JERUSALEM: Israel’s military on Monday claimed new evidence linking a north Gaza hospital to hostages seized by militants, saying it found the car of a captive mistakenly killed by troops inside the facility.
A Toyota Corolla with an Israeli license plate belonging to the family of Samer El-Talalqa has been found inside the Indonesian hospital, the army said.
Talalqa was among three hostages that the Israeli army said troops shot dead earlier this month, mistakenly identifying them as a threat.
“RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) remnants and bloodstains were found in the vehicle, which were identified as belonging to another hostage,” the army statement said without elaborating.
“The finding of the vehicle directly links the hospital to the brutal events of October 7.”
AFP could not independently confirm the claim, and there was no immediate comment from the Indonesian-funded facility in Beit Lahia.
On October 7, Hamas militants smashed through the highly militarised Gaza border to launch unprecedented attacks across southern Israel, leaving around 1,140 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The Palestinian militants also abducted around 250 people, 129 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza.
Israel launched a retaliatory military campaign in Gaza, killing at least 20,674 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Israel has come under scathing international criticism for targeting hospitals in the Gaza Strip, which it has repeatedly accused of being used by Hamas militants for military purposes.
Hamas denies the Israeli accusations that hospitals and other civilian infrastructure are being used by its operatives.
In early November, Indonesia denied an Israeli claim that the hospital in Beit Lahia sits atop a network of Hamas tunnels.