Hamas keeping hostages in Gaza hospital basement: IDF

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has said that Hamas has kept Israel hostages at a hospital basement, and it has evidence including photographs of the same.

Hagari further said that the Israeli Navy's elite Shayetet 13 commando unit and the 401st Armoured Brigade have raided Gaza City's Rantisi Hospital, which treats children, and that Hamas operatives were hiding there.

"Underneath the hospital, in the basement, we found a Hamas command and control centre, suicide-bomb vests, grenades, AK-47 assault rifles, explosive devices, RPGs, and other weapons, computers, money, etc," Hagari said.

"We also found signs that indicate that Hamas held hostages here," he said, adding, "This is currently under our investigation," but that the IDF has intelligence to verify it.

"Additionally, we found evidence that Hamas terrorists came back from the massacre (in southern Israel) on October 7 to this hospital, among others, after butchering Israelis in their homes," he added.

"Hamas hides in hospitals. Today, we will expose this to the world," he added.

Read Admiral Hagari also said that the IDF has been working to enable the safe evacuation of patients from Rantisi over the last week, as well as from other hospitals in northern Gaza.

"Israel helped the hospital managers evacuate the Gaza patients to a safer hospital," he said, adding that the IDF has been informed that 'the last 18 patients in the Rantisi Hospital had safely evacuated to a safer hospital'.

"This is because our war is against Hamas, not against the people in Gaza. Especially not the sick, the women, or the children," he said.

Sharing raw footage filmed some hours ago, he said this proves 'that Hamas systematically runs its terror machine under hospitals in Gaza'.

In the basement of Rantisi, the footage showed a Hamas armoury with grenades, bombs, and RPGs. He highlighted the dangers to patients of explosives in hospitals. The footage also showed a motorcycle in the basement that he believes was driven here by October 7 terrorists, presumably with a hostage.

Nearby, he also portrayed what he claimed were several indications that hostages were held here, including an improvised toilet and other infrastructure to hold hostages, The Times of Israel reported.

Israeli forensic teams were on their way to the hospital to investigate the evidence, he said.

He added that the terrorists might have evacuated the hospital with the patients.

He also indicated that other Gaza hospitals were also being used by Hamas and other terrorists. "The world should know that," he said, adding, "It's a war crime, a crime against humanity and a crime against international law."

The IDF spokesperson also claimed that he took some foreign correspondents with him and that they came under fire as they were leaving.