TEL AVIV, October 28. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces said Hamas hid its main base of operations under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Hamas has several underground complexes under Shifa "which are used by the terror group’s leaders to direct its activities," the IDF said in a statement. There is a tunnel leading to the hospital, so that Hamas officials do not need to enter the hospital to reach the base of operations, according to the statement.

The IDF also said Hamas’ internal security has a command center inside Shifa Hospital, from which it directs rocket fire on Israel. The energy system of the hospital, which has 1,500 beds and about 4,000 staff, also powers the Hamas’ underground base, according to the military.

The IDF said its information on the use of the hospital by Hamas is based on a wide range of intelligence sources.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by mass killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas regards the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.