Hamas held Israeli hostages in Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza City. This was reported by military spokesman Daniel Hagari, who said that a tunnel, weapons, explosives and an area possibly used to hide hostages were found. Hagari showed a video showing the secret opening of a tunnel dug not far from the back of Rantisi Hospital. The electricity for that tunnel came from the hospital. At the foot of the tunnel – added Hagari, showing the pictures – there was an armory used by Hamas. Inside (at the foot of the hospital) there were explosives, vests, hand grenades and RPGs. In the immediate vicinity was a motorcycle “used by Hamas during the massacres carried out in Israel on October 7”. “Immediately after the massacre, they came to hide in Rantisi hospital,” the spokesman said. In the area near Hagari – who was today with the soldiers who entered that tunnel – diapers and a plastic baby bottle were found. There was also a chair with several loose ropes. “We are investigating the possibility that hostages were held here,” he said. Also in that room, on the wall, was the changing of the guard by Hamas militiamen that began on October 7. Answering the question, Hagari did not rule out that these hostages, if they were indeed held in Rantisi, may have been taken to the southern part of Gaza in the meantime. “Hamas uses hospitals as instruments of war,” he said. In his view, what was revealed today supports Israel’s suspicions about the presence of important Hamas military structures at the base of Shifa Hospital, the main hospital in Gaza.
