Hamas calls Israeli allegations of terror base beneath Shifa hospital 'baseless'

FILE - Bodies of Palestinians killed by an explosion at the Ahli Arab hospital are gathered in the front yard of the al-Shifa hospital, in Gaza City, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. As the fifth Israel-Hamas war rages, growing more deadly and devastating, international and local monitoring groups in besieged Gaza have been unable to keep up. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled, File)

The terror group Hamas has denied Israel's allegation that its command centers exist in an underground complex beneath Gaza's largest hospital. 

A senior Hamas leader called the allegations "baseless" in a statement reported by the Times of Israel.

Izzat al-Rishq said, "these lies represent a prelude to a new massacre against our people, greater than the one of the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital” — referring to the Oct. 17 blast that U.S. intelligence determined was likely caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket misfiring. Hamas has blamed Israel for the explosion and accused the Jewish state of committing war crimes against the Palestinian people.

The IDF said earlier that Hamas has hidden its main base of terror operations within a complex network of underground tunnels connecting hospitals and other civilian structures in Gaza. 

“Over 40,000 have sought refuge in Al-Shifa hospital, as they were displaced by the bombing that hit everything,” al-Rishq said. “We call on the leaders of Arab and Muslim countries to take action and stop the genocide against our people."