The Israel Defense Forces released a photo and video Thursday of a newly exposed ground cavity that it described as an “operational tunnel shaft” inside al-Shifa Hospital complex, after it began a raid on Gaza’s largest hospital earlier this week. The Washington Post confirmed the location of the visuals to be inside the al-Shifa Hospital complex but could not verify where the opening led, or whether it was used for military purposes. Israel has yet to produce findings that corroborate its claims that al-Shifa sits atop a Hamas headquarters and was central to the militant group’s operations. The Gaza Strip remained offline Friday after a blackout cut off the territory’s communications on Thursday, when telecommunications companies ran out of fuel needed for generators to power equipment and backup batteries shut down. Calls placed to doctors in the north and south yielded an automated message saying connections to the Strip had been cut off.
