The Israeli army accused Hezbollah of storing money and gold under a prominent hospital in Beirut, and the director of the hospital responded by inviting journalists in for a look, reports the AP, which was among those invited to inspect. Fadi Alame, a member of Lebanon's Parliament who's also the CEO of Sahel General Hospital, denied there are tunnels under the hospital and said that the medical center south of Beirut is now evacuated. The AP notes that the accusation against the suburban hospital came without evidence that Hezbollah was storing hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in tunnels underneath.
The Jerusalem Post begs to differ, saying that journalists weren't given access to a bunker below the first and second floors that the Israelis insist is there. Per an IDF rep: "To the media personnel who are currently participating in the media tour: ... go to the specific locations we have revealed and do not waste your time on theatrics inside the medical departments." Sahel General Hospital had already been emptied of most patients and staff following intense bombardment of the area in recent days, and the few remaining ones were hastily evacuated late Monday after the Israeli claim. "We have been living in terror for the last 24 hours," hospital director Mazen Alame said Tuesday. "There is nothing under the hospital."
Journalists were taken to the two floors under the hospital, the first of which had two rooms for surgeries; the other had oxygen bottles stored inside. The second floor included a morgue with six doors in one room and a giant water tank in another. Mazen Alame said the hospital has no affiliation with any political group or religious institution and has been working under the supervision of Lebanon's Health Ministry since its founding. Israel has made similar claims about tunnels used by Hamas militants under hospitals in Gaza. (More Israel stories.)
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