Shortly after 10.40 am on 7 October, a large number of vehicles drove through the gates of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza. These were not ambulances, and they were not transporting wounded terrorists. They were transporting Israeli hostages.
Newly emerged exclusive Palestinian video footage now provides evidence that Al-Shifa Hospital served as a key Hamas command centre for the transfer and distribution of abducted Israelis.
Of particular significance to this investigation are two videos that were only briefly available on a Palestinian Telegram channel. They show abducted Israeli vehicles being driven onto the Al-Shifa Hospital grounds.
This is the first time that this material has been presented publicly in this form and properly analysed.
Until now, official evidence suggested that only two or three hostages had passed through Al-Shifa Hospital on 7 October. The following evidence, including a frame-by-frame analysis of previously unpublished footage, shows that this figure is significantly underestimated and that the actual number was far higher.
One of the most revealing aspects of what happened at Al-Shifa is not only what did happen, but also what did not happen. Although prominent journalists from Gaza were present, no one reported on the arrival of the hostages. One even falsely portrayed a jeep full of captured Israeli women as “wounded Palestinians” who had been brought in for treatment.
Warning: This article contains disturbing footage of hostages filmed on 7 October.
The Hostages of Nahal Oz
On the morning of 7 October, one of the most serious failures in the history of the IDF occurred at the Nahal Oz military base near Gaza. The base was quickly overrun by a large number of terrorists, and more than 20 soldiers were killed there – including 16 female guards.
Ten living hostages were abducted from the base – seven female ‘observers’ and three members of a tank crew.
In May 2024, with the families’ consent, a longer video of the female hostages prior to their abduction from the Nahal Oz base was released. Fragments of this footage had already been published by Hamas on Telegram shortly after 7 October. A frame-by-frame analysis of the entire video now shows that six hostages were forced into a single stolen IDF jeep: four female ‘observers’, all of whom were visibly alive at the time and were led to the jeep; a fifth hostage, probably also an ‘observer’, who was lying injured on the floor of the vehicle (presumably Noa Marciano*); and a sixth, a soldier who appeared to be seriously injured or already dead:
The abduction of Naama Levy and Ori Megidish*
Not all the hostages from Nahal Oz were transported in the same vehicle. Some were separated at the base and put into different cars before being driven to Gaza.
Before the six hostages were taken to Gaza in the green military jeep, another convoy was already on its way to Gaza: here we see Naama Levy and Ori Megidish*, surrounded by terrorists, as they are driven away from the Nahal Oz base.
The route in Gaza
A search of dozens, if not hundreds, of Telegram channels yielded further clues, enabling part of this vehicle’s journey to be traced. The key pieces of evidence captured in all the footage used here are the vehicle’s registration number 703-145, the three bullet holes in the windscreen, the broken small headlamp on the front right-hand side, and the terrorists travelling in the vehicle.
Dieses Footage was filmed shortly after the stolen vehicle entered Gaza City. It appeared on just one Telegram channel based in Nablus. In the clip, the jeep carrying the hostages from Nahal Oz drives through a narrow street in Gaza. The civilians cheer as the stolen Jeep and other vehicles drive past:
The visible landmarks made it possible to exact location of the footage (the geolocation is “TwistyCB” on X):
The road we can see in the clip is Riyadh Street, which is located in the Shuja’iyya district. The jeep is travelling westwards towards Rimal and the coast.
On to Al-Shifa
Other images of the Jeep allow us to follow the journey further. Based on this location (the geolocation is “TwistyCB” on X), we know that this photo was taken shortly after the road scene was captured. Here, the jeep is located at the junction Baghdad Street and Salah al-Din Road and continues westwards – towards the Rimal district of Gaza and the coast:
Another useful image from the same post on Telegram shows the vehicle just before it turns – three clear bullet holes can be seen in the windscreen – a tell-tale sign that will later enable the vehicle to be identified with certainty.
DThe image below is taken from the widely circulated footage featuring Naama Levy (and Ori Megidish*), who was dragged from the back of a vehicle onto the rear seats when the jeep stopped in Gaza City. The vehicle in question is a dark-coloured Jeep Wrangler:
This footage has also been geolocated (geolocation is courtesy of @BenDoBrown on ‘X’), which revealed that this vehicle along the same route along Baghdad Street was driven like the captured IDF jeep that was transporting the other six hostages.
What is significant here is not only the identity of the vehicle, but also the fact that the routes match. Both vehicles are travelling westwards through Gaza City towards the Rimal district – in the same direction as al-Shifa.
Based on the geolocation of the image showing the stolen IDF vehicle turning into Baghdad Street, and the position of the Jeep Wrangler in which Naama Levy is being held captive, we can definitively establish that these locations are only 160 metres apart.
1 Location where the video was filmed: Riyadh Street. 2. Location of the jeep at the junction with Baghdad Street. 3. Location where the footage of the jeep with Naama Levy was filmed.
This proves that at least two separate vehicles carrying hostages who had been abducted from the same base were travelling along parallel routes to the same destination – and within the same time frame.
Based on the reconstructed route taken by the Nahal Oz convoy on its way to the Hamas stronghold of Rimal, the vehicles passed another fully fully operational hospital – which refutes any credible claim that this journey was about providing urgent medical care. The Al-Ahli Arab Hospital was operating normally on 7 October. It is significantly closer to Nahal Oz and borders the route through Gaza City.
As these vehicles drove on, Al-Ahli Hospital was only a minute or two away:
DHowever, the terrorists did not stop there. Instead, they drove past Al-Ahli and continued westwards towards al-Shifa, which lies at the heart of the Rimal district, where the Hamas stronghold was located.
The target: the Hamas headquarters in Al-Shifa
WWhilst much of the footage from 7 October was widely circulated, some of the key material remained inaccessible. The following video is one of two clips identified by the experienced German journalist Wolfgang Tietze, who worked for Spiegel TV / Der Spiegel from 1990 to 2003.
Both videos were subsequently removed, and the account that had uploaded them was deleted. They had been posted with the download function disabled. Wolfgang Tietze recognised their significance and recorded the footage directly from his screen (I have also provided a statement on this, which will be published alongside this investigation). These two videos form the core of this investigation – together with his detailed findings and additional contextual material. Some of this material can still be found on Palestinian Telegram channels.
This is the first time that this footage has been presented to the public in this form and properly analysed.
The video was filmed on the morning of 7 October outside the gates of Al-Shifa Hospital.
As the Israeli military jeep drives onto the hospital grounds, the number plate 703-145 can be seen for a brief moment. This confirms once again that the same jeep that had left Nahal Oz with Israeli hostages was present at Al-Shifa.
Their arrival is greeted by cheering crowds. Armed terrorists get out of the vehicle and surround it to guard the hostages. More vehicles arrive. The footage reveals a harrowing contrast. Outside, the enthusiastic crowd cheers as armed terrorists emerge to protect their captives; inside the vehicle, the Israeli hostages suffer terror, violence and utter helplessness:
Visible are young and elderly civilians, hospital support staff, onlookers from the hospital, terrorists in plain clothes stepping out of the crowd, and armed terrorists rushing towards the scene. They all know what is happening at Shifa Hospital this morning. They know how important this hospital is to Hamas.
The following video, which shows four female hostages, was most likely filmed on the grounds of Al-Shifa Hospital and shows this vehicle surrounded by a noisy crowd. It was uploaded on 7 October to numerous Palestinian Telegram channels :
Screenshots from this video show some features of the hospital grounds. The ambulance** parked alongside the jeep is slightly easier to make out (see photo below). The abducted women can be seen in the jeep with the number plate 703-145 at 0:05 mins. Below the video is a screenshot showing the young women from this video.
Thanks to subsequent revelations by the IDF, we can now assign a precise timestamp to this moment.
The IDF’s CCTV footage
On 19 November 2023, the IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, held a press conference in which he released still images from CCTV footage which, according to his description, show “stolen IDF vehicles” entering al-Shifa. The IDF had discovered this footage shortly beforehand on a laptop whilst searching al-Shifa Hospital. The vehicles shown are the same as those in the one-off Palestinian video dated 7 October. The IDF image shows the two vehicles as seen from within the al-Shifa compound; the three images below show the vehicles as seen from the road.
Based on this correspondence, the arrival of the military jeep from the Nahal Oz base in Al-Shifa can be dated to 10.53 am on 7 October – half hour after the vehicles had left the Nahal Oz base.
Given the attention and the celebrations taking place at the scene, and given the armed terrorists who were clearly guarding the vehicle, it is evident that there were hostages inside the vehicle at that time.
Another vehicle with hostages at Al-Shifa: the Jeep Wrangler
Another vehicle of interest arrives in Al-Shifa beforehand: a black Jeep Wrangler, which is in line with the vehicle matchesthe one in which Naama Levy and Ori Megidish* were transported following their abduction from Nahal Oz.
At 11.30 am images of this vehicle were already circulating on Telegram. The location shown is clearly the grounds of al-Shifa Hospital:
As the pictures below show, both vehicles are dark-coloured Jeep Wranglers configured for off-road use, each fitted with a raised snorkel air intake and a whip aerial mounted in front of the door – a distinctive combination that significantly reduces the likelihood of it being a coincidence.
Given that we know the captured IDF jeep carrying hostages from Nahal Oz was driven to al-Shifa, the appearance of another vehicle carrying hostages at the hospital during the same time frame comes as no surprise.
Furthermore, as in the other videos, the behaviour of the bystanders is revealing. Their focused attention on the vehicle and their obvious attempts to identify the occupants coincide with the arrival of another vehicle carrying hostages – most likely the vehicle in which Naama Levy and Ori Megidish* were being transported.
Das Kommando- und Verteilungszentrum der Hamas
A second clip of deleted footage, filmed by the same person on the access road to Al-Shifa Hospital, reinforces the picture of Al-Shifa as a key Hamas operations centre on the morning of 7 October.
In this second clip, another stolen IDF vehicle and further civilian cars can be seen driving onto the hospital grounds.
Previously undiscovered photographs by a well-known Palestinian photographer show that these vehicles did in fact enter the Al-Shifa compound.
There is visible evidence that hostages were in these vehicles. A ‘frame-by-frame’ analysis suggests this conclusion. Several hostages can be seen briefly on the Al-Shifa compound.
However, the arrival of the military jeep – along with other stolen military vehicles that converged on the same location within a short timeframe – is in itself significant. What is particularly significant, though, is the behaviour of the many Palestinians.
The scale of the vehicles arriving is now impossible to ignore. The evidence shows that several stolen IDF vehicles and other vehicles arrived one after the other within a matter of minutes at Al-Shifa, where they were greeted by a large, cheering crowd. In total, around 16 different vehicles (including a motorbike) can be identified. Dozens of hostages must have been transported to Al-Shifa.
The IDF later released additional CCTV footage showing another stolen IDF jeep arriving in Al-Shifa as early as 10.42 am – just eleven minutes before the vehicle, which was proven to be transporting hostages, arrived at 10.53 am.
The evidence also shows that dozens of armed fighters were present at the hospital at that time. Taken together, these events place al-Shifa at the centre of the proceedings – serving as a command centre, meeting point and distribution point within Hamas’s operational network that morning.
In addition to the vehicles and hostages already documented, several further examples confirm that al-Shifa played a central role in the capture and transport of the hostages.
We know that Noa Marciano was detained in the immediate vicinity of al-Shifa before being taken back there later, where she was brutally murdered wurde.
We also know that Ori Megidish was
In addition to these examples, footage shows another murdered Israeli hostage – likely Ran Gvili* (according to @NoaMagid on ‘X’) – being transported from Kibbutz Alumim to Gaza by a terrorist on a motorbike, before entering the Al-Shifa compound around midday, where his arrival is greeted by a cheering crowd. The first image shows the terrorist after entering Gaza. In the second, we see him with the body of Ran Gvili in the Shifa-Ezz Eldine Al-Qassem area, on his way to the entrance to Al-Shifa. The fourth photo screenshot, taken from a photograph by a well-known photographer from Gaza, shows this terrorist at the entrance to Al-Shifa.
ZTaken together, these images and findings confirm the pattern already evident from the footage in the two key videos. They show Al-Shifa not only as a transit point, but as a place where hostage-takings, detentions and their consequences repeatedly intersect.
Even if one disregards the hostages abducted from other locations – such as Yehudit Weiss from Kibbutz Beeri, whose body was later found near al-Shifa – the pattern emerging from Nahal Oz alone is striking. The target is always al-Shifa.
And there is another question: how many hostages were actually taken to Al-Shifa by Hamas and the other terrorists on 7 October – 20, 40, 60? These two very important videos show only 80–90 seconds of the events. Together with the other videos and the images from the five photographers known so far, further details emerge. They give an insight into what actually took place on the Al-Shifa site.
Another video shows the same three vehicles that were pictured with the red pavilion on the Al-Shifa compound, after they had left via the Ez-Eldine Al Qussam exit. They are travelling in the opposite direction to the one they came from. This video was also found on a social media account belonging to a Palestinian cameraman. Here is a screenshot from a WSJ article. The photographer of this image is Mohammed Talatene (DPA).
Hit and Run
Shortly after 7 October, Hamas released images of four young women from Nahal Oz. They were intended to convey several messages: ‘Look, we have the hostages; they are safe and are being looked after.’
It is indeed not clear from the previous footage exactly what happened to the hostages on the Al-Shifa compound.
One possible explanation is that the hostages were quickly moved on – possibly into the network of tunnels beneath or near the hospital – and dispersed to other locations.
A newly discovered photograph makes another explanation more likely. An ambulance is briefly parked next to the jeep carrying the young women. It can be seen briefly in a few frames at the top of the blurry video**. Were these women transferred to this ambulance? A short time later, the ambulance is no longer visible. Did it take them to the flat of their guards?
This interpretation is supported by footage uploaded less than half an hour after the convoy’s arrival, showing the stolen IDF jeep leaving al-Shifa. At this point, it is no longer clear whether all the hostages had been removed from the vehicle.
Der gestohleneJeep 703-145 fährt ohne die 6 israelischen Geiseln aus dem Al-Shifa
A video likely to have been taken by a Palestinian photographer who was present
If the hostages were still in the vehicle when it sped off, there is no plausible reason to have driven them to al-Shifa, unless the hospital was part of Hamas’s command structure. If they were not in the vehicle, who then took them into custody on the hospital grounds, if not a Hamas operational unit already present there? One thing is certain, however: on 7 October, al-Shifa was a key Hamas command centre. A photograph that has also recently come to light suggests, moreover, that the jeep drove back along the same route empty.
The journalists, the doctors and the deliberate deception
For more than two years, many international media outlets, particularly German ones, have highlighted the role of al-Shifa in Hamas’s operations downplayed and Israel’s claims disputed that the hospital was anything more than a civilian medical facility. Throughout the reporting, al-Shifa was consistently portrayed as being isolated from Hamas’s activities and separate from the organisation’s political and security infrastructure.
The events of the morning of 7 October tell a different story.
When these events took place, there were at least seven journalists present at Al-Shifa Hospital. The cameras were rolling. Live reports were broadcast from the hospital complex throughout the morning.
Yet despite the arrival of stolen military vehicles, armed terrorists, civilian vehicles carrying hostages and large crowds celebrating their arrival, not a single journalist reported on the arrival of the Israeli hostages at the hospital.
Mohammad Abu Saif, an ARD staff member based in Gaza, posted photos of his friends in Gaza on his Instagram account. (More on this in the follow-up to this article – see the note.) Among his friends is one of the photographers who took photos and filmed the transfer of hostages to Al-Shifa on 7 October.
Here we see him alongside the photographers Mohammed Talatene (left) and Mohannad Al Katheeb (right). Al Katheeb is currently being held in detention pending deportation in Greece. He is accused of having links to Hamas and of taking part in the events of 7 October.
Neither this ARD staff member in Gaza nor the ARD studio in Tel Aviv reported on the events of 7 October.
One another example is particularly striking. A series of photos, published on the Rudaw channel (Rudaw, a private Kurdish television broadcaster) and the Rudaw website, and taken by the journalist Mohammed Salem, bear the Caption: “Continuous transport of wounded Palestinians to the Shifa Medical Complex”.
The three distinct bullet holes in the windscreen leave no doubt that this is the same Jeep that transported the hostages from Nahal Oz. The journalists present could see the crowds and the celebrations. They could see the armed terrorists surrounding the vehicle and knew exactly what was going on.
The post was published at 11.31 am on the Facebook page and website of Rudaw.net, a private Kurdish television broadcaster, published, which confirms that the reporting took place in real time from within the hospital grounds whilst hostages were present.
This was not a mistake made after the fact. It was a deliberate misrepresentation.
Hospital staff were also available to speak to the media. Doctors and administrative staff commented on the events at Al-Shifa Hospital and made assurances and statements which were then uncritically relayed by Western media.
DThese were the sources on which much of the international press relied during the first few hours of the war. However, they were already circulating false or misleading reports about the events taking place both inside and outside the hospital.
Whether out of ideological agreement, fear or coercion – what followed was not journalism, but deliberate omission and distortion. The arrival of Israeli hostages at Al-Shifa Hospital, in the heart of the Hamas stronghold, was one of the most significant events on the morning of 7 October – and it went unreported.
Bis jetzt.
A note
This is my German version of the article:
„Exclusive: October 7 – The al-Shifa Hospital Hostage Convoy“
LUnfortunately, David Collier had forgotten to name me as a co-author. This would have been appropriate, as the entire article is based primarily on my research. I had submitted the research I had carried out up to that point to the ICC on 24 November 2025 as a PowerPoint file containing all the supporting documents. I also rewrote and added to some parts for specific reasons. I would have liked, as is standard journalistic practice, to have presented my research to those concerned. However, for financial and logistical reasons, I was unable to do so. I have marked sections of the article where I am uncertain with an asterisk (*). ‘Uncertain’ here means that I was unable to verify this information 100 per cent. Nevertheless, I believe that these additions should not be withheld.
I will soon be publishing a follow-up piece entitled ‘The Photographers, the Media and Al-Shifa – How Hamas’s Propaganda Worked’veröffentlichen.
This article will examine in detail what actually happened at Al Shifa on 7 October. Numerous Palestinian photographers and cameramen took photographs and filmed dozens of Israeli hostages being brought to Al Shifa. They sold some of this footage to Western media outlets with false descriptions. No one noticed this; no media outlet questioned these images. For this reason, several articles will also address the failure – particularly on the part of the German media – in their reporting on Gaza.n.
Wolfgang Tietze