Stunning video posted to social media by Israel Defense Forces shows extensive Hamas tunnels underneath the Shifa Hospital complex, complete with air conditioning, bathrooms, and large caches of weapons.
In the first clip, a young soldier faces the camera and says the footage proves that Hamas used the hospital as a terrorism base:
We just entered the Shifa Complex. Behind me is the wall that guards it...
...we're here to see the tunnels and to go inside. What they discovered here in the last 48 hours is baffling and just more evidence that Hamas uses this place as a command and control Center and is a terrorist hub underneath this hospital.
She starts by showing a massive trove of weapons Israeli forces discovered. “We see all the equipment that the fighters found here,” she says.
Then she descends into a “major shaft” of the tunnel system, which she says connects to the larger network under Gaza. Watch as she takes us down into the subterranean lair, passing multiple rooms, extensive wiring, sinks, an A/C unit, even toilets:
Despite breathing hard and being in a terrifying place, she manages to deliver a powerful statement about what they’ve found:
As we move along, walking down that tunnel, now we know the network of tunnels that Hamas holds in Gaza underneath sensitive spots like hospitals, pulling the civilians of Gaza hostage and abusing their right to medical treatment, to human rights, to any base human right that they have.
Here's another view:
Here's a much longer tour, running at over nine minutes. "Dear world, is this enough proof for you?" the caption reads. IDF described the footage on their YouTube site: "IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari reveals a hidden Hamas terrorism base beneath Gaza's largest hospital—stark proof of Hamas' direct threat to innocent lives."
Although the existence of Hamas tunnels is not news—the world has known of their existence for years—seeing them with your own eyes is a different experience than just reading about them in the newspaper. The extent of what they've built down there—bathrooms, no less—is eye-opening.
Hamas has always denied that they use them as terrorism bases, but the more and more video like this comes out, the more ludicrous their claims become. The Israelis feel the videos confirm what they've been saying all along:
The tunnel shaft, some two meters (6-1/2 feet) high, was accessed through an outdoor shaft in the hospital complex grounds, which were once crowded with tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians the army said had served as a human shield from war.
"That's the way that they survive because they use the hospital as a human shield that protects them," said Colonel Elad Tsuri, commander of an Israeli armoured brigade that found the tunnel. "And here they can stay for a long time. There is a room with air conditioning inside."
In the words of the IDF soldier, "Dear world, is this enough proof for you?"