Palestinian terrorist group Hamas uses hospitals to escape Israeli bombardment amid war

Israel-Palestine tensions are flaring up as Israel has ramped up its massive attack on the Gaza Strip after a deadly assault by Hamas terrorists. Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are targeting the locations connected to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. However, to escape counter-offensive, the terrorists are now hiding in hospitals and schools. Significantly, Israel has avoided targeting hospitals so as to prevent civilian casualties despite Hamas killing innocents and hostages.

Reporting from Sderot, Journalist Yeshaya Rosenman said that the Hamas leadership is hiding in a bunker underneath Al Shifa Hospital, which is Gaza's main hospital. The IDF has struck the compound of the hospital but has refrained from targeting the hospital structure due to humanitarian reasons.

“Israel struck the compound of the Al Shifa Hospital. Hamas's central command is in a bunker underneath Al Shifa Hospital, which is Gaza's main hospital. The hospital itself has not been struck, but the compound has been struck, and this is something Israel has always refrained from doing for humanitarian reasons," Rosenman said.

According to a Washington Post report, the hospital "has become a de-facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and office". American media outlet PBS in 2006 had run a documentary showing how men with guns roamed on hallways of the hospital. 

Hamas terrorists ‘using injured people as human shields’ amid war with Israel

The fact that Hamas terrorists have been using sick and wounded people as human shields was also mentioned in a report in Target which stated that the bunker of the terrorist outfit's commander is beneath the area of Building 2 of the Hospital.

The IDF has also targeted other locations where it suspects Hamas terrorists are hiding. “The Israeli Air Force completely decimated the upper-class neighbourhood of Rimal in Gaza, where the Hamas leadership lived…They have taken out Hamas's airborne warning systems, which they had imported from Iran, so that was important as well."

Continuing its air assault, IDF said it struck more than 200 targets of Hamas in the Al-Furkan neighbourhood of the besieged Gaza Strip on Wednesday. It has also targeted the residence of the father of Mohammed Deif, the chief of Hamas's military wing believed to be the key plotter of the terror attacks.

“The house of Muhammad Deif, the head of the Hamas military wing, has been bombed as well. It is unclear yet if he has been killed, but his brother, son, and granddaughter have been killed. He is the mastermind of all Hamas military operations, and if he is, I would say, the greatest human target within Gaza,” Rosenman said, adding, “Yesterday, two ministers, the equivalent of ministers from the Hamas political wing, were also killed.”