Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said bunkers underneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza had been built by Israeli engineers decades ago and were later used by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have targeted Gaza’s biggest medical facility which it said was the site of a Hamas command center, a charge denied by the group.
Following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 in which 1200 people were killed and an estimated 240 taken hostage, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 12,700 people, according to the Associated Press, with Shifa’s plight of particular concern globally for humanitarian reasons.
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On Sunday, the IDF and Israel’s Shin Bet security agency released footage it said showed the site was a Hamas command center, with a clip of a tunnel shaft and a winding staircase which descends for 20 feet until it reaches a tunnel.
Amid widespread condemnation about Israel’s targeting of the hospital, CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour asked Barak if the IDF and the Israeli government had done a “good enough job of proving their claim” that there was a “major” Hamas command center and bunker under Shifa.
Amanpour: “When you say [the bunker under al-Shifa] was built by Israeli engineers, did you misspeak?
Ehud Barak: “No, decades ago, we were running the place… we helped them to build these bunkers.”
Amanpour: “Ok. That’s sort of thrown me a little bit.”pic.twitter.com/CTYfMij2V0— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) November 21, 2023
Barak replied “It’s already been known for many years that they have a bunker that originally was built by Israeli constructors underneath Shifa,” which was used as a “command post” for Hamas and as a “junction of several tunnels”
“I don’t know to say to what extent it is a ‘major.’ It’s probably not the only…command post. Several others are under hospitals or in other sensitive places.”
“But it for sure has been used by Hamas even during this conflict,” he added.
“When you say it was built by Israeli engineers, did you misspeak?” asked Amanpour.
Barak, who was Israel’s prime minister from 1999 to 2001, responded, “decades ago, we were running the place, so we helped them.” The Gaza Strip has been controlled by Hamas since 2007.
“It was many decades ago…that we helped them build these bunkers in order to enable more space for the operation of the hospital within the very limited size of these compounds.”
Following a pause, Amanpour seemed surprised and struggled to find her next words. “That’s sort of thrown me a little bit.”
As Newsweek has previously reported in a Fact Check, several outlets had reported that a bunker or basement had been built at Israel’s discretion in the 1980s although whether Hamas has used it as a military headquarters has not been established.
Reports by left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz and other outlets have referred to the hospital’s Building No. 2, constructed as an add-on in the 1980s as containing a basement, secure underground operating room and tunnel network.
IDF spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, had said that Israeli intelligence had proven that Hamas used the bunker as its main command area.
The clip of Barak and Amanpour as of Tuesday morning had received more than 860,000 views and sparked a lively thread on social media. Newsweek has contacted the IDF for a response to Barak’s comments.
It comes as another video has gone viral after the BBC was invited to film the hospital and compared it with Israel’s own footage of the site.
BBC Verify said that the Israeli footage appeared to have been recorded before reporters arrived and that the earlier clip showed fewer weapons which the IDF later explained was because more weaponry had been found later in the day.
BBC analysis editor Ros Atkins on November 17 said the IDF video was posted, then deleted, and reposted again, with references to an Israeli soldier held hostage removed. The IDF said the video was a single shot with no edits although Atkins said there was a moment which appears to show an edit.
“We don’t know the reasons for that edit, nor how significant it is,” Atkins said in the video which as of Tuesday had received 12.4 million views, adding that Israel’s military “says suggestions it is manipulating the media are incorrect.”
On Sunday, the Israeli military released footage which it says shows hostages being taken into Shifa following the October 7 attack.
Newsweek could not independently verify these videos.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.