A U.S. official, citing declassified American intelligence, stated that U.S. intelligence assessments indicate that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and another Palestinian group fighting Israel used the Shifa medical complex in Gaza to oversee their forces and hold some hostages, but largely evacuated the complex days before Israeli forces entered it. The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that the complex was used by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad to supervise troops fighting against Israel. U.S. intelligence did not disclose the evidence on which its assessment was based. The official mentioned that the United States independently confirmed this information.
Israel also stated that Hamas used the Shifa complex, which it had occupied earlier in the war in Gaza. Israeli forces entered the hospital in November. Targeting the hospital raised global concerns regarding the fate of the civilians and patients inside. Last month, the World Health Organization described the emergency department of the primary health facility in the sector as resembling a "bloodbath."
The U.S. official stated that the U.S. government believes Hamas utilized the hospital complex and the sites beneath it for command and control activities, storing some weapons, and holding a few hostages. Furthermore, the U.S. intelligence obtained information indicating that Hamas fighters largely evacuated the complex days before the Israeli operation, destroying documents and electronics as they left. The New York Times was the first to report on the U.S. intelligence assessment. A classified copy of the assessment was sent to U.S. lawmakers.
In mid-November, Israeli tanks advanced towards the Shifa complex in Gaza City, where some patients remained inside. Israel claimed the hospital was above tunnels housing Hamas militants who used patients as human shields, a claim that Hamas denies. The New York Times noted that the Israeli assessment was at least partially correct in that some hostages were held in the complex or beneath it, but it seems that these hostages were transferred as Hamas evacuated it.
