Israel released a surveillance camera video that it says shows two hostages at Shifa Hospital on October 7
A video clip published by the Israeli army shows Hamas taking hostages to Al-Shifa Hospital on October 7 (Israeli army)
The Israeli military has released two surveillance videos and still images that they say show Hamas fighters carrying hostages to Shifa Hospital on October 7.
Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari showed two short video clips, along with several still photos, which he said showed Hamas fighters carrying the hostages (a Nepalese and a Thai) through the hospital, the largest in Gaza.
Hajari said that one of the videos recorded by surveillance cameras shows a hostage entering the hospital through the main entrance. The hostage is forcefully taken into the building.
In a press conference on Sunday, Hagari said that the second video broadcast by surveillance cameras showed a second hostage, her hand bandaged and clearly bleeding, being pushed on a stretcher into the hallway leading to the room.
Hajari did not explain how the Israeli military obtained the videos, although he said Israeli intelligence officers were part of the operation inside the hospital to try to locate the hostages.
CNN cannot independently verify the content of videos or still images.
Contradictory narratives: The Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry responded to the IDF briefing by questioning the authenticity of the videos and photos, but went on to say that if the photos were authentic, the photos showed that hospitals were providing medical care to anyone who needed it.
The Israeli army spokesman denied the allegations that the two hostages were taken to the hospital because they were injured, noting that one of the hostages was not injured and did not need medical treatment. He added that they were first taken to the hospital and then moved to hiding places, such as nearby apartments.
“If medical care had been provided at the hospital, if the hostages had stayed there, the Red Cross would have come and the people would have been released. None of these things would have happened,” he said.
In a statement issued on Saturday before the videos were published, Hamas said it had taken a number of hostages to hospitals for medical treatment after they were injured in Israeli airstrikes.
The latest videos have been shared with diplomats from the hostages’ home countries, Hajari said, adding that the Israeli military has not yet determined the whereabouts of the Nepalese and Thai hostages in Gaza.
The Nepalese Embassy in Israel and the Nepalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had confirmed to CNN before the video was published that a Nepalese citizen remained missing after the October 7 attack and was believed to have been held hostage by Hamas.
Ten Nepalese citizens were killed and several others injured when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, Nepal’s ambassador to Israel told CNN after the attack.
More context: In the wake of the attack on Al-Shifa Hospital last Wednesday, the IDF is under enormous pressure to prove its long-standing claim that Hamas is using Gaza’s largest medical center for fighting and command purposes.
On Sunday, the army also published a video clip from inside an open pit in the Al-Shifa Complex, showing an underground tunnel extending downward from the tunnel opening.
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