Tunnels under civilian sites is unproven

CLAIM:

STATUS

Misleading

KEY COUNTERPOINTS

The blanket claim is false. This is not just an Israeli allegation. UNRWA publicly acknowledged in 2017 that it discovered what appeared to be a tunnel under one of its schools, and separately condemned the existence of tunnels under two of its schools in Maghazi camp “in the strongest possible terms.” In November 2023, the Pentagon also said the U.S. had information that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad used some hospitals in Gaza, including al-Shifa, and that they had tunnels underneath those hospitals.
There is also non-Israeli support beyond UNRWA for the al-Shifa issue. In January 2024, a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment said the United States was confident Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad used al-Shifa Hospital and sites beneath it to house command infrastructure, conduct some command-and-control activity, store some weapons, and hold at least a few hostages. That matters because it means the phenomenon is not resting only on Israeli army claims.
That still does not prove every Israeli claim about every site. Human Rights Watch said in November 2023 that the evidence then put forward did not justify depriving Gaza hospitals and ambulances of their protected status under international humanitarian law. So the honest position is not “everything is proven,” but also not “nothing is proven.” The serious dispute is about scope, site-specific proof, and the strength of the evidence in each case.
The legal stakes are real, which is why precision matters. The ICRC states that medical units lose their protection if they are used, outside their humanitarian function, to commit acts harmful to the enemy. That means evidence of tunnels, command infrastructure, weapons storage, or other military use under or within protected sites goes directly to the legal analysis. But it does not create a free license to attack; the rest of the law still applies.

EVIDENCE

• On 15 October 2017, UNRWA said it discovered what appeared to be a tunnel underneath one of its schools in Gaza.

• On 9 June 2017, UNRWA condemned the existence of tunnels under two of its schools in Maghazi camp in the Gaza Strip.

• On 14 November 2023, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the U.S. had information that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad used some hospitals in Gaza, including al-Shifa, to conceal and support military operations and hold hostages, and added: “They have tunnels underneath these hospitals.”

• In January 2024, a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment said the U.S. was confident Hamas and PIJ used al-Shifa and sites beneath it for command activity, some weapons storage, and at least a few hostages.

• Human Rights Watch said in November 2023 that the evidence then publicly put forward did not justify stripping hospitals and ambulances of protected status under international humanitarian law.

PRIMARY SOURCES

UNRWA, “UNRWA Condemns Neutrality Violation in Gaza” (2017)
https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/unrwa-condemns-neutrality-violation-gaza
Useful because it is a non-Israeli institutional acknowledgment that a tunnel was discovered under a UNRWA school.

UNRWA, “UNRWA Condemns Neutrality Violation in Gaza in the Strongest Possible Terms” (2017)
https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/unrwa-condemns-neutrality-violation-gaza-strongest-possible-terms
Useful because it shows this was not just one isolated school incident.

U.S. Department of Defense, Sabrina Singh press briefing (14 November 2023)
https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/defense-department-briefing/634794
Best official U.S. source for the claim that Hamas and PIJ used some hospitals, including al-Shifa, and had tunnels underneath them.

U.S. intelligence assessment on al-Shifa (reported January 2024)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/01/03/hamas-gaza-israel-alshifa-tunnels/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-intel-assesses-hamas-used-shifa-hospital-as-command-center-held-hostages-there/
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/03/politics/us-al-shifa-intelligence-assessment
Useful because it adds non-Israeli support that al-Shifa and sites beneath it were used for command infrastructure, weapons storage, and hostages.

Human Rights Watch, “Gaza: Unlawful Israeli Hospital Strikes Worsen Health Crisis” (14 November 2023)
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/14/gaza-unlawful-israeli-hospital-strikes-worsen-health-crisis
Important for the limiting principle: not every hospital allegation was proven strongly enough at that time to justify removing legal protection.

ICRC, “The protection of hospitals during armed conflicts: What the law says”
https://www.icrc.org/en/document/protection-hospitals-during-armed-conflicts-what-law-says
Best legal source for why military misuse matters and what it does, and does not, change.

STRONGEST COUNTER ARGUMENTS WORTH KNOWING

• Critics can fairly argue that some of the most publicized Israeli hospital claims were initially overstated, under-documented, or not independently verified to the level claimed. That is a real weakness in some site-specific narratives.

• It is also fair to argue that even where military misuse exists, attacks still must satisfy warning, precaution, necessity, and proportionality requirements. Misuse does not erase all civilian protections.

NOTES

Do not concede the main point. The claim that tunnels under civilian sites are “unproven” is too broad and does not survive contact with the record. UNRWA itself acknowledged tunnels under its facilities, and the U.S. government publicly backed the claim that Hamas and PIJ used hospitals including al-Shifa and sites beneath them.

Explorer