The Israeli Defense Forces is releasing intelligence that raises a “red flag” about Hamas use of Gaza’s largest medical center, Shifa Hospital, as its military command post. The terrorist organization is also siphoning off fuel from the hospital center for its own uses, despite already having more than 130,000 gallons in its possession.

Addressing Tel Aviv-based foreign reporters Friday, the IDF spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, released evidence illustrating Hamas’s installations in the 1,400-bed Gaza City hospital. He played intercepted recordings of a Hamas operative who confirmed that Shifa is the nerve center of the Qassam Brigade, the organization’s military arm. 

Admiral Hagari showed a computer-generated three-dimensional scheme of the hospital’s structure, including the Hamas headquarters underneath it. He made clear that more detailed raw intelligence confirming the scheme’s accuracy has been shared with security agencies of “our allies.” Israel “is raising a red flag,” he said later. “We will not allow the use of hospitals to launch terror attacks against us.”    

The press conference was apparently designed to prepare the world for the possibility that Israel, which has vowed to kill Hamas leaders involved in the October 7 massacres, will at one point hit the Shifa Hospital. The laws of war, he stressed, allow attacks on civilian targets, including hospitals, if they also serve as military installations.  

According to Admiral Hagari, Hamas uses both above- and below-ground structures interspersed with hospital infrastructure. The group uses these structures as command and control centers, determining rocket launching and terrorist activities. 

According to the graphics displayed by Admiral Hagari, Hamas can enter structures from within the hospital while also using additional entrances at various external sites. In the wake of the October 7 terror attack, he said, terrorists have embedded themselves within the hospital to hide from Israeli retaliation. 

Admiral Hagari also addressed the ongoing humanitarian concerns in Gaza regarding the Israeli and Egyptian blockade. He shared a phone conversation between an IDF officer and a senior Gazan energy official during which the latter claimed that “the stations,” referring to the gas and diesel stations in Gaza, “are full.” He claimed that there was enough fuel in Gaza “through next Thursday.”

He also noted Hamas’s stockpile of fuel. “Underground, I’m sure they have at least half a million liters,” the energy official stated. “As you know, they need oxygen in the tunnels, and they need phones, and they need showers and lighting there.” 

Admiral Hagari also said that fuel supplies in Gaza are being used by the terrorist organization. He referred to a recent United Nations refugee agency post accusing Hamas of stealing its fuel supplies in the area. The agency, which operates in the strip under Hamas’s guns, later deleted the tweet without explanation. 

He also released a recording of a second conversation between two Gazan residents. The residents, who were discussing Hamas’s tunnels, mention that the terror group has “bathrooms, rooms, headquarters, all under the main compound” of the hospital. 

Admiral Hagari did not address directly what action the IDF would take given their acquired intelligence. Yet, he said, “If terror activities are occurring from the hospital, they are liable to lose their protection, in accordance with international law.”  

The IDF will “increase the humanitarian effort” in cooperation with Egypt and America, providing food, water, and medicine to Gazans near the Southern border with Egypt, Admiral Hagari said, even as the UN, European leaders, and others insist that Israel should also supply fuel to Gaza.