Israel on Sunday shared a video on social media of what it described as a tunnel dug by Palestinian operatives under the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital, a focus of its search-and-destroy missions against Hamas in a war now in its seventh week. In an update on operations in Gaza City's Al Shifa Hospital, the Israeli military said its engineers had uncovered a tunnel 10 metres deep "terrorist tunnel" running 55 metres to a blast-proof door.

In a post on social media platform X, the IDF wrote, "OPERATIONAL UPDATE: IDF and ISA forces revealed a significant 55-meter-long terrorist tunnel, 10 metres underneath the Shifa Hospital complex, during an intelligence-based operation."

Further, the update also highlighted that the tunnel entrance contains various defence mechanisms, such as a blast-proof door and a firing hole.
"The tunnel entrance contains various defence 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.

"For weeks, we've been telling the world about Hamas' cynical use of the residents of Gaza and patients of Shifa Hospital as human shields. Here is more proof," it added.

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.

The statement did not say what was beyond the door. The tunnel had been accessed through a shaft discovered in a shed within the Shifa compound that contained munitions, it said.

The Israel Defence Forces on Saturday denied that they demanded Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City evacuate within an hour, adding that it only accepted the requests of the medical centre's director to make a safe route for those who wished to leave, The Times of Israel reported.

"This morning, the IDF acceded to the request of the director of Shifa Hospital to enable additional Gazans who were in the hospital and would like to evacuate to do so via the secure route," the IDF said in a statement.

(With Agency Inputs)