Photo: MOHAMMED ABED / AFP / Getty Images
The Israeli Defense Force showed evidence that Hamas was using the basement of Al-Rantisi Children's Hospital as a "command and control center" to a group of reporters from CNN.
The reporters were shown a room with guns and explosives that the IDF claimed was being used as an "armory." There was also a chair with a rope next to it and a makeshift toilet in the room.
The IDF also showed reporters a shaft that was about 650 feet away from the hospital, which was located near a school and the house of a top Hamas commander. The shaft led to a tunnel, which was heading in the direction of the hospital.
"We [put] a robot inside the tunnel, and the robot saw a massive door, a door that is in the direction of the hospital," IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
The IDF posted a video on X of the tunnel complex and the rooms allegedly used by Hamas.
"Watch IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari walk through one of Hamas' subterranean terrorist tunnels—only to exit in Gaza's Rantisi hospital on the other side. Inside these tunnels, Hamas terrorists hide, operate, and hold Israeli hostages against their will," the IDF said.
Officials in Gaza denied the claims that the hospital basement was being used by Hamas.