WASHINGTON, Jan 3: The US intelligence community is “confident” that Hamas and other Palestinian military groups used Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza to hold some of the hostages and as a command centre for their operations against Israel following the October 7 attack, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday, citing a new intelligence assessment.
While the assessment supports Tel Aviv’s claims that the Shifa hospital complex served as a base for anti-Israel activities, the released information does not provide any proof that it was the central node for military operations by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the report said.
“The US Intelligence Community is confident in its judgement on this topic and has independently corroborated information on HAMAS and PIJ’s use of the hospital complex for a variety of purposes related to its campaign against Israel,” the report cited the assessment as stating.
Moreover, the assessment believes that the militant groups “used the al-Shifa hospital complex and sites beneath it to house command infrastructure, exercise certain command and control activities, store some weapons, and hold at least a few hostages,” but evacuated several days before Israeli forces raided the hospital complex on November 15 and destroyed sensitive documents and electronics.
On October 7, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip while its fighters breached the border, opening fire on the military and civilians.
As a result, over 1,200 people in Israel were killed, and some 240 others were abducted. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, and launched a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages.
Over 22,000 people have been killed so far in Gaza as a result of Israeli strikes, local authorities said.
On November 24, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a temporary truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire was extended several times and expired on December 1. (UNI)
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