By Palestine Chronicle Editors
Following weeks of Israeli claims that Hamas has dug tunnels under the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, former Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak revealed a different version of events.
Prior to its violent takeover of Gaza’s largest medical center, Israeli, as well as US officials, seemed certain that Hamas headquarters were constructed underneath the hospital.
That claim served as a raison d’etre of the Israeli takeover of the hospital on November 15, resulting in the killing and wounding of many, and the displacement of thousands of wounded Palestinians, medical staff and their families.
Israeli military spokesmen struggled while trying to demonstrate that Hamas has, indeed, used the hospital for sinister reasons. The Israeli story, however, was not selling very well, not only due to the inconsistencies of Israeli claims, but also due to what it seemed like a fabricated episode, involving an old AK-47, a laptop, a Hamas fighters’ bandana and a few other unconvincing ‘evidence’.
Barak, however, has brought an end to the speculations regarding the existence and the origins of the under Shifa tunnels: Yes, tunnels exist, they have nothing to do with Hamas, and they were in fact built by the Israelis themselves.
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, on Monday, Barak said that it was Israel that had built the underground spaces beneath the Al-Shifa Hospital.
Though he maintained the unsubstantiated claims that Hamas has used those ‘tunnels’, he stated plainly that those spaces, were “built by Israeli constructors.”
Taken aback by Barak’s comment, Amanpour sought verification: “When you said it was built by Israeli engineers did you misspeak?”
“No, no,” Barak answered, “you know, some decades ago we were running the place… so we helped them… we helped them to build these bunkers in order to enable more space for the operation of the hospital.”
Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak:
It was originally Israel that built the tunnels under al-Shifa Hospital in #Gaza.
CNN anchor: 🫨#Palestine #Gaza_Genocide #Israel pic.twitter.com/O4HcDYXewP
— DOAM (@doamuslims) November 21, 2023
Amanpour has reportedly said that Barak’s comment “has sort of thrown me a little bit.”
Though Israel did not demonstrate that those ‘bunkers’ were used by Hamas operatives, Barak’s revelation at least explains Israel’s insistence that ‘tunnels’ existed under Al-Shifa Hospital.
In fact, they do, simply because they were built by the Israelis themselves. Workers at Al-Shifa Hospital, however, used them as storage spaces, and called them basements.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
Palestinian Authorities NEED to collect samples of the concrete, which blocked the entrances to the old Israeli bunker beneath Al-Shifa Hospital, and have internationally respected groups do chemical analyses on it to determine WHEN & WHO blocked the entrances. Ehud Barack has admitted Israel built those well hidden bunkers in the early 1980s. The IDF has failed to prove Hamas was using it, yet an IDF Spokesboy has claimed the tunnels were built only 15 years ago, so those should be chemically analyzed too!
Israel has greatly restricted the “free” press and killed over 40 reporters, and in Israel anyone can be imprisoned for reporting anything that contradicts Bibi’s story!