Israel confirms Hamas executed prisoners and held hostages in Al Shifa

Al Shifa Hospital, which at one point became a shelter for dozens of Palestinian war refugees, has begun evacuating patients and staff in recent days.

Israel is also searching for some 240 hostages seized by Hamas and taken to Gaza on October 7 in a cross-border attack that sparked the current war.

Among the hostages was a 19-year-old conscript named Noa Marciano, whose body was found near Al Shifa Hospital this past week. Hamas claimed she was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week and posted a video of her body, which was virtually unmarked except for a head wound.

The Israeli military confirmed that forensic examinations showed that she suffered some non-life-threatening injuries from the airstrikes.

“Based on intelligence – solid intelligence – Noa was taken by Hamas to Al Shifa Hospital, where she was murdered by Hamas terrorists,” said spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

He gave no other information.

In a televised report, Hagari said Hamas gunmen also brought to Shifa hospital a Nepalese and a Thai man, among the foreign workers detained in the October 7 raid. He did not name the two individuals.

Security camera videos posted by Mr. Hagari show a group of people dragging an individual into the hospital, as medical staff look on in amazement. A second clip shows an injured man lying on a stretcher. Another person nearby is dressed in plain clothes and carrying a rifle.

Hamas did not comment on Mr Hagari’s remarks. The Islamist group had previously confirmed that it had taken some hostages to hospital for treatment.

In addition, on Sunday, the Israeli army posted a video of a 55-meter-long tunnel dug by Palestinians at a depth of 10 meters below Al Shifa hospital.

Although admitting to having a network of tunnels, shelters and access roads stretching hundreds of kilometres across Gaza, Hamas has rejected claims that these tunnels are located under civilian facilities such as hospitals.

The video shows a narrow passageway with a concrete ceiling and at the end of the tunnel is a blast door, according to the Israeli military.

The statements did not provide information about the area behind the door. The Israeli military said the tunnel was connected to an entrance found in a tent inside the Al Shifa hospital complex, along with ammunition.

Mounir El Barsh, head of Gaza's health ministry , dismissed Israel's claims about the tunnel as "complete lies".

“They have been in the hospital for the past eight days… and they have not found anything,” he told Al Jazeera.

Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Reuters)

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