Hamas’s weaponization of hospitals marks ‘the embodiment of a broader narrative battle between Israelis and Palestinians,’ Gray Lady reports
The New York Times confirmed Sunday that Hamas operated a tunnel beneath the European Gaza Hospital weeks after casting doubt on its existence. Instead of condemning Hamas for using a hospital as a terror base, however, the paper framed the tunnel as a matter of clashing narratives.
“What we saw in that dark and narrow tunnel is one of the war’s biggest Rorschach tests,” Times reporter Patrick Kingsley wrote in a Sunday article after touring the site, calling it “the embodiment of a broader narrative battle between Israelis and Palestinians over how the conflict should be portrayed.”
“To Israelis, the location of an underground passageway highlights Hamas’s abuse of civilians,” the article’s subheading reads. “To Palestinians, Israel’s decision to target it highlights Israel’s own disregard for civilian life.”
The Times last month cast doubt on the tunnel’s existence, quoting the hospital’s director as saying such a tunnel was unlikely. Two weeks later, Muhammad Sinwar—the de facto leader of Hamas and younger brother of slain October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar—was killed inside the tunnel, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
While the left-leaning paper confirmed the tunnel’s existence on Sunday, it cited a hospital spokesman lamenting that “Israel should have found other ways to eliminate any wanted commander.”
The Times is the latest mainstream outlet to exhibit concern for Hamas’s perspective. The Washington Post, for example, last week ran the headline “Israeli Troops Kill Over 30 Near U.S. Aid Site in Gaza,” citing Hamas officials. After the claim was debunked, the Post quietly updated the headline—only issuing an editor’s note to its story after the Washington Free Beacon reported on the absence of one.
Hamas has a long record of using civilian sites to shield its terrorist activity. The group has also dug tunnels beneath Al-Shifa Hospital, U.N. Relief and Works Agency schools, and even the U.N. offices in Gaza City, knowingly putting civilian lives in danger.
IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin on Sunday accused Hamas of leaving Israel with no alternative.
“We were dragged by Hamas to this point,” Defrin told the Times. “If they weren’t building their infrastructure under the hospitals, we wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t attack this hospital.”
Update 5:07 p.m.: This piece has been updated for clarity.