Israel Accuses Its Army Execution Hamas At Al Shifa Gaza Hospital

Israeli military illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/IDF Spokesperson's Unit photographer)

JAKARTA - Israel accused militant group Hamas of executing its army caught in the largest hospital in Gaza City, Palestine, while the group said it was killed in an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attack.

Al Shifa Hospital has been a shelter for thousands of refugees due to the Israeli-Hamas war. Hospitals evacuated patients and staff since IDF forces stormed the hospital complex in the middle of last week, on a mission they said was to hunt down and destroy Hamas' hidden facilities.

Israel is also searching for about 240 people kidnapped by Hamas into Gaza, following a cross-border attack on October 7 that sparked a war between the two sides.

One of them is an Israeli soldier who was part of the Noa Marciano (19) military service program, whose body was found near Al Shifa Hospital last week.

Hamas said he died in Israeli airstrikes and released a video showing his body, without any sign except for a head wound.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said forensic examinations found he was suffering lifeless injuries as a result of the attack.

"According to intelligence information, strong intelligence, Noa was taken by Hamas militants inside the walls of the Shifa hospital. There, he was killed by Hamas," said chief IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel

In a televised briefing,mengatakan orang-orang bersenjata Hamas juga membawa seorang warga Nepali dan seorang warga Thailand, di antara pekerja asing yang ditangkap dalam penyerangan bulan lalu ke Shifa. Namun, dia tidak menyebut nama kedua bertagang tersebut.

CCTV video broadcast by haki showed a group of men escorting someone to the hospital, which surprised the medical staff. The second clip shows a man injured in a patient brankar. Another man nearby, dressed in civilian clothes, carrying an assault rifle.

Hamas did not immediately comment onvi's statement. However, previously the Palestinian militant group that controlled Gaza said they were taking some hostages to the hospital for treatment.

Separately on Sunday, the Israeli military published a video describing what they described as a 55-meter-long tunnel excavated by Palestinians 10 meters deep under Al Shifa Hospital complex.

Although they admit they have a network of secret tunnels, bunkers, and hundreds of kilometers of access holes throughout the Palestinian enclave, Hamas denies the tunnels are located in civilian infrastructure such as hospitals.

The video shows a narrow alley with a curved concrete roof, ending in a place that the military, in a statement, described as an anti-explosive door.

The statement did not say what might be behind the door. The tunnel can be accessed through a hole found in a warehouse inside the Al Shifa Hospital complex containing ammunition, he said. The second video shows a hole outdoors in the complex.

Separately, Mounir El Barsh, director of Gaza's health ministry, opposed Israel's statement about the tunnel and called it a "pure lie".

"They've been in the hospital for eight days but they haven't found anything yet," he told Al Jazeera television.