The IDF on Wednesday brought The Jerusalem Post and select other media outlets to view Hamas’s terror infrastructure at Al-Shifa Hospital, especially its several hundred-meter tunnel network, up close.
This was the first time a reporter from the Post crossed into Gaza since the IDF withdrawal in 2005 and brought up close all of the cumulative findings of the IDF since November 15 of what Hamas tried desperately to hide at Al-Shifa.
Laid out next to the Qatar facility within the Shifa complex was a vast amount of not only Hamas’s guns and grenades which the IDF found hidden throughout the hospital, but also rocket-propelled grenade launchers, large and small advanced drones for delivering explosives, and a variety of sophisticated intelligence platforms.
JPost enters the depths of Hamas’s terror tunnels
The vastness of the tunnel itself, with the Post viewing a variety of sophisticated rooms and the blast door which the IDF showed earlier this week, was testimony to how important this location was to Hamas.
Among the rooms, was a very large bedroom with two spaced-out beds and a large modern air conditioning unit, a kitchenette, a bathroom, and other facilities, as well as extensive plumbing and electrical wiring to enable all of the infrastructure.
Two members of the IDF’s special Yahalom unit for uncovering tunnels and IDF Chief Spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari described the process of discovering the tunnel as a huge riddle.
They had intelligence about Hamas’s tunnel network at Al-Shifa Hospital long before arriving at the site.
IDF reveals comprehensive footage of Hamas’s 55-meter-long tunnel under Al-Shifa Hopsital in Gaza (IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
Not only is the hospital site immense with an extensive number of spread out buildings and courtyards, but also they said they found signs that Hamas has gone out of its way to cover up and fill in the already well-concealed tunnels once they suspected that the IDF might eventually take control of Shifa.
This meant that the Yahalom unit had to survey and inspect a large amount of land and courtyards around and between the Shifa Hospital buildings.
An initial breakthrough came on November 17 when the IDF destroyed a small structure that seemed suspicious and was able to find one shaft and entrance to the greater tunnel network under the rubble of that structure.
The IDF showed the Post where the structure had previously stood and the initial shaft of the tunnel which they found, including the unusual spiral staircase which the IDF had presented at a press conference.
However, it was only several days later that they were able to locate the more important part of the tunnel network, including all of the specialized rooms, likely used by Hamas battalion commanders.
Part of the delay was also because the first priority had been to search room to room all of the many indoor facilities of Shifa for Hamas terrorists, weapons, intelligence, and anything linked to Hamas’s Israeli hostages or remains of killed Israelis.
Another delay came when the IDF announced on November 19 that it had arrived at a blast door, which would require a very specialized process to breach, without losing the opportunity to follow the tunnel beyond the door.
The Post was able to see the broken door and the hundreds of additional meters of Hamas’s tunnel network beyond that point.
A taste of Hamas’s Shifa secrets
The extensive weapons that IDF Col. Elad Tzuri presented he said were just a taste of what Hamas had hidden throughout the Shifa Hospital complex, being that all of the presented weapons were found in the last 48 hours.
This meant that all of the weapons, military equipment, and intelligence material that the IDF seized and publicized to the world in the early days of Shifa-Hamas discoveries, including those hidden behind an MRI machine, were located in another area.
Tzuri said, “these items were found both in indoor and outdoor common areas-courtyards of the hospitals as well as in patients’ rooms, and some in the vehicles of Hamas’s Nukbeh unit,” which were found on the hospital’s grounds.
Further, Tzuri noted that the IDF had found RPGs, improvised explosive devices, grenades, guns, drones, and materials used by Hamas naval commandos.
The IDF colonel said that Hamas had been completely rooted out of the Shifa area which was once one of its top locations, but that there were still pockets of Hamas resistance in other parts of northern Gaza.
Tzrui admitted that until he was given the order to go into Shifa, he had never imagined he would set foot on such a key Hamas command center, but added that he felt it was an honor to have been given the mission.
Hagari pointed out to the Post about 50 meters away where the body of hostage Noa Marciano was found concealed after Hamas killed her.
IDF Maj, “D” of the special forces Maglan Unit described to the Post special orders and training he and his unit were given for handling medical staff and patients as they took control of the complex.
Top IDF officials have emphasized that they were deeply personally involved in ensuring that Magaln soldiers had extra restrictive rules of engagement when entering the complex, which Hagari said on Tuesday had contributed to not a single civilian being killed during the IDF’s operation to take control.
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