Israel claim Hamas headquarters is hidden under the Shifa Hospital in Gaza

Israel appears to be preparing the groundwork for a deliberate attack on a major hospital in Gaza – here’s why.

ANALYSIS

Israel insists Hamas militants are operating a command bunker beneath the Gaza Strip’s biggest and most important hospital.

Can it prove it? And if it can, does that make the hospital a legitimate target?

Truth is the first casualty of war.

This is why such an extraordinary claim requires an extraordinary piece of evidence.

On Saturday, Israel Defence Force (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari asserted that the Hamas militant wing had dug several underground facilities beneath Shifa Hospital.

“Right now, terrorists move freely in Shifa Hospital and other hospitals in Gaza,” Hagari told international media.

Israel appears to be preparing the groundwork for a deliberate attack on the 1500-bed facility, releasing a detailed CGI animation and several maps outlining where it claims the Hamas facilities are buried.

The Shifa Hospital is not only the largest hospital in Gaza but it also acts as the main headquarters for Hamas’ terrorist activity.

Terrorism does not belong in a hospital and the IDF will operate to uncover any terrorist infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/Ybpln5xQb2

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 27, 2023

“There are several underground complexes used by the leaders of the terrorist organisation Hamas to direct their activities,” a statement reads, adding that tunnels from both inside and outside the hospital lead to this Hamas “headquarters”.

It claims the facility is used to coordinate rocket fire aimed at Israel, as well as the deployment of Hamas fighters. And that makes it a high-value target.

But the only evidence presented publicly so far is a single alleged intercepted phone call.

Israel claims it has sent proof from a wide range of intelligence sources to its allies.

“The information on the use of Hamas in the hospital is based on an extensive range of well-informed sources of Shin Bet,” the IDF states. “All the information, most of which was not revealed here, was transferred to our intelligence partners worldwide.”

Meanwhile, several airstrikes have reportedly targeted the hospital’s immediate surroundings over the weekend. No reports of casualties were available at the time of publication.

This map, issued by the Israeli Defence Force, shows the alleged positions of Hamas bunkers and facilities beneath the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

Tracing Hamas’ tunnels

There are several ways Israeli intelligence can infer the presence of bunkers under Shifa Hospital.

Drones and surveillance aircraft can track suspects as they move across the Gaza Strip. The points at which they appear and disappear are carefully catalogued and mapped.

This tracking can be visual, thermal or by radar.

Air or satellite-based thermal sensors could detect the inevitable change in surrounding soil temperatures created by an underground cavity. But this is not direct proof. While these sensors can detect minute changes, they cannot suggest a cause.

Israeli reconnaissance aircraft and satellites are known to carry synthetic aperture radar (SAR). This can detect tiny changes in the Earth’s surface, but not why.

At best, these technologies point to areas of interest. It would take ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic sensors to be deployed at the site to determine the cause.

Breaking: The @IDF has released visual and audio materials which prove Hamas has stolen and is using humanitarian resources for its terrorist activities.

Let’s start with the Shifa Hospital, one of Gaza’s biggest medical centers, which is being used as a terror operations base… pic.twitter.com/hMgmtSIc2U

— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) October 27, 2023

Other means include the interrogation of captives, tip-offs by spies – and phone intercepts.

It’s not just a matter of listening in on a conversation. Espionage agencies can exploit a mass of data captured and stored by a mobile phone itself.

Most modern phones carry accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers along with capacitive, proximity and light sensors. This mass of data can be tapped. When combined and assessed, it can reveal the movements of a carrier in granular detail – such as going up or down a flight of stairs.

Israel-based company NSO Group is behind the highly controversial Pegasus surveillance software, which has been used by governments and corporations around the world to spy on the activities of journalists, opposition figures and activists. The wife of murdered US journalist Jamal Khashoggi is seeking to sue NSO after its software was found on her phone.

A picture taken from southern Israel along the border with the Gaza Strip shows Israeli army buldozers and tanks crossing the border into Gaza. Picture: AFP

Human shields or collateral damage?

Thousands of Palestinian civilians are seeking refuge, shelter, food and power inside the Shifa Hospital’s compound after weeks of intense Israeli bombardment. Most of the Gaza Strip’s power generation facilities are offline following Israel’s blockade of fuel supplies. And the trickle of food and supplies crossing the Egyptian border falls far short of that needed to sustain the region’s two million people.

But Admiral Hagari insisted Israel has “concrete evidence” that “hundreds” of terrorists had joined the crowds to “hide” inside the hospital grounds.

Does that make the hospital a legitimate target?

“The IDF, the Israeli government, should be taking every possible means available to them to distinguish between Hamas – terrorists, who are legitimate military targets – and civilians, who are not,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at the weekend.

The Shifa Hospital is the largest in the Gaza Strip.

And coming just a week after an explosion killed hundreds at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, the new IDF allegation has evoked an international response.

Heavy bombardment continues in Gaza.

Many health facilities have been damaged since 7 October, including several in the last two days. Hospitals are overflowing with severely injured patients with no end in sight to the influx of casualties.

Medical supplies are dangerously… pic.twitter.com/3Z7H0j8UsT

— WHO in occupied Palestinian territory (@WHOoPt) October 29, 2023

The source of the al-Ahli hospital explosion is still uncertain, with both sides issuing interpretations of video footage as evidence of the other’s guilt. Intelligence from the Pentagon supports Israel’s assertion that the blast originated from rocket fire in Gaza. Only an impartial forensic analysis of evidence at the site can resolve that dispute.

But the suggestion that Israel was behind the carnage was enough to spark demonstrations among Arab supporters of the Palestinian cause across the Middle East.

Sullivan agreed Hamas is using the civilian population of Gaza as “human shields” and has put “terrorist infrastructure” in civilian areas.

“But it doesn’t lessen their (Israel’s) responsibility under international humanitarian law and the laws of war to do all in their power to protect the civilian population,” he said.

The difference between a terrorist group and a professional army is adherence to the laws of war.

Heading into a third week of heavy bombing from Israel, Gaza buckles under a shortage of basic needs including fuel, whilst several neighborhoods on the Gaza strip have been wiped out and thousands have died. Picutre: Getty

“It is crucial to understand that Israel has a legal, moral, and ethical framework for approaching questions about conduct in war,” argues Professor Emeritus of Professional Ethics and Philosophy at Tel Aviv University Asa Kasher.

“Since it is Hamas policy to blur all distinctions between its members and the general population of Gaza, an Israeli attack on a Hamas military target often risks causing collateral damage, even when extensive precautions are taken. The international press and Western commentators often assume that if any noncombatants are killed in such operations, then excessive force has been used. That assumption is flawed.”

A fire breaks out after an IDF bombardment in northern Gaza on October 29, 2023 seen from Sderot, Israel. Picture: Getty

Those who fight monsters…

Israel’s intelligence agencies insist the Shifa Hospital is a front for Hamas terror operations.

“The hospital’s energy infrastructure supposed to be used by its patients is actually used at the same time by the organisation’s underground terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF statement reads. “The leaders of the terrorist organisation use this energy while endangering the civilian population.”

Israel is keen to proclaim its adherence to its interpretation of the conventions of war.

But that interpretation, it insists, allows for the deliberate destruction of Palestinian civilian infrastructure.

All nations have the internationally recognised right to defend their citizens from direct attack.

“In the event of a terrorist attack sponsored by a de-facto governing authority, as was the case with Hamas’s murderous rampage, the attacked state may need to broaden that scope further,” Kasher states. “Thus, Israel has concluded that the only viable solution to the problem is the complete elimination of Hamas’s political and military wings.”

The occupation once again threatens to bomb Al-Quds #Hospital in Gaza and demands its immediate evacuation.The hospital currently includes more than 400 patients and approximately 12,000 #displaced civilians who sought refuge in the hospital as a safe place, in addition to the… pic.twitter.com/dnoweKSCz9

— State of Palestine - MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) October 29, 2023

Since the outbreak of fighting, IDF spokesmen have insisted every Hamas terrorist directly or indirectly involved in the attack “must be killed”. And every building Hamas used in that attack – or in support of that attack – must be destroyed.

That means any facility related to the Gaza Strip’s Hamas government (democratically elected in 2006, but Israel and Palestine blame each other for the failure of subsequent elections) is therefore at risk of being deemed a valid target.

Ultimately, however, Israel’s military and government must be able to justify these actions – both to its own people and the international community.

“According to Israel’s own self-defence principle, given the kind of threat that Hamas poses – and given Israel’s resulting need to eliminate the political and military infrastructure of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – it is necessary to establish a clear limit for collateral damage,” says Professor Kasher.

“There is no quantitative formula for making such determinations. But qualitative considerations are critical, including the extent and immediacy of the threat that is being acted against and the orders of magnitude of potential casualties if that threat is carried out, as well as the expected collateral damage if the threat is neutralised.”