The Israeli occupation army provided misleading information about the presence of a tunnel beneath the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, which was bombed twice within 24 hours, local media reported yesterday.
An analysis of aerial images released by the Israeli military “shows that the tunnel is located in a nearby school,” said Israel’s Haaretz daily.
It added that the tunnel is “not inside the hospital as the army claimed,” noting “the absence of any evidence supporting the claim that the tunnel runs beneath the medical facility.”
The Israeli army killed 34 Palestinians and injured dozens in a series of air strikes late on Tuesday targeting the European Gaza Hospital and its surroundings, according to statements from the Ministry of Health and the Civil Defence.
In a joint statement, the Israeli army and Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service claimed they had carried out a “precise strike” targeting Hamas members.
Israeli media outlets including the public broadcaster KAN said the objective of the attack was to assassinate senior Al-Qassam Brigades commander Mohammed Sinwar.
Mohammed is the brother of Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, who was killed by Israel in October 2024.
Hamas described the Israeli targeting of the Gaza European Hospital as “a new war crime.”
According to a statement by Gaza’s Government Media Office on 8 May, a total of 38 hospitals, 81 health centres and 164 medical institutions have been destroyed, burned or rendered inoperative during the ongoing Israeli onslaught.
The Israeli occupation army has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 52,900 Palestinians since October 2023, most of them women and children.
Israel faces genocide charges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).