GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza has strongly denied allegations by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) that a resistance tunnel exists beneath the European Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, accusing Israel of fabricating evidence to justify attacks on civilian infrastructure.
In an official press statement released on Sunday, the GMO said that IOF excavated a site near the hospital and placed a metal pipe to stage a misleading scene. The video later shared by the IOF, according to the Office, falsely portrayed the pipe as the entrance to a tunnel.
“The Israeli occupation continues its systematic campaign to mislead international public opinion and justify its ongoing genocide against the health sector by spreading transparent and naïve lies,” the statement said. “Their latest claim—that a tunnel exists beneath the European Hospital—is just another desperate attempt,” it added.
The GMO emphasized that the video disseminated by the IOF shows nothing more than “a narrow iron pipe, too small for a person to enter, with no stairs or equipment, and wholly unfit to function as a tunnel.”
It further clarified that the location depicted is part of the hospital’s rainwater drainage system, accusing the IOF of deliberately digging at the site, installing the pipe, and filming near the emergency department—a location currently overwhelmed with patients and displaced civilians.
This is not the first time Israel has been accused of fabricating such claims. Gaza officials pointed to previous allegations by the IOF that tunnels existed beneath Al-Shifa Hospital and Hamad Hospital. In both cases, investigations revealed no credible evidence of tunnels—only a water well and a utility room, respectively. The GMO said these cases further underscore a pattern of deliberate misinformation.
“These repeated false claims reflect a broader strategy to dehumanize Palestinians and rationalize war crimes under the guise of military necessity,” the statement concluded.
