The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released footage Monday purporting to show that Hamas used Gaza’s Rantisi hospital to store ammunition, weapons and hostages, including a baby, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Video posted to Twitter shows IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari touring the hospital and the surrounding area. He also shows the audience a tunnel that he says connects a Hamas commander’s house to the hospital.
EXCLUSIVE RAW FOOTAGE: Watch IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari walk through one of Hamas’ subterranean terrorist tunnels—only to exit in Gaza’s Rantisi hospital on the other side.
Inside these tunnels, Hamas terrorists hide, operate and hold Israeli hostages against their… pic.twitter.com/Nx4lVrvSXH
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 13, 2023
“Hamas used this hospital. Tonight we have entered into this building. I will show you the evidence,” Hagari says in the video, noting that Israeli forces were still conducting a sweep of the hospital. Footage shows a blue and pink painted room in the basement of the hospital with suicide vests, rocket-propelled grenades, firearms and other munitions laid out on the floor.
Hagari also shows viewers a motorcycle and points out a bullet hole in its chassis, suggesting that the vehicle was used during the Oct. 7 massacre to transport hostages from Israel to the hospital. The video then shows a chair with a length of rope around its legs, a baby bottle on a ledge above the chair, a package of diapers and an improvised toilet area, with Hagari concluding that hostages — including an infant — were being held in the hospital basement.
“Our war is against Hamas who uses them [civilians] as human shields,” said Hagari, according to the Times of Israel.
The Rantisi hospital specializes in giving medical care to Gazan children, NBC reported.