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Israel Defense Forces soldiers gave journalists a rare peek into Hamas’ 300-mile-long underground tunnel system through an entrance uncovered at the al-Shifa Hospital — showing that the medical facility was being used as a nerve center for the terror groups’ operations.
Reporters descended into the terror tunnel on Wednesday via a tunnel shaft at Gaza City’s largest hospital complex, following weeks of Hamas’ denial that such a structure existed.
The underground structure included various rooms housing beds, a kitchen, a bathroom and a stockpile of weapons, explosives and drones.
The IDF said the discovery of the tunnel system came on Nov. 17, when a shelling near the hospital complex unearthed the entrance next to a Qatari facility.
The small hole, just big enough for a single person to drop in at a time, leads to a dark, damp tunnel which runs underneath the foreign compound before reaching the Hamas-operated complex.
In a video descending into the tunnel the bathroom is the first visible room in the base followed by a long, white room with a large air conditioning system installed. The room connects to another tunnel with a small kitchen.
There were also smaller rooms inside the facility that the IDF said likely housed some of the hostages who were kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel.
The sections of the tunnel journalists were allowed to view were secured after the IDF first highlighted the tunnel exploration beneath al-Shifa last week, where soldiers stopped short at a blast-proof door with a slot that would allow Hamas gunmen to fire at invaders.
Inside the tunnel the IDF seized scores of guns and ammunition, along with several grenades, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and multiple drones designed to deliver explosives.
The IDF also showed off fuse boxes inside the tunnel system which they said siphon power from the hospital complex in order to fuel Hamas’ terrorist activities below.
Israeli soldiers spent the last couple of days ensuring that the tunnels were not boobytrapped in order to allow journalists access.
IDF Colonel Elad Tsuri said the IDF is working to clear further paths of the tunnel found underneath al-Shifa, noting soldiers have already found one exit leading to a Gaza kindergarten.
“That’s the way that they survive because they use the hospital as a human shield that protects them,” Tsuri said.
Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the world needed to hold Hamas responsible for operating beneath a hospital, calling it “a war crime.”
Hamas officials have yet to comment on the latest evidence released by the IDF.
The tour underneath al-Shifa came just a day after Israel released footage of another Hamas base located beneath a Gaza mosque.
The chilling video featured a shaft that the IDF said lead directly to Hamas’ terror tunnels beneath the house of worship
Israeli soldiers also found a weapons laboratory in the basement filled with mortars, warhead missiles, thermobaric weapons and RPGs — some of them appearing finished and ready to go while others looked to be in mid-production.
With Post wires.
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