IDF Uncovers Hamas Bunker Hidden Beneath EU-Funded Gaza Hospital

The Israel Defense Forces say they uncovered an extensive underground bunker system built directly beneath Gaza's European Hospital in Khan Younis, allegedly constructed by Hamas and used as a command center that at one point sheltered senior Hamas figure Mohammed Sinwar. According to the IDF, the network was discovered in 2025 running beneath the facility's emergency room and neonatal wards, with drone and interior footage released by the military purporting to show tunnel shafts, fortified passageways, and rooms allegedly used for command operations. Israeli officials say troops recovered weapons, cash, and internal documents from the site, which they say point directly to Hamas's use of the hospital's infrastructure for military purposes.

The hospital itself was built with European Union funding, a detail Israeli officials have repeatedly emphasized in arguing that international aid intended for civilian medical care was instead exploited to shield Hamas's military command structure. Sinwar, the Hamas leader Israel says was hidden inside the tunnel complex, was killed in a May 2025 Israeli strike, with his death later confirmed the following month. Reporting on the tunnel's existence and location has been carried by Reuters, the Times of Israel, and the Jerusalem Post, with IDF statements directly linking the European-funded facility to what Israeli officials describe as embedded Hamas military infrastructure.

Israeli officials argue the discovery fits a broader, well-documented pattern in which Hamas has repeatedly built military infrastructure beneath hospitals and other protected civilian sites throughout the Gaza Strip during the conflict. Under international humanitarian law, hospitals are normally granted protected status, but that protection can be forfeited when a facility is actively used for military purposes, as Israel alleges was the case at the European Hospital. Israeli officials have pointed to the case as further evidence that, in their view, Gaza remains the only conflict zone where medical facilities have been so consistently converted into shields for military command activity, a claim that continues to shape international debate over humanitarian access and accountability in the war.