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Israel Army Says Camera Footage Shows Hostages Brought to Al-Shifa


FILE —A screen grab of a video released by the Israeli army on November 19, 2023 shows security camera footage of what they say were the Islamic militants of Hamas bringing in a hostage from Israel into the Shifa hospital on the day of the October 7 attack.
FILE —A screen grab of a video released by the Israeli army on November 19, 2023 shows security camera footage of what they say were the Islamic militants of Hamas bringing in a hostage from Israel into the Shifa hospital on the day of the October 7 attack.

JERUSALEM - Israel's military released security camera footage Sunday it said showed hostages being brought into Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on October 7 after being kidnapped during Hamas's attacks on southern Israel.

Al-Shifa hospital has become a focal point for Israel's subsequent military operations in the Gaza Strip, with the army repeatedly saying Hamas uses it as a base, a claim the military has been under pressure to back up.

The militants and medical staff have denied that a command center is under the hospital.

The first clip, which appears to be time-stamped 10:53 am on October 7, shows a man in shorts and a pale blue shirt being dragged through what looks like an entrance hall by five men, at least three of whom are armed.

In the second, seemingly time-stamped 10:55 am, an injured man in underwear is wheeled in on a gurney by seven men, at least four of them armed, as several men in blue hospital scrubs look on.

AFP was not immediately able to verify the footage.

"Here you can see Hamas taking a hostage inside... they're taking him inside the hospital," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said, describing the two men as hostages from Nepal and Thailand.

"We have not yet located both of these hostages," he added. "We do not know where they are."

FILE —This screen grab taken from a security camera footage and released by the Israeli army on November 19, 2023, shows what the army reports as an Israeli army military vehicle parked at Al-Shifa hospital on November 7.
FILE —This screen grab taken from a security camera footage and released by the Israeli army on November 19, 2023, shows what the army reports as an Israeli army military vehicle parked at Al-Shifa hospital on November 7.

The CCTV footage appears to have been shot on the morning that Hamas gunmen began storming southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping some 240 others, according to Israeli authorities.

Since then, Israel has pounded Gaza relentlessly from the air, land and sea with officials in the Hamas-run territory saying 13,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians.

Soldier 'murdered by Hamas'

"These findings prove that the Hamas terrorist organisation used the Shifa hospital complex on the day of the massacre as terrorist infrastructure," the military and intelligence services said in a statement.

Hamas dismissed the footage. It had repeatedly said it had taken several captives to hospital for treatment, "particularly because some had been wounded in airstrikes" by Israel, senior political bureau member Izzat al-Rishq said in a statement.

"We have released images of all that and the army spokesman is acting as if he has discovered something incredible," he added.

Military spokesman Daniel Hagari Hagari also gave more details about the death of 19-year-old soldier Noa Marciano, who was taken hostage. The army announced on Friday that troops had recovered her remains in the area of Al-Shifa.

FILE —Mourners attend the funeral of Israeli soldier, Noa Marciano, in Modiin, Israel, November 17, 2023. The Israeli military said Marciano's body was found in a building near Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Marciano is one of three hostages declared dead since October 7.
FILE —Mourners attend the funeral of Israeli soldier, Noa Marciano, in Modiin, Israel, November 17, 2023. The Israeli military said Marciano's body was found in a building near Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Marciano is one of three hostages declared dead since October 7.

Hamas said she was killed by an Israeli air strike, a claim denied by Israel which said the militants murdered her.

Hagari said Marciano was being held by the militants very close to Al-Shifa hospital.

"During ongoing combat in the vicinity of where she was held captive, Noa's Hamas captor was killed and Noa was injured," he said, stressing that her injuries "were not life-threatening."

Citing "concrete intelligence," he said "Hamas terrorists took Noa into Shifa hospital where she was murdered," he said, with her body later dumped outside the hospital on an orange stretcher where troops found it.

Earlier Sunday the Israeli army said "troops exposed a 55-meter-long terror tunnel 10 meters deep underneath the Shifa hospital complex," which ran under the hospital and ended at a blast door.

Tunnel Beneath the hospital

"IDF troops exposed a 55-meter-long terror tunnel 10 metres deep underneath the Shifa hospital complex," which ran under the hospital and ended at a blast door, an army statement said.

Al-Shifa hospital has become a focal point for Israeli operations, with the army claiming Hamas uses it as a base. Gaza's Hamas rulers and medical staff at the hospital have denied the accusations.

Hagari told reporters the entrance was uncovered when a military bulldozer knocked down the outside wall of the hospital complex and found a fortified shaft with a spiral staircase descending 10 meters (yards).

FILE—An opening to a tunnel that, according to Israel's military, was used by Palestinian militants under Al Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip as seen in this screen grab taken from a handout video released by the Israel Defense Forces on November 19, 2023.
FILE—An opening to a tunnel that, according to Israel's military, was used by Palestinian militants under Al Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip as seen in this screen grab taken from a handout video released by the Israel Defense Forces on November 19, 2023.

"It's a huge one which has metal (spiral) stairs, then it goes along for 55 meters.. and reaches a blast door," said Hagari, indicating troops had not yet tried to open the door for fear it would be booby trapped.

Beyond the door, intelligence suggested either the tunnel would either split or there would be "a big room for command and control," he added, saying troops would continue searching the area as there could be access shafts from nearby houses.

Troops also discovered a white Toyota pickup truck containing "RPGs, explosives, grenades, AK47s," inside the hospital compound which Hagari said was "identical" to those used by Hamas militants when they attacked Israel on October 7.

When the army first entered Al-Shifa on Wednesday, there were "around 2,000 people inside," Hagari said, describing the huge hospital complex as covering an area of "more than 20 acres," or eight hectares.

Israel has pounded Gaza relentlessly from the air, land and sea since October 7 when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping some 240 others, according to Israeli authorities.

Since then, health officials in Hamas-run Gaza say Israel's relentless campaign has killed at least 13,000 people, also mostly civilians.

The operation in Al-Shifa has drawn widespread international condemnation, with the World Health Organization describing the hospital as a "death zone" after sending in a team to visit the facility on Saturday.

The visit came after hundreds fled the hospital following what Al-Shifa's director said were Israeli army orders for it to be emptied, with an AFP journalist seeing crowds of sick, injured and displaced people fleeing on foot.


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