We previously reported on the terror tunnel under the Shifa medical center complex, which was 50 meters long ending at a blast door with firing hole, Shifa Hospital “Civilian” Charade Over: Videos Show Hostages and Long Tunnel With Blast Door:
Since then, Israel breached the blast door.
Exploring what was beyond the blast door obviously had to be done only after the underground complex was cleared of booby traps. Israel now is releasing video of what amounted to a command center with rooms and facilities. Evidence was found that hostages were kept in this underground command bunker.
Israel took journalists on tours of the newly exposed tunnel complex:
Behind the hatch door that was breached, war rooms, an air-conditioned living room and hiding place, as well as toilets and a kitchen for extended stays were discovered.AFP was among about two dozen journalists who embedded with Israeli soldiers to see what it calls evidence of the tunnel network underneath Al-Shifa.Our still, video images and soundbites were submitted to the Israeli military censor for approval.Electric wiring was visible as reporters climbed down a narrow shaft, which led to a narrow tunnel only a few metres wide.“It’s a very long tunnel,” Colonel Elad Tsury, commander of Israel’s Seventh Brigade, told reporters.“The tunnel goes from the city to the hospital.”The soldier led reporters through what looked like a kitchenette with a sink, a toilet and a room with two metal beds and a wall-mounted air conditioner.“When they are trying to survive, they go down, use hospitals as a human shields and they can stay here for a long time.”
The Messenger reports:
The video footage published by the IDF was likely meant to refute skeptics who have questioned, since Israel took control of Shifa, whether the hospital was really sitting atop a Hamas command-and-control center as Israel and others have claimed.But the images suggest that the labyrinthine tunnels were used not just for transporting materials or people, but as something of an extended-stay base. The Israel Defense Forces referred to it as “Hamas’ underground city.”
Via Imshin:
Joint statement to the IDF and Shin Bet spokesmen:IDF reveals the continuation of the terror tunnel route, tens of meters of branching tunnel route, which also passes under the Qatari building in the hospital, combat rooms, hiding and residence of Hamas and two additional tunnel shafts that were uncovered near the hospital.IDF continues to uncover the route of the terror tunnels mostly under the hospital buildings.Behind the hatch door that was breached, war rooms, an air-conditioned living room and hiding place, as well as toilets and a kitchen for extended stays were discovered.In addition, the forces located large amounts of weapons in the area of the hospital, as well as evidence that hostages had been held there.The findings unequivocally prove the method of operation of the terrorist organization Hamas, which operates systematically from the hospitals. The terrorist organization Hamas builds underground complexes under the hospitals while exploiting the hospital infrastructure, and conducts fighting from them.
This video covers both the tunnel previously disclosed plus how it connects to other buildings:
These videos show the inside of the main tunnel leading beyond the blast door to other facilities:
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