Current:Home > MyUS intel confident militant groups used largest Gaza hospital in campaign against Israel: AP source-LoTradeCoin
US intel confident militant groups used largest Gaza hospital in campaign against Israel: AP source
View Date:2024-12-23 21:03:37
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is “confident” that Palestinian militant groups used Gaza’s largest hospital to hold “at least a few” hostages seized during their bloody Oct. 7 attack and to house command infrastructure, an American intelligence assessment declassified Tuesday and shared by a U.S. official found.
The assessment offers the firmest U.S. support for Israeli claims about the Shifa hospital complex, which was raided by Israeli forces in November in an operation decried by global humanitarian organizations and some members of President Joe Biden’ s party. Yet the information released doesn’t fully back some of Israel’s most significant allegations that the hospital served as the central node for activities by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The U.S. official shared the assessment on the condition of anonymity.
“The U.S. Intelligence Community is confident in its judgment on this topic and has independently corroborated information on HAMAS and PIJ’s use of the hospital complex for a variety of purposes related to its campaign against Israel,” the assessment states. It continues that it believes the groups “used the al-Shifa hospital complex and sites beneath it to house command infrastructure, exercise certain command and control activities, store some weapons, and hold at least a few hostages.”
The U.S. believes that Hamas members evacuated days before Israel raided the complex on Nov. 15 and that they destroyed sensitive documents and electronics before Israeli troops entered the facility.
U.S. officials had previously pointed to classified intelligence, obtained independently from the Israelis, to offer support for Israel’s raid.
“I can confirm for you that we have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including al-Shifa, and tunnels underneath them to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters a day before Israel entered the hospital.
Gaza’s hospitals have played a central role in the dueling narratives surrounding the war that the Hamas-run Health Ministry says has killed 22,100 people — though it does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Hospitals enjoy special protected status under the international laws of war. But they can lose that status if they are used for military purposes.
Before the raid on the hospital, the Israeli military unveiled a detailed 3D model of Gaza’s Shifa Hospital showing a series of underground installations that it said was part of an elaborate Hamas command-and-control center under the territory’s largest health care facility. The Israeli military has yet to unveil any infrastructure nearly as sprawling and developed as the purported center.
veryGood! (517)
Related
- Prosecutors say some erroneous evidence was given jurors at ex-Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial
- Garcelle Beauvais dishes on new Lifetime movie, Kamala Harris interview
- What is ‘price gouging’ and why is VP Harris proposing to ban it?
- The Bachelor Alum Ben Higgins' Wife Jessica Clarke Is Pregnant With Their First Baby
- Black and Latino families displaced from Palm Springs neighborhood reach $27M tentative settlement
- Greenidge Sues New York State Environmental Regulators, Seeking to Continue Operating Its Dresden Power Plant
- Dry desert heat breaks records as it blasts much of the US Southwest, forecasters say
- A banner year for data breaches: Cybersecurity expert shows how to protect your privacy
- Top Federal Reserve official defends central bank’s independence in wake of Trump win
- A Complete Guide to the It Ends With Us Drama and Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni Feud Rumors
Ranking
- Ben Foster Files for Divorce From Laura Prepon After 6 Years of Marriage
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword, Baby, Do You Like This Beat?
- French actor and heartthrob Alain Delon dies at 88
- Little League World Series: Live updates from Sunday elimination games
- Report: Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence could miss rest of season with shoulder injury
- Premier League highlights: Arsenal and Liverpool win season's opening Saturday
- Phoenix police launch website detailing incidents included in scathing DOJ report
- Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord fights on: once in Vietnam, now within family
Recommendation
-
PSA: Coach Outlet Has Stocking Stuffers, Gifts Under $100 & More for the Holidays RN (up to 60% Off)
-
Haley Joel Osment Reveals Why He Took a Break From Hollywood In Rare Life Update
-
Little League World Series: Updates, highlights from Saturday elimination games
-
The Aspen Institute Is Calling for a Systemic Approach to Climate Education at the University Level
-
Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones’ Infowars at auction with help from Sandy Hook families
-
Scientists think they know the origin of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs
-
Make eye exams part of the back-to-school checklist. Your kids and their teachers will thank you
-
Key police testimony caps first week of ex-politician’s trial in Las Vegas reporter’s death