Israeli Forces Close In On Gaza’s Hospitals, And Claim They Hide Hamas’ Tunnels — Here’s What To Know - Forbes

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Topline

Israeli forces on Friday surrounded the main hospital in Gaza, where Palestinians have congregated for shelter and where Israel claims militant group Hamas conceals its deep underground military headquarters, setting the stage for what could be the next stage of fighting focused on Hamas’ network of tunnels.

Key Facts

Video footage revealed an explosion Friday morning at Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital — the largest medical facility in the occupied territory — which the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry blamed on an Israeli airstrike, though Israel has not said whether it launched the strike (the World Health Organization confirmed Friday the hospital is one of several in Gaza “under bombardment”).

At least one person was killed in the strike, according to Palestinian officials cited by Reuters, and Health Ministry Spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said the hospital was hit five times.

At least five Gaza hospitals have been targeted by Israel’s Defense Forces, the Washington Post reported, while 20 hospitals remain “out of action,” according to a World Health Organization spokesperson, CNN reported.

Israel’s Defense Forces confirmed they had surrounded several hospitals and demanded health officials evacuate the facilities, according to Israel Army Radio cited by multiple outlets, though at Gaza’s al-Nasr hospital, facility director Mustafa al-Kahlout told CNN the hospital is “completely surrounded” with tanks outside preventing an evacuation.

Palestinian residents have increasingly turned to hospitals for refuge, with between 50,000 and 60,000 sheltering inside or on the grounds of al-Shifa, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Gaza Health Ministry figures — another 2,500 people are reportedly receiving treatment at al-Shifa, despite its capacity of 700 beds.

Israeli officials, however, claim al-Shifa hospital hides a deep underground network of tunnels containing stockpiles of ammunition operated by Hamas, and claim the militants group’s headquarters are based in one tunnel under al-Shifa — International Humanitarian Law prohibits attacks on hospitals unless they are used to commit acts “harmful to the enemy.”

Surprising Fact

Gaza’s extensive tunnels, a dark interconnected labyrinth, has been compared by U.S. officials to “fighting in outer space,” retired U.S. Army Ranger master sergeant Jose Gordon told Forbes, with risks including burst eardrums, nosebleeds and carbon monoxide poisoning. Israel’s Defense Forces have been preparing for tunnel combat since 2014, when the IDF reportedly tripled its so-called Weasels tunnel combat command unit following Hamas’ ambush on Israeli troops using tunnels underneath the Israel-Gaza border. Former IDF analyst and Bar-Ilan University geography professor Joel Roskin told Forbes last month the IDF’s plan of attack could include targeting and controlling tunnel entrances, blocking those entrances, flooding passageways and pumping smoke to identify openings once areas of the tunnels are controlled.

Tangent

Another Gaza City hospital was struck by a rocket just over a week into the fighting, killing hundreds of people in one of the deadliest events since the start of the war. The Hamas-run Health Ministry initially blamed Israel for conducting the airstrike, though Israel’s Defense Forces claimed the strike was the result of a “failed shooting” by the Gaza-based group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. President Joe Biden backed Israel’s claim, blaming the strike on an “errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza,” and telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the attack was initiated by “the other team, not you.” Earlier this week, Red Cross officials said a convoy of trucks carrying medical supplies to another Gaza hospital came under fire, though the agency did not say who launched the strike.

Contra

Health officials have reiterated warnings this week that the ongoing war has created dire humanitarian conditions, with International Committee of the Red Cross chief surgeon Tom Potokar warning medical personnel are “really running out of things now,” adding there is “not much food.” Western leaders in the G7, including members of the Biden administration, had been pushing for weeks for humanitarian pauses in the war, with Group of 7 member nations issuing a statement Wednesday calling for “urgent action” to allow for the release of Israeli hostages and to enable supplies to enter Gaza. Netanyahu on Thursday agreed to daily four-hour pauses in the northern Gaza Strip, saying those breaks would allow residents to evacuate to other areas, though Netanyahu stopped short of agreeing to a cease-fire.

Chief Critics

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday argued “much more needs to be done to protect civilians,” lamenting “far too many Palestinians have been killed.” More than 12,400 people have died so far in the fighting, including over 1,400 killed in Israel — most in Hamas’ October 7 attack that started the ongoing war — and another 11,000 in Gaza, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry.

Big Number

More than 100. That’s how many United Nations aid workers have been killed in Gaza since Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7, following Hamas deadly military assault on Israel. In a video posted Friday morning, the UN Relief and Works Agency confirmed 101 workers had died, including teachers, doctors, engineers and sanitation workers.