Israel published a video on Sunday of what it described as a tunnel dug by Palestinian militants under the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital, a focus of its search-and-destroy missions against Hamas in a war now in its seventh week.
While acknowledging that it has a network of hundreds of kilometres of secret tunnels, bunkers and access shafts throughout the Palestinian enclave, Hamas has denied that these are located in civilian infrastructure such as hospitals.
In an update on operations in Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital, the Israeli military said its engineers had uncovered a tunnel 10m (33ft) deep and running 55m (180ft) to a blast-proof door.
“This type of door is used by the Hamas terrorist organisation to block Israeli forces from entering the command centres and the underground assets belonging to Hamas,” said a military statement accompanied by video showing a narrow passage with arched concrete roofing, ending at a grey door.
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The statement did not say what was beyond the door. The tunnel had been accessed through a shaft discovered in a shed within the Shifa compound that contained munitions, it said.
The latest development in the conflict comes after the Qatari prime minister earlier on Sunday said only minor differences between Hamas and Israel remain to be resolved before a hostage deal can be struck.
Qatar has been at the centre of mediation efforts to reach an agreement that would see large numbers of hostages released, starting with children and women. A humanitarian pause lasting as long as five days would be agreed to allow the transport of the hostages.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, at a joint press conference in Doha with Josep Borrell, the EU’s external affairs chief, said: “The challenges facing the agreement are just practical and logistical. There has been good progress in the past few days.”
“The deal is going through ups and downs from time to time throughout the last few weeks,” he said. “But I think that you know I’m now more confident that we are close enough to reach a deal that can bring the people safely back to their home.”
He gave no timetable.
A staged release would be the first de-escalatory step since Hamas launched a bloody assault on Israel on October 7th, during which it captured more than 200 hostages and took them to Gaza.
So far only four hostages have been released, in two tranches. It is thought 239 people from 26 different countries are still being held, including some dual nationals.
Hamas has claimed that as many as 30 hostages have been killed by Israeli bombing of Gaza, but there is no independent verification of this and the claim may have been made to deter Israel from continuing its assault.
The Washington Post had reported a tentative deal has been struck for Israel to pause its attacks for five days in return for Hamas releasing hostages.
The Post cites unnamed sources familiar with the supposed deal, but at the moment, there has been no official confirmation from any of the parties involved in negotiations.
The White House said there is no deal yet, but work continues towards producing one.
Israeli president Binyamin Netanyahu said a few hours before the Post’s story was published that “as of now there has been no deal”.
Mr Netanyahu, said on Saturday evening that he rejected what he described as “increasingly heavy pressure” from the international community, including some in the US, saying Israel refused to agree to a “full ceasefire”.
He said: “Many people around the world demanded that we not enter the Gaza Strip – we did so ... They warned us not to enter [al-Shifa hospital] even though it served as a central terrorist base for Hamas – we did so. They pressured us to agree to a full ceasefire – we refused. And I have made it clear: we will only agree to a temporary ceasefire and only in exchange for the return of our hostages.”
Mr Netanyahu also rejected what he described as “unsubstantiated rumours” and “incorrect reports” regarding a possible deal to release hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting during the press conference on Saturday night.
Fifteen Palestinians were killed early on Sunday in Israeli air bombardments of the central and southern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Thirteen were killed in an attack on a home in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, while a woman and her child were killed in southern Khan Younis city, WAFA said.
Ambulance crews of the Palestinian Red Crescent evacuated 31 premature babies from al-Shifa Hospital on Sunday in co-ordination with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the group said in a post on its Facebook page.
The babies were transferred to the south of Gaza “in preparation for their transfer to the Emirates Hospital in Rafah”, the group added.
The WHO has described al-Shifa hospital – once the largest, most advanced, referral hospital in Gaza – as a “death zone” following a visit on Saturday.
Lack of clean water, fuel, medicine, food and other essentials means it was no longer functioning as a medical facility, WHO said, adding that corridors and the hospital grounds were filled with medical and solid waste.
The WHO’s team also reported signs of shelling and gunfire, and a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital, where they were told more than 80 people were buried. There are 25 health workers and 291 patients still in al-Shifa, including 32 babies “in extremely critical condition”, WHO said.
It is urgently developing plans for the evacuation of the patients, staff and families who remain at al-Shifa Hospital within the next 24 to 72 hours.
However, Nasser Medical Complex and European Gaza Hospital in the south of Gaza, where they will be transferred, are already working beyond capacity.
US president Joe Biden said on Saturday the Gaza and West Bank should be ‘reunited’ under Palestinian Authority.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Mr Biden said that the Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza and the West Bank following the war between Israel and Hamas.
Mr Biden writes: “As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalised Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution.”
Mr Biden also said that a two-state solution is “the only way to ensure the long-term security of both the Israeli and the Palestinian people”, adding that Gaza “must never again be used as a platform for terrorism”. – Guardian