Mohammed Aleem

I don’t have any inside information about al Shifa hospital, which is currently being raided by Israeli forces, but here is some context: In 1983, Israel built an underground operating room and tunnels under the hospital. This is not a secret. Israel has claimed that over the years Hamas added more underground floors and tunnels to the original ones built by Israel. Last weekend, the NYT published a story saying Israel had shared images with the paper depicting alleged secret entrances to the tunnels, though the Times said it could not independently verify them. On Tuesday, the US said that it has its own intelligence to back up the claims and NSC spokesman John Kirby alleged it is a Hamas/Islamic Jihad command and control center and a site to hold hostages. Al Shifa Hospital staff have denied these claims. (For what it’s worth, so has Hamas.) Such allegations by the US should be backed up by clear evidence, not a Geraldo Rivera/Al Capone’s vault-style video presentation featuring an English speaking IDF soldier, as was the case with the video Israel released about al Rantisi Hospital (a key allegation from that “discovery” has already been proven false). No matter what is or is not found, there is no justification for the repeated attacks against civilian hospitals—in fact Shifa is the largest hospital treating the most vulnerable people in Gaza, including NICU babies. The mere existence of tunnels, originally built by Israel, does not prove the specific allegations made by the US or Israel. The standard for such evidence should be very very high. The Biden administration made allegations about Al Shifa Hospital to offer preemptive cover for Israel to raid it and the onus is on the administration to provide irrefutable, clear evidence to support its specific claims.