EDITORIAL — Damning evidence

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) recently presented two videos that they claim were of hostages being taken to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after they were abducted during the Hamas terror attack last October 7.

One video shows an injured man being rushed to the emergency room while the other shows a man who has no visible injuries being dragged through the hospital by five men, three of whom were armed, as hospital staff look on bewilderingly.

The second video is more damning because it seems to belie the claims of Hamas that they aren’t keeping any hostages inside the hospital.

One on hand, some can always accuse Israel of presenting or even fabricating any video in its attempt to justify attacking the Al-Shifa Hospital, which it claims hides a Hamas base.

But on the other hand, if it is authentic, it could be concrete proof of what the IDF, as well as others, have claimed all along; that Hamas is using hospitals to keep hostages.

The IDF has also reported finding what seems to be a series of tunnels under the hospital, along with a cache of weapons and explosives. They also found something else near the hospital; the body of another hostage taken last October 7.

Despite everything it has said, Hamas does have a history of embedding its bases in civilian locations; in a previous editorial we said some have mockingly referred to the meaning of Hamas as “Hides Among Mosques And Schools.”

That mosque part may also be true; the IDF said they found a rocket-making lab, weapons, and a tunnel entrance inside a mosque in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.

Again, this may be false, but if this is true this bodes ill for not just the other hospitals in Gaza, but also structures like mosques and schools.

Hamas may have thought that hiding in civilian structures will protect them, or that at least Israel will get backlash when it strikes them and the civilians become collateral damage. That last part may be true, Israel is indeed getting backlash. But the real price comes in civilian lives caught in the crossfire, innocent lives that Hamas seems to be willing to offer to further its cause.