The United States has announced that it will not share any Israeli intelligence or elaborate on its intelligence assessment that Hamas was using Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital as a command centre and possibly as a storage facility. On Thursday (Nov 16), White House spokesperson John Kirby said that the US was confident in an assessment from its own intelligence agencies on Hamas activities in the hospital, which is the largest in Gaza.
On being asked by reporters if Israel shared any new evidence since the raid on the hospital began on Wednesday, Kirby said, “I’m not going to talk about specific intelligence that may pass between the two of us.”
“That’s really for them to speak to, but as I said the other day, we’re confident in our own intelligence assessment about how Hamas was using that hospital,” he added.
The White House spokesperson also said that Hamas militants were sheltering themselves in the hospital and using the facility as a shield against military action, placing patients and medical staff at risk.
“We are still convinced of the soundness of that intelligence,” he also told reporters.
Israeli forces found nothing during raid at hospital
On Friday, a doctor at the Al-Shifa hospital told the news agency Reuters that Israeli forces found nothing during raids of the medical facility, adding supplies of food and water were running out.
“They have found nothing. They have found no single resistance. No single gunshot, against them within the hospital area,” Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati told the news agency Reuters.
“It’s a totally terrifying situation, here the Israeli tanks and the Israeli troops have been moving within the hospital area, all over the hospital,” Dr Mokhallalati said. “The situation is totally difficult. They are shooting all the time, all the areas,” he added.
The doctor’s comments come a day after Palestinian medics said that they were increasingly afraid for the lives of hundreds of patients and medical staff at the hospital. Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said there was no water, food or baby milk in the hospital- which has over 600 patients and 7,000 people displaced by weeks of Israeli air strikes and artillery bombardments.
As per Israeli forces, a vast underground Hamas command headquarters was operating in tunnels beneath the hospital. On Thursday night, the military said troops had found a tunnel shaft and vehicle with weapons inside the hospital complex.
(With inputs from agencies)
