Agence France-Presse reported that the Israeli army reached the coast and isolated the northern part of the Gaza Strip and its capital from the rest of the Strip. Earlier, the Israeli army said it had discovered a network of Hamas tunnels, command centers and rocket launchers under hospitals in the area.
Army spokesman Daniel Hajary said that the armed forces are attacking from the air, land and sea to create “pressure that will lead to the fall of Hamas.” The spokesman added, at the same time, that the army maintains humanitarian corridors to enable the civilian population to evacuate to the south of the region. For the third time since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, telephone and Internet communications in the Gaza Strip have been halted. Local media claim that Israeli forces will enter Gaza City within 48 hours.
The Israeli army: There is a network of Hamas tunnels under and around hospitals
Earlier on Sunday, Hajari said the Israeli military had discovered a network of Hamas tunnels, command centers and rocket launch pads under and near hospitals in northern Gaza.
“Hamas systematically uses hospitals as part of its war machine,” Hajari told reporters. During a press conference, Hajari presented video clips, photos and audio recordings that he said showed Hamas’ strategy of using hospitals as cover and preventing civilians from leaving combat areas.
He also said that more than 800 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel during the war did not reach their targets but fell in the Strip, causing huge civilian casualties.
Israel has long announced that Hamas has placed its operations center under Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa Hospital. Hagari has now made similar allegations against two other hospitals in northern Gaza – the Qatari-funded Sheikh Hamad Hospital and an Indonesia-built hospital.
Hajari said that two videos from a hospital in Qatar show an opening leading to Hamas tunnels and armed Hamas terrorists shooting at Israeli soldiers from the hospital. He added that one satellite image shows rocket launchers across the street from an Indonesian hospital. – Rockets were fired towards Israel, 75 meters from the hospital. Why? He said that they knew exactly that if Israel attacked such a bomber from the air, the hospital would be damaged.
Hamas attack on Israel Bab / Reuters – Maciej Zielinski
Main image source: Bab/epa/mohamed knows
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