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Whether al-Shifa hospital etc. host Hamas weapons and tunnels is under current dispute. However these are not new claims by the Israelis. For years and through multiple rounds of the conflict they've said Hamas deliberately hides in populated civilian infrastructure - mosques, schools, hospitals, ambulances, private residences, etc.

For example, a 2009 post from the Amit Intelligence Center:

The many mosques in the Gaza Strip serve not only religious functions, but are also put to military use by Hamas and the other terrorist organizations. They are used to hide terrorist operatives, store weapons, as sites from which rockets and mortar shells are launched, sites for launching terrorist attacks and for training terrorist operatives.

Is there any verified evidence from before Oct. 7, 2023 that Hamas has used active civilian infrastructure for military functions?

the gods from engineering
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YouDontSay
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    Also on https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/56351/has-hamas-historically-used-civilian-infrastructure-for-military-purposes I'm not entirely sure we need 2 Qs with the exact same contents (even if they are on-topic on both sites). – the gods from engineering Nov 17 '23 at 18:02
  • @Fizz: Was wondering exactly that. Couldn't find anything in help addressing it. My thinking was since there are different contributors on each, there's greater likelihood of a solid answer. – YouDontSay Nov 17 '23 at 18:05
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    more or less already asked https://politics.stackexchange.com/q/82261/21531 – Italian Philosophers 4 Monica Nov 17 '23 at 18:11
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    @YouDontSay cross-posting exactly the same question is generally frowned upon – fyrepenguin Nov 17 '23 at 19:05

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There are that The Guardian calls 'independent evidence', not from Israeli:

Guardian journalists in 2014 encountered armed men inside one hospital, and sightings of senior Hamas leaders inside the Shifa hospital have been documented. During the 2014 conflict the UN reported weapons were found inside two UN schools and there have been numerous reports of Palestinian armed factions in Gaza firing rockets and other weapons from close to protected civilian locations.

Stančikas
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