The Israel Defense Forces have claimed that they found a Hamas rocket-making lab, weapons, and a tunnel entrance inside a mosque in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood. They also shared a video that showed Israeli soldiers heading into the basement of a partially destroyed mosque and uncovering a base allegedly used by the Hamas operatives. Different types of mortars, warhead missiles, thermobaric weapons, and explosive materials, were found in an underground room. A whiteboard that featured plans to use the rockets and trace the paths of Israeli airstrikes was also found.
''Holy places, such as mosques, should not be used as fronts for terrorism. Hamas used this mosque as a weapons storage facility and a laboratory for Hamas' rockets. Finding dozens of mortars, warhead missiles, thermobaric weapons, RPGs, and a tunnel shaft. What was once a place of worship is now a home for terrorism,'' the caption of the video read, shared on X.
Watch the video here:
''I want you to understand: A mosque, in the Zeitoun area, was being used as a lab for making weapons. Troops enter the mosque, carry out scans, and make sure there are no traps. They head inside this mosque and find a tunnel shaft… and a staircase,'' The Times of Israel quoted IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.
Last week, Israel published a video of what it described as a tunnel dug by Palestinian operatives under the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital. ''The tunnel entrance contains various defense mechanisms, such as a blast-proof door and a firing hole, in an attempt by Hamas to block Israeli forces from entering,'' the IDF said in a statement about the hospital tunnel.
While acknowledging that it has a network of hundreds of kilometres of secret tunnels, bunkers and access shafts throughout the Palestinian enclave, Hamas has denied that these are located in civilian infrastructure like hospitals.
