"U.S. intelligence agencies are confident that Hamas and another Palestinian group fighting Israel used Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza to command forces and hold some hostages," stated journalist Julian E. Barnes in the New York Times article, new American intelligence declassified on Tuesday.
Barnes notes that Israeli officials said Hamas had built a vast complex under the hospital, making it a legitimate military target. However, critics have insisted that the military operation effectively cut off and shut down a crucial part of Gaza's medical network with little evidence that Hamas was using the hospital as a command post.
On Tuesday, January 2, a senior U.S. intelligence official confirmed that Hamas had indeed used the hospital and sites beneath it to exercise command and control activities, store weapons, and hold "at least a few hostages."
According to intelligence, Hamas fighters had evacuated the complex several days before the IDF's operation, having destroyed documents and electronics.
