IDF release of photos
The IDF released photos showing "Military uniforms, 11 guns, three military vests, one with a Hamas logo, nine grenades, two Qurans, a string of prayer beads, a box of dates" that they said was found in the hospital. Former
US State Department legal advisor Brian Finucane said "These arms by themselves hardly seem to justify the military fixation on al-Shifa, even setting the law aside".
[71]
Following the release of the Israeli photos,
Al Jazeera senior political analyst
Marwan Bishara was skeptical, since Hamas left the guns and nothing else.
[133] Bishara added that Israel doesn't have any evidence that justifies "the
genocide that they've carried out against Gaza and the bombings of the hospitals and other facilities and for the
collective punishments."
[133]
Mouin Rabbani, a Middle East analyst, stated to Al Jazeera,
"Israeli forces have invaded Shifa Hospital and been inside it for 12 full hours – having refused any independent party to accompany them – and now we're supposed to believe that there were Hamas militants in there being pursued by the Israeli military but they somehow left their weapons behind?"
[134]
Israeli forces continued to search the facility for a second day, unearthing what they described as a tunnel entrance on the perimeter of the hospital complex. New York Times journalists visited the site and verified that a concrete shaft descending into the earth existed, and that electrical wiring and a ladder was visible, although they were not able to determine how deep the shaft was or where it led.
[135] Investigative journalist
Jeremy Scahill stated that the
"Israelis have a multidecade track record of lying, of promoting false information, releasing doctored videos". He then stated regarding the evidence that he had seen more guns in the homes of Americans than in this purported Hamas Pentagon under al-Shifa Hospital.[136]
Jeremy Bowen, BBC News' international editor, noted that there is no independent scrutiny inside the hospital, since journalists are working under the supervision of the Israeli military.
[137] He also stated that the evidence that was produced wasn't convincing enough to prove that "this was a nerve centre for the Hamas operation".
[137] On 17 November 2023, journalists for
The Independent stated that
"Israel has not presented evidence that shows a large-scale headquarters under the hospital".[138]