Israel has escalated its accusations against Hamas for violations at Al-Shifa Hospital, stating that it witnessed the execution of a female soldier and the holding of two foreign hostages. Al-Shifa is the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip and has been a focal point of the devastating attack launched by Israel over the past six weeks, where tens of thousands of Palestinians sought refuge at one point.
The hospital is currently evacuating patients and staff after Israeli forces raided it last week, citing a mission to eliminate hidden Hamas facilities. Israel is also searching for around 240 individuals taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza following the border attack on October 7, which sparked the war. One of these soldiers was 19-year-old Noa Marciano, whose body was retrieved near Al-Shifa Hospital last week. Hamas claimed she died from an Israeli airstrike and released a video showing her body without markings except for a head wound.
New evidence revealed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the General Security Service (Shin Bet) suggests that Al-Shifa Hospital was used as a terrorist infrastructure where Hamas operatives abducted hostages on October 7. The evidence, disclosed with the assistance of Shin Bet, indicates that operatives…
The IDF stated that forensic examination showed she sustained injuries not life-threatening from such a strike. IDF spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said, "According to confirmed intelligence information, Hamas terrorists took Noa inside the walls of Al-Shifa Hospital, where they killed her." He did not provide further details.
During a televised press conference, Hagari mentioned that Hamas militants also brought a Nepali and a Thai among the foreign workers they took hostage during the October 7 attack to Al-Shifa Hospital. He did not reveal the names of the hostages. In a video captured by surveillance cameras and shared by Hagari, a group of men appears to escort someone into the hospital, surprising the medical staff. A second clip showed an injured man on a stretcher, with another man in civilian clothing carrying a rifle nearby.
Hamas has yet to comment on Hagari's statements. The Palestinian Islamic movement, which governs the Gaza Strip, previously stated that it transferred some hostages to hospitals for treatment.
In a separate context, the IDF released footage depicting what it described as a 55-meter-long and ten-meter-deep tunnel dug by Palestinian militants beneath the Al-Shifa complex. While Hamas acknowledges having a network of hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, shelters, and openings throughout the Palestinian territory, it denies that these tunnels exist within civilian infrastructure like hospitals. The video showed a narrow corridor with a curved concrete roof ending at a gray door that the military claimed is explosion-resistant. The statement did not address what lies beyond the door. The statement noted that access to the tunnel was found through an opening discovered in a small building containing munitions within the Al-Shifa complex. Another video showed an external opening in the complex.
Mounir al-Bursh, director of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, denied the Israeli statement about the tunnel, describing it as "pure lies."
