Israel has released two videos of what it claims to be the interrogation of "Hamas terrorists" to prove the Gaza Strip group has been using the biggest hospital in the Palestine territory for military purposes.
Israel today said its war with Hamas had "entered a new phase" as the army relentlessly pounded Gaza three weeks into a conflict sparked by the deadliest attack in the country's history.
Israel's military accused Hamas of using hospitals in Gaza as operations centres for directing attacks, which Hamas denied.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson post two videos on X, formerly Twitter, alleging they have more evidence of Hamas using the Shifa Hospital in Gaza for "terrorist activity".
"The two terrorists were involved in the brutal massacre on October 7 in southern Israel. It should be noted that the IDF and ISA have also shared more intelligence on the subject with Western officials in the intelligence community," the IDF said. ISA is Israel's Internal Security Agency.
In the video, one of the alleged Hamas man is heard saying, "Shifa, for example, there are underground levels. Shifa is not small. It is a big place that can be used to hide things."
The alleged Hamas man is also heard saying they hide in clinics, schools, hospitals and other such places to avoid being targeted by Israel.
The United Nations warned thousands more civilians could die as Israel escalated ground operations in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, where rescuers said fierce overnight bombardment destroyed hundreds of buildings.
The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza said Israeli strikes had killed 7,703 people, mainly civilians, with more than 3,500 of them children.
The conflict is the fifth and deadliest in Gaza since Israel unilaterally withdrew troops and settlers from the Palestinian territory in 2005.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned of "the possibly catastrophic consequences of large-scale ground operations in Gaza", saying "thousands more civilians" could die.
With inputs from AFP
