatives They also emphasized that they had time to erase most of the traces. How they operate under medical facilities.
“We’re not pretending to kill ideology.” Talked to former Israeli prime minister @barak_ehud On the war in Gaza and the risk of further radicalization. “We’re doing our best,” he says. “We feel that we comply with international law and are fully committed to this principle of proportionality.” pic.twitter.com/hQZ0mE2VOX
— Christian Amanpour (@amanpour) November 20, 2023
“We had been warning for days that we were coming here. Then we came very carefully to avoid loss of life of doctors and patients…As a result, Hamas has no time in the world. “It’s not very clear that it (the bunker) was used, but we have known for many years that it was a major or minor headquarters for Hamas activities.” “We believe it was used as an outpost for the US,” he told the CNN anchor.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of building a command center in a network of tunnels beneath Gaza City’s largest hospital, a claim the United States says its intelligence supports but Hamas denies. ing.
Hamas admits to having a vast network of secret tunnels, bunkers and shafts throughout the Palestinian enclaves, but denies that these are located in civilian infrastructure such as hospitals.
Read | “Inhuman bodies are everywhere”: Horror in Gaza hospitals, mass graves 179
Last week, Israel released footage of a tunnel entrance reinforced with blast doors and a bunker beneath a hospital, located near the homes of Hamas operatives.
Read | Hamas tunnel, body of hostage: Israel claims found in Gaza hospital
The Israeli military also released photos of weapons it said were found in tunnels and underground bunkers. These were dismissed by Hamas as “lies and cheap propaganda,” Reuters reported.
There is still no independent confirmation that the area under the hospital was an outpost of Hamas’s command, but as international media have pointed out, Israel has established this as a “fact” and has already committed more than 10,000 people. will want to counter growing pressure to halt military operations in which it is participating. Died.
Meanwhile, Gaza woke up on Wednesday to some good news.
Read | Israel agrees to release 50 hostages, Hamas welcomes ‘truce’
Israel and Hamas have agreed to a four-day ceasefire, under which Hamas will release at least 50 hostages (women and children). The ceasefire is also expected to result in the release of 150 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
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