Army spokesman Hagari gives tour of Al Rantisi Hospital, showcasing Hamas' operational tunnel shafts, cache of weapons and makeshift area in basement used for holding hostages
It’s the strongest public proof they’ve provided that Hamas are using hospitals for military purposes. They’ve been sharing intelligence with allied governments to that effect for a long time, but not making any of it public.
As for allowing patients to return that’s a good question. I would assume they evacuated to the southern strip now. Even if the hospital building isn’t compromised (that hole in the wall does indicate it may not be structurally safe), there probably isn’t any water, electricity, or fuel. Most medical supplies were likely taken. So the only advantage is larger medical equipment that wasn’t removed - probably the autoclaves are the only thing that are truly useful.
Right. I guess it makes sense not to return them to a non functional hospital. I’d just like to think that if you shut down a hospital that you are then able to provide the displaced occupants with the care they need or at least another place to go.
My main issue is with the scale of it. For me, 3 AKs, a couple of rockets and a box of grenades is not what constitutes a “large weapons cache”. Nor does having those items and a bit of rope on the basement constitute “turning the hospital into a terror base”. Wasn’t the hospital above legit? Sure, it’s a cancer that needs to be cut out, but this is equivalent to killing the cancer patient and making their whole town homeless.
If a bomb making terrorist were found in an apartment building, you would clear out all the paraphernalia and the bomb maker from their apartment. You wouldn’t then make the apartment block uninhabitable and turf out all the other residents to fend for themselves. At least I’d hope you wouldn’t.
It’s the strongest public proof they’ve provided that Hamas are using hospitals for military purposes. They’ve been sharing intelligence with allied governments to that effect for a long time, but not making any of it public.
As for allowing patients to return that’s a good question. I would assume they evacuated to the southern strip now. Even if the hospital building isn’t compromised (that hole in the wall does indicate it may not be structurally safe), there probably isn’t any water, electricity, or fuel. Most medical supplies were likely taken. So the only advantage is larger medical equipment that wasn’t removed - probably the autoclaves are the only thing that are truly useful.
Right. I guess it makes sense not to return them to a non functional hospital. I’d just like to think that if you shut down a hospital that you are then able to provide the displaced occupants with the care they need or at least another place to go.
My main issue is with the scale of it. For me, 3 AKs, a couple of rockets and a box of grenades is not what constitutes a “large weapons cache”. Nor does having those items and a bit of rope on the basement constitute “turning the hospital into a terror base”. Wasn’t the hospital above legit? Sure, it’s a cancer that needs to be cut out, but this is equivalent to killing the cancer patient and making their whole town homeless.
If a bomb making terrorist were found in an apartment building, you would clear out all the paraphernalia and the bomb maker from their apartment. You wouldn’t then make the apartment block uninhabitable and turf out all the other residents to fend for themselves. At least I’d hope you wouldn’t.