On the night of Tuesday November 14th to Wednesday November 15th, the Israeli army announced that it was carrying out a “targeted operation” against Al Shifa Hospital – the largest in Gaza, located in the north of the Enclave is located. Twenty-four hours later, the IDF published various images online of the discoveries made in the building.
For several weeks, the Israeli authorities have assured that Hamas is using this hospital as its headquarters, which, in their view, legitimizes the incessant attacks in the area. On October 27, the Israeli prime minister shared a 3D visualization that showed tunnels dug under Al-Shifa Hospital used as meeting rooms. On a map, the Israeli government indicated the presence of a “Hamas command and control center” and several “underground Hamas complexes.”
Weapons, no tunnel
The first images released this Thursday by the Israeli army do not show any such infrastructure, at least so far. But weapons and military equipment scattered in several rooms of the hospital. A seven-minute video was released on Israeli army networks. Presented as an inventory of what was discovered by the IDF on the ground, we see Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus (one of the Israeli Army’s English-speaking speakers) wandering through several rooms. It was shot during the day, probably on Wednesday. As one observer noted, Jonathan Conricus’ clock reads 1:18 p.m..
The lieutenant colonel states that this video was “shot in one pass, without editing” (which is inaccurate since the cut is at 6′27″). In the first images, we can see the inscription “Prince Nayef Center for Radiodiagnostics and Radiotherapy” – a medical wing founded in 2004 – on the wall of the entrance hall, which confirms that the following images were indeed shot in Al-Shifa. This part of the hospital, where the army’s discoveries have been concentrated so far, is not among the buildings believed to contain Hamas’s underground headquarters, circled in red on the map released by the Israeli army on October 27, 2023.
“Magic Bag”
In the video, Conricus claims that what was found in this part of the website “fully confirms, without a doubt, that Hamas is systematically using hospitals for its military operations in violation of international law.” And what we found is mine In my opinion, just the tip of the iceberg.” Hamas, for its part, described this operation as “lies and cheap propaganda.”
After Conricus determines that “all the security cameras are blocked,” he walks down a long corridor to a room containing an MRI machine. “If you follow me behind the machine, you will see what our troops updated just a few minutes ago.” He first presents a bulky bag that he describes as the Hamas members’ “grab bag” (i.e. a bag that contains the equipment contains what you need to arm yourself). “[Dans cet] Military equipment, there is an AK47, cartridges, grenades and of course a uniform. All of this was very conveniently and secretly hidden behind the machine. Conricus states that a backpack containing a computer was also hidden there.
Further to the center, the narrator shows the camera two bags of weapons that he says were found in a closet in the middle of the imaging department hallway. Then, after passing through another MRI room “where similar contraband was found,” he presents the contents of another bag, which represents “a complete set of military equipment for a Hamas terrorist.” We see a pair of shoes, a tactical vest, a grenade, cartridges and an assault rifle. The contents of a final bag were previously emptied onto a shelf. With, in the picture, military insignia, a bulletproof vest with the inscription in Arabic “Brigades Al-Qassam”, the armed wing of Hamas, a knife and a rifle. Finally, in a final room, Conricus shows a backpack, a radio, records and a computer, the screen of which is blurry and which, according to the speaker, “contains many incriminating elements at first glance.”
A gun was moved
This passage in which the computer screen appears was released by the IDF. In fact, in a first version of the video posted online by the Israeli Defense Forces, a photo was visible on the screen: We could then see the portrait of Ori Megidish, an Israeli soldier whom the army supposedly freed from the hands of Hamas at the end of October. Hamas has always denied that it held him hostage.
More images of the operation were broadcast notably on the IDF Telegram channel. A 1′13″ long video uses images that were already broadcast in the long version presented by Conricus. And adds an overview of an arsenal placed on the floor, on a large blue carpet and a mattress. In total there are twelve rifles, one pistol, one knife, fourteen ammunition magazines, three grenades, three vests, military fatigues, a balaclava, a pair of shoes, gun lubricant and two aerosols. We see several pieces of equipment on the carpet that can be seen in the IDF spokesman’s video.
Another photo shows military equipment on a long table, alongside communications equipment, books and brochures (some of which bear a logo that appears to be that of the al-Qassam Brigades) and a box of data. Another photo of the same room was also broadcast, this time with IDF soldiers. However, it is difficult to safely locate this space within the hospital. Unlike the previous photo (the blue carpet), the elements photographed on the table are not visible from the outset in Jonathan Conricus’ video.
BBC correspondents speak in the evenings from Wednesday to Thursday Fox News had access to this medical imaging center in the presence of the Israeli army. In the images broadcast by the American channel and the British public television we find Jonathan Conricus showing journalists the documents and weapons presented in the sequence filmed by the IDF, and in particular the material found behind the MRI machines became. Comparing their different contents suggests that weapons were moved before the journalists arrived. Although they were taken in the same location, depending on whether they were taken by the army or by journalists, the images do not show quite the same thing.
As already explained, Jonathan Conricus shows a bag with military equipment behind an MRI machine, including “an AK47”. However, when Fox News and the BBC film or photograph the back of the same machine in the same room, we now see ammunition, a pair of shoes and, most importantly, two guns instead of one. One of the two rifles, a short-barreled weapon with a green shoulder strap, also appears in the IDF video in a closet in another room. And also at the bottom right of the photo of the arsenal laid out on a blue carpet.
We know that the English-language media reports occurred overnight, on Wednesday evening. Below is the long video that Conricus shot. Then also to the two photos shared by the army showing weapons grouped on the blue sheet and on a table, with the URL of these photos (here and there) confirming that they were taken on Wednesday, before 6 p.m. This suggests that the weapons were used to shoot journalists. The BBC and Fox News did not respond to queries from CheckNews.
While several experts have pointed out that the arsenal found at the site – according to the IDF – was insignificant, the Israeli army said againThis suggested it was in possession of “clear information” linking Hamas activities in Al-Shifa to the hostages. And to raise “new elements” about the presence of a Hamas tunnel under the hospital, saying: “Our forces are working to discover them.”
The Israeli press also emphasizes that the operation also had a “symbolic” purpose and was intended to show Hamas that Tsahal was determined to go everywhere and that, as Haaretz writes, “Nowhere is safe.”
Early Thursday evening, the Israeli army announced that it had discovered the lifeless body of Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old hostage kidnapped by Hamas militants on October 7, near Al-Shifa Hospital. The statement did not say when she was killed. The Israeli military claims that “military equipment, including Kalashnikov rifles and RPGs, was also found in the building where the hostage was located.” The Israeli army also said it had found a tunnel near the hospital. A video has been released showing the entrance to an underground structure. However, according to the images broadcast, the nature of the latter could not be confirmed on Thursday evening.