TEL AVIV: The Israeli army posted a video and shared photographs of the al-Rantissi hospital claiming that hostages were kept there and it also stored weapons. The Israeli defence forces shared a video and pictures of the al-Rantissi hospital in Gaza claiming that the children’s hospital’s basement was used for holding hostages and storing weapons. “Hamas took all this area under its control and conducted its war against Israelis from this hospital,” the IDF claimed.


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The IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said that Israeli forces found a “command centre with an armoury of weapons including grenades, suicide vests and other explosives”. They claimed that these weapons were stored by Hamas terrorists in the basement of the hospital, which pre-war, catered to children and cancer patients.


 



 


“We also found signs that indicate that Hamas held hostages here, this is currently under our investigation. But we also have intelligence that verifies it,” Hagari further added. The IDF footage captured what possibly was a makeshift space where people were living. There was a small kitchen and nearby tunnel shaft which led to the house of a senior Hamas naval commander.


They said that they found a motorcycle with gunshot marks and said the vehicle may have been used to bring hostages to Gaza after the surprise attack on October 7.


Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said that Hamas has lost control in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli troops moved to fully capture Gaza City on the 39th day of the war. According to The Times of Israel, Gallant said that the Israeli forces are advancing towards every location and the terrorists are fleeing south.


"There is no force of Hamas capable of stopping the IDF. The IDF is advancing at every location. The Hamas organisation has lost control in Gaza. Terrorists are fleeing south, and civilians are looting Hamas bases. They have no confidence in the government," Gallant said, according to The Times of Israel.


On October 7, hundreds of Hamas terrorists stormed into southern Israeli villages and a music festival through land, sea and air routes, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 240 people hostage.


Israel retaliated by launching an intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip along with a ground operation under which IDF soldiers have pushed deep into the blockaded coastal enclave. More than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.


The Israeli army is positioned outside the gates of Al Shifa hospital. There are currently hundreds of patients inside the hospital who are waiting to be evacuated.