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With a spokesman allowing media to see a children’s medical center on Monday, where he said sections of the basement had been a Hamas “command and control center” and may have been used to hold hostages, the Israeli military’s focus on hospitals in Gaza is becoming increasingly acute.
On Monday, a CNN team infiltrated with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was shown weapons and explosives in a basement beneath the Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesperson, described the location as a “armory.”
In addition, he indicated an improvised restroom, a chair with a rope next to it, and a piece of women’s clothes that would be subjected to DNA testing.
Both hospital directors and Gazan health officials have flatly denied, on several occasions, that Hamas fighters hide beneath hospitals.
The man in charge of all Gaza’s hospitals, Mohammed Zarqout, spoke over the phone with CNN on Tuesday. He said that the basement of Al Rantisi was once home to the pharmacy and some of the hospital’s administrative offices, but that it was now used as a shelter for women and children—not as a place to store Hamas weapons and hide hostages.
Additionally, Zarqout informed CNN that the hospital’s medical staff was compelled to leave by Israeli soldiers and was unable to take all of the patients with them.
The IDF claimed in a statement on Sunday that it was allowing patients to leave three hospitals—Al-Shifa, Al-Rantisi, and Nasser hospitals—by foot and ambulance.
However, as shocking reports and pictures from residents inside hospitals continue to surface, along with physicians’ warnings that they are unable to remove their most vulnerable patients, worries about hospitals being targets for military attack are growing.
Hagari claims that just a few hours prior to CNN’s visit, Israeli troops had been conducting operations inside Al-Rantisi. He said that the materials left in the basement rooms would shortly be examined by a forensic team to verify any possible link to the 200+ hostages that Hamas captured during its October 7th attack in Israel.
The IDF is also investigating the possibility of a link between the hospital’s underground rooms and an apparent tunnel entrance nearby.
CNN was shown a shaft that was roughly 200 meters from Al-Rantisi and that Hagari claimed was close to a school and the home of a Hamas commander.
He added that solar panels mounted on the top of the Hamas commander’s home supplied power to the tunnel through wires that led into the shaft.
Hagari stated, “We [sent] a robot inside the tunnel, and the robot saw a massive door—a door that is toward the hospital.”
“The tunnel they describe as a Hamas tunnel is actually an electrical wire assembly point,” stated Zarquot. In order to avoid any electrical shocks from flooding, we raised the cables.
Immense devastation
CNN’s team, while accompanying the Israeli military, observed extensive destruction throughout their journey in Gaza to Al-Rantisi hospital.
Numerous residential buildings, including houses, high-rise apartments, hotels, and villas, lay in ruins. Signs of combat, such as bullet and shell impacts, were evident, with active firefights still occurring.
Recent days have seen intense combat near hospitals in the area, leading to what remaining medical staff describe as conditions akin to a siege.
Although hospitals are typically safeguarded under international humanitarian law during warfare, this protection can be jeopardized if these facilities are suspected of being used for military purposes. The World Health Organization has documented at least 137 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza, resulting in 521 deaths and 686 injuries.
Other sites usually protected during conflicts, such as schools, civilian shelters, and United Nations facilities, have suffered damage or destruction due to ongoing Israeli airstrikes for over a month. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees recently reported that over 100 UN staff members have been killed in Gaza since the onset of the conflict, marking the highest casualty figure in UN history.
The directive from Israeli forces for hospitals to evacuate due to the proximity of military operations targeting Hamas has drawn criticism from international health organizations and aid groups. A joint statement by the regional directors of UNFPA, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization on Sunday urgently called for international intervention to halt the attacks on hospitals in Gaza.
The statement expressed alarm over reports of strikes near key medical facilities in Gaza, including Al-Shifa Hospital, Al-Rantissi Naser Paediatric Hospital, and Al-Quds Hospital. These incidents have resulted in numerous fatalities, including children, and have hindered safe access for health workers and patients in northern Gaza.
Despite the evacuation orders, doctors at Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, have chosen to stay as of Monday, concerned that hundreds of patients, including those at high risk, might perish if abandoned. Israeli authorities claim that a Hamas facility is located in the hospital’s basement, an assertion denied by both hospital staff and Hamas.
The hospital is also serving as a shelter for thousands of civilians, with about 700 patients currently receiving care, as per Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director-General of the Health Ministry in Gaza, which is under Hamas control.
Al-Bursh emphasized to CNN on Monday that the critical concern is for the patients. He explained that leaving patients behind could result in their death, and transferring them could be equally lethal due to their vulnerable condition.
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