The case of al-Shifa: Investigating the assault on Gaza's largest hospital

[Voltaire2]

JERUSALEM — Weeks before Israel sent troops into al-Shifa Hospital, its spokesman began building a public case.

The claims were remarkably specific — that five hospital buildings were directly involved in Hamas activities; that the buildings sat atop underground tunnels that were used by militants to direct rocket attacks and command fighters; and that the tunnels could be accessed from inside hospital wards. The assertions were backed by “concrete evidence,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said as he laid out the case in an Oct. 27 briefing.

After storming the complex on Nov. 15, the IDF released a series of photographs and videos that it said proved its central point.

“Terrorists came here to command their operations,” Hagari said in a video published Nov. 22, guiding viewers through an underground tunnel, illuminating dark and empty rooms beneath al-Shifa.

But the evidence presented by the Israeli government falls short of showing that Hamas had been using the hospital as a command and control center, according to a Washington Post analysis of open-source visuals, satellite imagery and all of the publicly released IDF materials. That raises critical questions, legal and humanitarian experts say, about whether the civilian harm caused by Israel’s military operations against the hospital — encircling, besieging and ultimately raiding the facility and the tunnel beneath it — were proportionate to the assessed threat.

WAPO unpaywalled gift link: https://wapo.st/3ttbhRl

[TheRickles]

1. Good to see some hard questions being raised by the mainstream media.

So far, most critiques of the IDF's news releases (misinformation? propaganda?) are from non-corporate sources like
The Intercept:
https://theintercept.com/2023/11/21/al-shifa-hospital-hamas-israel/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter

[Beastly Boy]

2. A crude bait and switch job

The Post’s analysis shows:

The rooms connected to the tunnel network discovered by IDF troops showed no immediate evidence of military use by Hamas.
None of the five hospital buildings identified by Hagari appeared to be connected to the tunnel network.
There is no evidence that the tunnels could be accessed from inside hospital wards.

A closer examination of the WP claims shows:
Al Shifa was the only hospital mentioned in the Hagari report that WP is using as its source. The tunnels in the basement and on the grounds of the hospital were eventually found and documented. So were weapons and military communications equipment, as well as heavy duty electrical infrastructure inside the tunnels. Several tunnels and bodies of two women taken hostage earlier were found on or near hospital grounds. Surveillance recordings of armed militants dragging hostages into the hospital were also found.

-Was there immediate evidence of military use of the hospital by Hamas? No
Was there evidence of military use of the hospital by Hamas? No comment.

-Did any of the hospital buildings identified by Hagari appear to be connected to the tunnel network? No.
-Did hospital grounds between the buildings identified by Hagari appear to be connected to the tunnel network? No comment.

-Was there evidence of Al Shifa being connected to the tunnels network inside the hospital wards? No.
Was there evidence of Al Shifa being connected to the tunnels outside the hospital wards? No comment.


WP: "We investigated an apple and we found it unlikely to be an orange". Way to go!

[sarisataka]

3. Some think that unless they found a complex

that looked like NORAD or a Pentagon command center from a movie all is good. They discount all the obvious evidence of military use in the hospital.

[Beastly Boy]

4. Some think that patently dishonest journalism is legit.

[Igel]

5. There's another bait and switch.

It's not the actual threat and military value--it's the assessed value.

If your intelligence were to be wrong, but it really is the best intelligence you had and you thought it reliable, this doesn't get Monday-morning quarterbacked in any valid sense.

[ripcord]

6. When they find out the hospital was used as cover by Hamas

Will they then investigate the Palestinian staff and UN people who have been in and out as to why they never notified anyone about rhe terrorist activity?