KUALA LUMPUR: Claims by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City was Hamas' primary military base with an elaborate network of underground tunnels have been challenged by British and American alternative media.
Independent media organisation Novara Media, based in the United Kingdom, broadcast an almost hour-long commentary on YouTube yesterday, breaking down every IDF claim that alluded to Al Shifa Hospital being an operational military base to justify its attacks and raid on the hospital in recent days.
"The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, claimed that Al-Shifa Hospital is the beating heart of Hamas on Sky News," said correspondent Ash Sarkar.
"The White House claims to be in possession of intelligence suggesting that Al-Shifa Hospital was both a base of military operations and where Israeli hostages were being held.
"These are very specific claims where if they were true, they could be considered grounds under international law for Al-Shifa Hospital to be stripped of its protected status under Geneva conventions."
Earlier, Israel justified its assault on Al-Shifa Hospital by claiming that there was a mass command centre underneath it.
On Wednesday (Nov 15), the IDF posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, claiming it found "an operational command centre, weapons, and technological assets" belonging to Hamas inside the hospital's MRI building.
It said it was " continuing to operate in the hospital complex", sharing images and videos of what it said were Hamas weapons.
An IDF spokesman, Jonathan Conricus, was seen in the seven minute-video pointing to security cameras that he said had been covered, and weapons he claimed were AK47 rifles, hidden behind MRI scanners.
However, Novara Media
revealed that the video was de-leted.
From a screenshot of the video dated Nov 15, it shows that the caption read: "No cuts. No edits. Just the undeniable truth. Watch as LTC (Lieutenant Colonel) (res.) Jonathan Conricus exposes the countless Hamas weapons IDF troops have uncovered in the Shifa Hospital's MRI building."
Novara Media said a reposted version of the video the following day had omitted the first three sentences.
"(But) the original IDF post of that video had this caption: 'No cuts, no edits, just the undeniable truth.' And then, a description of the video.
"When that post was then deleted and replaced with this one, the description remains, but the specific text 'no cuts, no edits, just the undeniable truth' was removed. Interesting."
It also reported that the US was backing
Israel's claim, adding that "if there is such a control centre, it would be a significant military target for
the IDF".
"(And) a significant military target provides Israel legal cover against accusations of war crimes for targeting civilians sheltering inside a civilian hospital.
"The IDF has released evidence supposedly supporting this claim, but the veracity of it is questionable," it said.
A United States independent media group, Democracy Now!, also commented on the raid.
Norwegian doctor Dr Mads Gilbert, who had reportedly served at the hospital for decades, was invited to the group's YouTube show and he claimed that the IDF's allegations that the hospital was Hamas' headquarters was far from the truth.
When asked about his response towards the Israeli government insisting that Hamas was using hospitals in Gaza as command centres and underground headquarters to store weapons and hold hostages, Dr Gilbert said US media were guilty of amplifying these "false claims", taking away attention from the real problem.
"Why are you in the media conveying these false claims continuously and taking the attention away from what is the real problem, namely the continuous bombing and killing of people in Gaza?" he asked.
"There is absolutely no proof so far that I know of, neither from the US intelligence nor from the Israeli intelligence, and we've heard these accusations for 16 years.
"Show us the proof. Show us the evidence."
He cited the fourth Geneva Convention, which states that fighting parties should make distinction and precaution between military and civilian targets.
"If it's a mixed military and civilian target, the civilian precaution takes priority over the military (target).
"And they have been bombing not only Al-Shifa and Al-Quds, but lots of other hospitals without even bothering to claim that there is any military activity in those hospitals."
Gilbert, a professor at the University Hospital of North Norway, said if he had to choose between hell and Al-Shifa Hospital, he would "choose hell", illustrating the severity of the situation at the hospital.
"I got a report yesterday from the (Palestinian) health minister that 20 out of the 23 ICU patients had died, 17 other patients died because of lack of supplies, oxygen and water, and three, if not five, of the 38 premature newborns have now died because of this slow suffocation."
He said the Israeli occupation army was exposing all the hospitals to harm by cutting electricity, oxygen and medical supplies following their attacks.
"It's beyond description... I'm out of words to describe this systematic man-made slaughtering of patients in civilian hospitals… and then when I heard the crowd in the US shout 'no ceasefire', I think that's the only place on earth where people are supporting Israel."