Tel Aviv, Nov 15 (IANS): The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Wednesday said that they have “concrete evidence” that Hamas uses Al-Shifa Hospital as a military facility, media reports said.
“In the last hour, we saw concrete evidence that Hamas uses Al-Shifa Hospital as a military headquarters,” the IDF official said.
However, the IDF have not elaborated on the nature of the evidence, but said the IDF will soon share the details.
The IDF said that the weapons and other “terror infrastructure” have been located within the hospital complex, Times of Israel reported.
On Tuesday, the IDF began operating in what the officials said is “a specific area of the complex,” which is sprawled out over several buildings and underground facilities.
The IDF official said that the current military activity involves “no friction with patients, medical staff and injured civilians,” saying that “they are in a different section of the hospital.”
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that 37 infant patients have been endangered due to power shortage at Al-Shifa Hospital, Times of Israel reported.
The senior IDF official said that “the offer is still on the table” to transfer those infant patients to an alternative facilities, which can be chosen by the Gaza Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Israel has provided incubators capable of being transported by ambulance, to enable the infants’ transfer to an alternative facility outside of north Gaza, where the fighting is focused.