Al-Shifa Hospital: More than a medical facility and the journalists who filmed it
"10:40am on October 7, a large number of vehicles drove through the gates of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza. These were not ambulances, and they were not transporting wounded terrorists. They were transporting Israeli hostages."
Al-Shifa Hospital was not merely Gazaâs main hospital that day. On the morning of October 7th, it functioned as a Hamas operational hub for receiving, processing and distributing Israeli hostages. Armed fighters were present and crowds celebrated the arrivals.
Video evidence tracks a stolen IDF jeep that left Nahal Oz base with Israeli hostages. It travelled through Gaza, passsed other hospitals and entered the Al-Shifa compound. Approximately 16 different vehicles can be identified. Dozens of hostages, including Naama Levy and Ori Megidish, were transported into Al-Shifa. Armed fighters were visibly present in the hospital at that time.
Seperate footage shows another murdered Israeli hostage, Ran Gvili, being transported by a terrorist on a motorcycle from Kibbutz Alumin to Gaza. The terrorist also arrives at the Al-Shifa compound, where his arrival is once again greeted by a cheering crowd.
Additional video footage also shows what appears to be an ambulance being used to transfer hostages from the hospital to the apartments of their captors. Some of those apartments were later identified as belonging to UNRWA teachers and medical workers.
The use of ambulances by Hamas was not isolated. Throughout the war, Hamas terrorists repeatedly exploited them. In one such case, terrorists Adham and Ismail Hawwas admitted placing Thai and Nepalese agricultural workers into an ambulance and driving them to Al-Shifa Hospital.
Prominent Gaza-based journalists were present and filming at the compound that day. None reported the arrival of Israeli hostages. One, however, falsely portrayed a jeep full of captured Israeli women as "wounded Palestinians" being brought in for medical treatment.
The vehicle convoy, armed presence, cheering crowds and deliberate bypass of a nearer hospital (Al-Ahli) make the non-medical purpose of Al-Shifa clear. The selective silence of Palestinian journalists formed part of the information warfare that obscured these facts on the morning of October 7 and throughout the war that followed.
In May, @LePoint published @ErwanSeznecâs investigation based on NGO Monitor research.
French MP @CarolineYADAN subsequently raised the case with the French Development Agency, a major government funder of FIDH, increasing scrutiny of Rhali and the organization. >>
The Great Gaza Scam; Just Listen to Hamas: What youâre seeing in this video is the plain truth, even though itâs coming from slain Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. I was directly involved in one of the efforts heâs indirectly referring to. This is a confession from a jihadist organization responsible for immense harm, acknowledging that Gazaâs blockade & conditions were not because Israel was hellâbent on blocking development. Israel became the lazy, convenient explanation & excuse for people unwilling to look beneath the surface and understand what actually happened in Gaza over the last twenty years.
Here, the head of Hamas admits there were real offers on the table: an airport, a seaport, new industries, major cash infusions â opportunities dating back to 2014. Former Israeli officials like Shaul Mofaz floated plans to raise tens of billions for Gazaâs development, and large parts of Israelâs security establishment were open to letting Gaza grow and prosper. Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Western governments were prepared to invest serious money, far beyond just humanitarian aid.
In 2015, I launched a multiâyear effort to build an internationally run, Israeliâapproved airport in alâMawasi, southern Gaza Strip. The proposal drew intrigue from senior Israeli officials, including Herzi Halevi and Avigdor Lieberman. In 2017, through intermediaries, I even appealed directly to Yahya Sinwar, Hamasâs former chief and architect of October 7, urging him to consider the airport proposal and think strategically about Gazaâs future.
So, what was the price that Israel and the world wanted in exchange for all of this?
As Haniyeh states in this video, the price was Gazaâs disarmament and demilitarization so that it wouldnât be dragged into endless, selfâdestructive wars. Hamas was offered a dignified offâramp: integrating its employees and former fighters into civilian police, receiving salaries, and shifting toward nationâbuilding instead of terrorism. That offer was real, with a political pathway for the group.
After October 7, and Gazaâs vast destruction, tens of thousands killed, and $ billions wasted, Hamas is forcibly entertaining disarmament and demilitarization. This video exposes the âresistanceâ cheerleaders who celebrated October 7 and the Westerners who insist Gaza could never have developed because of Israel. Listen to Hamas; whether you support them or think they are useful idiots, Gazaâs development was blocked because the terror Islamist group turned the territory into a fortress of violence, tunnels, rockets, smuggling, and radicalization. And no, Gaza and the West Bank are not comparable cases. Gaza had a genuine chance to become the crown jewel of the Palestinian people, a truly compelling model of prosperity and selfârule.
The pathway forward requires introspection, accountability, responsibility, and Palestinian agency.