Hamas tunnel, bodies of hostage: What Israel says it found in Al-Shifa Hospital raid

It has been three nights and Israel continues its raids of Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital. It maintains that the medical complex housed an underground command centre for Hamas, a claim rejected by the Palestinian militant group and the Gaza health ministry. It also suspected that hostages taken from Israel were hidden in the tunnels under the facility. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have been posting videos from the hospital – a cache of weapons and other proof – that Al-Shifa has been a Hamas hub. It now says that it was found the bodies of an Israeli woman, Yehudit Weiss, and a teenage girl, identified as Noa Marciano, near the medical facility. So did Hamas keep the hostages in Al-Shifa? What has the Israeli military found so far? We explain. Has Israel found hostages at Al-Shifa? After the raid, Israel has so far not found any hostages inside the Al-Shifa premises. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday told CBS that there were “strong indications” that hostages held by Hamas were at Al-Shifa Hospital. However, he claimed that they were no longer there when the Israeli military launched a ground operation earlier in the week. “We had strong indications that they were held in the Shifa Hospital, which is one of the reasons we entered the hospital,” Netanyahu told “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell. “If they were [there], they were taken out.” According to Netanyahu, his government had “intelligence about hostages” but he did not divulge details. “The less I say about it, the better,” he said.

🚨BREAKING NEWS: Israeli PM Netanyahu tells me they had “strong indications” some of the hostages were held in Al-Shifa Hospital. We’ll have more of our exclusive interview tonight on the @CBSEveningNews pic.twitter.com/xoTD4FdMZC

— Norah O'Donnell 🇺🇸 (@NorahODonnell) November 16, 2023

However, Israeli forces said that they found two bodies near a building close to Al-Shifa Hospital. One was identified as Yehudit Weiss and the other as CPL Noa Marciano. Who were the hostages? The IDF said in a post on X on Friday that 19-year-old CPL Noa Marciano was abducted and murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7. Her body was found next to the hospital.

19 year old CPL Noa Marciano was abducted and murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7.

Her body was found and extracted by IDF troops adjacent to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

The IDF sends its heartfelt condolences to the family and will continue to support them. pic.twitter.com/f7eWBUrzVq

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 17, 2023

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The teenager is the second hostage who was found killed. On Thursday. the Israeli military said that Yehudit Weiss was a 65-year-old Israeli woman who was also kidnapped on 7 October. Her body was also found near Al-Shifa Hospital on Thursday. The body of Yehudit Weiss, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, was found by Israeli soldiers in Gaza City and brought back to Israel, the IDF said in a statement. “IDF soldiers recovered her body from a building adjacent to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza earlier today. AK-47s, RPGs, and other military equipment were also found where Yehudit’s body was located,” it said in a post on X.

Yehudit Weiss was a 65-year-old who worked with kindergarten kids.

On October 7, Yehudit was abducted by Hamas from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri. Her husband, Shmulik Weiss, was murdered in their home. Yehudit and Shmulik were parents to 5 children.

IDF soldiers recovered her… pic.twitter.com/Y7tpt8nU3o

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 16, 2023

In a televised news briefing, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said that Hamas had killed Weiss but did not provide details about the precise cause of her death. “Unfortunately, Yehudit was murdered by the terrorists in the Gaza Strip, and we didn’t reach her on time,” he said. Weiss was a mother of five children. She was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri. Her husband Shmulik Weiss was murdered in their home, according to the IDF. Bring Them Home’s website describes Weiss as “a loving full-time grandmother” who loved culture, sports, travelling and baking. Weiss was one of the 240 hostages taken by Hamas during the 7 October attacks on Israel. The fate of the other abducted, Israelis and foreigners, remains unknown. However, negotiations for their release in exchange for a pause in fighting are on. [caption id=“attachment_13397112” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus points at hospital signage at the Al- Shifa Hospital complex, amid the ground operation against Hamas, in Gaza City, in this still image taken from video. Reuters[/caption] What more has Israel discovered from Al-Shifa? The IDF has also posted a video of what it claims is a Hamas terrorist tunnel inside the Al-Shifa Hospital complex. “Today, Hamas’s tunneling infrastructure was exposed inside the hospital,” the Israeli military said in a statement, which also included a photo and video. The video provided by Israel shows exposed earth revealing a hole in the ground. The side of the shaft appears to be reinforced with concrete. Exposed pipes and cabling can also be seen close to the surface, reports CNN.

Exposing another layer of Hamas’ exploitation of three of the largest hospitals in Gaza:

🔻Inside the Shifa Hospital complex, a Hamas terrorist tunnel was uncovered.

1/3 pic.twitter.com/uGo4uBdTly

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 17, 2023

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The Israeli army said that it had also found that “bobby-trapped car close by containing a large amount of weapons and ammunition”. Hagari said that the Israeli army engineers were working to expose the tunnel infrastructure. Earlier, Israeli forces said it engaged with several Hamas operatives and killed them inside the hospital. Inside the hospital’s MRI building, the Israeli troops found “an operational command centre, weapons, and technological assets” belonging to Hamas, according to IDF. However, doctors and health officials in Gaza have denied the accusations by Israel. The Hamas-run government media office on Thursday denied using Al-Shifa Hospital as a command and control centre, calling the Israeli claims “baseless lies.” Hamas accused Israel of giving “false scenarios, fabricated narratives, and distorted information about the Al-Shifa Medical Complex,” in a written statement. [caption id=“attachment_13397132” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] In this image taken from a video released by the IDF on 15 November, Israeli soldiers walk in the area of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. IDF via AP[/caption] Meanwhile, thousands continue to be trapped inside the hospital – patients, medical staff and others who sought refuge from the fighting. The director of Al-Shifa said that the conditions in the complex are worsening. In a phone interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic, Mohammad Abu Salmiya said displaced children were left without any water or milk at the facility. What has IDF found in other hospitals? IDF soldiers have also reportedly unearthed an operational tunnel at the Al-Rantisi hospital, the only children’s facility, in northern Gaza. It posted images on X. The IDF also claimed to have found weaponry and ammunition at the Al-Quds Hospital, which is the second largest in Gaza.

🔻Inside the Al-Quds Hospital, a large amount of weaponry and ammunition were found.

This was all found over the past 24 hours.

3/3 pic.twitter.com/ZTvLRfQcCo

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 17, 2023

The gunfighting continues in Gaza City. Medics inside the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City say they are unable to reach wounded people outside because of intense fighting in the area, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a statement Thursday. With inputs from agencies