Shortly after 10:40am on October 7 2023, a large convoy of vehicles drove through the gates of al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical complex. They were not ambulances, and they were not carrying wounded terrorists. They were carrying Israeli hostages.
Using newly uncovered footage, it can now be shown that al-Shifa Hospital functioned as a key Hamas control hub in the transfer and distribution of abducted Israelis.
This is the first time this material is being publicly presented and properly analysed.
Until now, official evidence has suggested that only two or three hostages passed through al-Shifa on October 7. The evidence below, including frame-by-frame analysis of previously unseen footage, demonstrates that this figure is a significant underestimate and indicates the true number was far higher.
One of the most revealing aspects of what happened at al-Shifa is not only what occurred, but what didn’t. With prominent Gazan journalists present, no one reported the arrival of hostages. One even misrepresented a jeep full of captive Israeli women as “injured Palestinians” brought for treatment.
Warning: This article contains disturbing footage of hostages taken on October 7.
The Hostages of Nahal Oz
On the morning of October 7, one of the gravest failures in the history of the IDF unfolded at the Nahal Oz army base near Gaza. The base was rapidly overrun by large numbers of terrorists, and more than 50 soldiers were killed there – including sixteen female surveillance personnel.
Ten live hostages were abducted from the base – seven female surveillance “spotters” and three members of a tank crew.
Of particular importance to this investigation are two pieces of video footage showing hostages abducted from the base.
Firstly – an extended video was released with the families’ permission in May 2024. A frame-by-frame analysis shows that six hostages were forced into a single stolen IDF jeep: four female “spotters,” all visibly alive at the time; a fifth hostage lying prone on the floor of the vehicle; and a sixth, a soldier, who appears to have been seriously injured or already dead:
What follows is a second piece of footage of the hostages. Filmed somewhere inside Gaza, it shows the vehicle surrounded by a noisy mob, and was uploaded to Palestinian Telegram channels on October 7:
The critical evidentiary detail captured in this footage is the vehicle’s number plate. The abducted women are shown inside a jeep bearing the registration number 703-145:
With the registration plate identified, and by searching through dozens, if not hundreds, of Telegram channels, it became possible to trace part of this vehicle’s journey.
The Hostages Inside Gaza
This footage was taken shortly after the stolen vehicle entered Gaza City. In the clip, the jeep carrying the Nahal Oz hostages is driving through a narrow street in Gaza. The civilians celebrate as the stolen jeep drives past:
The visible landmarks allowed for a precise location to be attached to the footage (this find with thanks to ‘TwistyCB” on X):
The street we can see in the clip is Riyadh St, and it is in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood. The jeep is travelling westwards towards Rimal and the coast.
Two screenshots from this footage are of particular importance. The first captures the terrorists travelling at the rear of the vehicle. This detail will allow for further identification later, as individuals seen here reappear in footage recorded at the hospital itself.
The second occurs as the clip ends. Several bystanders turn their heads in unison towards the same direction – behaviour consistent with the arrival of another vehicle immediately behind the one that just passed. This coordinated reaction strongly suggests the vehicle was not travelling alone, but as part of a larger convoy moving towards al-Shifa.
Onwards to al-Shifa
Other images of the jeep allow us to follow the journey. From this location we know this image was taken shortly after the footage of the street scene. This is the jeep at the Baghdad Street – Salah al-Din Road junction, and continuing to head west – towards Gaza’s Rimal district and the coast:
In the image on the left, the number plate 703-145 is visible, confirming this is the same vehicle. In the image on the right we can see satellite imagery of the same junction. Marked features include: (1) tree cluster behind a low construct; (2) distinctive cleared plot and curb; (3) adjacent building massing; and (4) a vehicle choke point.
Another useful image from the same post on Telegram captured the vehicle just before the turn – three distinctive bullet holes can be seen in the windscreen – a tell-tale feature that will later allow the vehicle to be identified again with certainty.
The Abduction of Naama Levy
Not all of the Nahal Oz hostages were transported in the same vehicle. Some were separated at the base and placed into different cars before being driven into Gaza. Here we see Naama Levy, surrounded by terrorists, as she is driven away from Nahal Oz.
The image below is taken from the widely circulated footage of Naama Levy, who was moved from the rear of a vehicle into the back passenger seats while the jeep was stopped in Gaza City. The vehicle is a dark-coloured Jeep Wrangler:
This footage has also been geolocated, placing this vehicle travelling along the same Baghdad Street route used by the captured IDF jeep carrying the other six hostages.
The significance of this is not the identity of the vehicle alone, but the convergence of routes. Both vehicles are shown moving west through Gaza City towards the Rimal district – the same direction as al-Shifa.
Using the geo-location of the image of the stolen IDF vehicle turning into Baghdad Street, and the position of the Jeep Wrangler holding Naama Levy captive we can difinitively state that these locations are just 160 meters apart.
1 Location of the Naama Levy footage
2 Location of the jeep at the Baghdad Street junction
This establishes that at least two separate hostage vehicles, carrying abductees from the same base, were travelling along parallel routes towards the same destination – in the same time window.
The Hospital Argument
Based on the reconstructed route taken by the Nahal Oz convoy as it travelled towards the Hamas stronghold of Rimal, the vehicles passed another fully operational hospital en route – undermining any credible suggestion that this journey was about providing urgent medical care. Al-Ahli Arab Hospital was functioning normally on October 7. It is significantly closer to Nahal Oz and lies adjacent to the route taken through Gaza City.
As the convoy continued – Al-Ahli hospital was just a minute or two away:
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But the convoy did not stop there. Instead, it drove straight past Al-Ahli and continued west to al-Shifa, located in the heart of the Rimal district.
The al-Shifa Convoy
While much of the footage from October 7 circulated widely, some critical material did not. The following video is one of two clips identified by the veteran German journalist Wolfgang Tietze, who worked with Spiegel TV / Der Spiegel from 1990 to 2003.
Both videos were later removed, and the account that uploaded them was deleted. They had been posted with downloading disabled. Recognising their significance, Tietze recorded the footage directly from his screen (Tietze has also issued a statement to be published along with this investigation). He has since shared both videos with me – along with his detailed findings and additional contextual material. Some of this material can still be found on Palestinian Telegram channels.
To my knowledge, this is the first time this footage has been publicly presented and properly analysed.
The video was recorded at the gates of al-Shifa Hospital on the morning of October 7.
As the first vehicle enters the hospital grounds, the number plate 703-145 is visible for a brief moment. This confirms that the same jeep which left Nahal Oz carrying Israeli hostages was present at al-Shifa.
The arrival is met by crowds celebrating. Armed terrorists can be seen exiting the vehicle and surrounding it, guarding the hostages.
Other vehicles arrive alongside it. The footage captures a chilling contrast. Outside, delirious crowds cheer as armed terrorists emerge to protect their prize; inside the vehicle, Israeli hostages endure terror, violence, and complete helplessness:
Crucially, thanks to later IDF disclosures, we can now assign a precise timestamp to this moment.
The IDF CCTV Footage
On 19 November 2023, the IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, held a press briefing in which he released still images taken from CCTV footage showing what he described as “stolen IDF vehicles” entering al-Shifa.
Unwittingly, those stills also captured the arrival of hostages.
When one of the IDF images is compared with a frame from the newly surfaced footage recorded at the hospital gates, it becomes clear that both depict the same moment as the convoy enters al-Shifa.
In both images, a man standing with his young son can be seen behind a white car. Another individual is visible walking in the roadway between the vehicles. The pickup truck following behind is also identical. These background details match precisely across both frames.
This match allows the convoy’s arrival at al-Shifa to be timestamped at 10:53am on October 7 – less than an hour after the vehicles departed the Nahal Oz base.
Given the level of attention and celebration visible at the scene, and with armed terrorists clearly guarding the vehicle, it is evident that hostages were still inside at this point.
Another Hostage Vehicle at al-Shifa: the Jeep Wrangler
Another vehicle of interest arrives at al-Shifa during the same time window: a black Jeep Wrangler that matches the vehicle in which Naama Levy was transported after her abduction from Nahal Oz.
By 11:30am, footage of this vehicle was already circulating on Telegram. The location shown is clearly the entrance to al-Shifa:
As the images demonstrate, both vehicles are dark Jeep Wranglers configured for off-road use, each fitted with a raised snorkel air intake and a whip radio antenna mounted forward of the door – a distinctive combination that significantly narrows the likelihood of coincidence.
Given that we know the captured IDF jeep carrying hostages from Nahal Oz was driven to al-Shifa, the appearance of another hostage-linked vehicle at the hospital during the same time window is not unexpected.
Moreover, the behaviour of onlookers is telling. Their focused attention on the vehicle, and apparent attempts to identify those inside, are consistent with the arrival of another hostage vehicle – very likely the one in which Naama Levy was transported.
The Hamas Command and Distribution Centre
A second piece of deleted footage, filmed by the same person on the access road leading into al-Shifa, further reinforces the picture of al-Shifa as a key Hamas operational hub on the morning of October 7.
In this previously unseen clip, another stolen IDF vehicle can be seen entering the hospital grounds.
There is no visible evidence to confirm whether hostages were inside this vehicle. However, its arrival – alongside other stolen military vehicles converging on the same location within a narrow time window – is significant in itself.
The scale of the convoy becomes impossible to ignore. The evidence places multiple stolen IDF vehicles at al-Shifa within minutes of one another, all arriving to large, celebrating crowds.
The IDF later released additional CCTV footage showing yet another stolen IDF jeep entering al-Shifa at 10:42 – just eleven minutes before the vehicle confirmed to be carrying hostages arrived at 10:53am.
The evidence also shows that dozens of armed fighters were present at the hospital at the time. Taken together, these sequences place al-Shifa at the centre of events – functioning as a command, rendezvous, and distribution point within Hamas’s operational network that morning.
In addition to the vehicles and hostages already documented, multiple confirmed cases further anchor al-Shifa within the broader trajectory of captivity and transfer.
We know that Noa Marciano was held in close proximity to al-Shifa before later being returned there, where she was brutally murdered by a “health professional”.
We also know that Ori Megidish was rescued from a location nearby.
Beyond these cases, footage shows another Israeli hostage – likely already deceased – being transported by motorcycle and then entering al-Shifa, where the arrival is met by a celebrating crowd.
Taken together, these images and outcomes extend the pattern already established by the convoy footage. They show al-Shifa not merely as a transit point, but as a location repeatedly intersecting with hostage movement, detention, and aftermath.
Even before considering hostages abducted from elsewhere – such as Yehudit Weiss, whose body was later found in the vicinity of al-Shifa – the pattern emerging from Nahal Oz alone is striking.
This raises a compelling question: is it now highly likely that all of the Nahal Oz hostages – both alive and dead – were taken to al-Shifa on October 7, at least initially?
Hit and Run
Although the hostages appear to have been driven to the grounds of al-Shifa, there is little to suggest any were treated or held there for any meaningful length of time.
Images of several of the female surveillance soldiers show what appear to be rudimentary, improvised field dressings rather than professional medical care.
This is difficult to reconcile with a prolonged stay in Gaza’s largest medical facility.
One likely explanation is that the hostages were moved onward rapidly – potentially into the tunnel network beneath or near the hospital – and distributed elsewhere.
Supporting this interpretation, footage uploaded less than half an hour after the convoy’s arrival shows the stolen IDF jeep leaving al-Shifa. At that point, it is no longer clear whether all of the hostages had been removed from the vehicle or whether some remained inside.
If the hostages were still inside the vehicle as it sped away, then there is no plausible reason to drive them towards al-Shifa unless the hospital formed part of a Hamas command structure. If they were not, then who took possession of them on hospital grounds, if not a Hamas operational unit already present there?
The Journalists, Doctors, and Deliberate Deception
For more than two years, much of the international media has downplayed al-Shifa’s role in Hamas operations, disputing Israeli claims that the hospital functioned as anything more than a civilian medical facility. Coverage consistently framed al-Shifa as isolated from Hamas activity and removed from the organisation’s political and security infrastructure.
The events of the morning of October 7 tell a different story.
At the time these events unfolded, multiple journalists were present at al-Shifa Hospital. Cameras were rolling. Live reporting from the hospital complex was taking place throughout the morning.
Yet despite the arrival of stolen military vehicles, armed terrorists, civilian convoys, and large crowds celebrating their arrival, not a single journalist reported the arrival of Israeli hostages at the hospital.
One example is particularly stark. A set of photographs posted on the Rudaw channel, taken by journalist Mohammed Salem, carry the caption: “continuous transfer of wounded Palestinians to the Shifa Medical Complex.”
The three distinctive bullet holes visible on the driver’s side window leave no doubt that this is the same jeep that carried the Nahal Oz hostages. The journalists present could see the crowds and the celebrations. They could see the armed terrorists surrounding the vehicle and knew exactly what was happening.
The post was published on Rudaw’s Facebook page at 11:31am, confirming that reporting was taking place in real time, from the hospital grounds, while hostages were present.
This was not an error made after the fact. It was deliberate misrepresentation.
Hospital officials were also available to speak to the media. Doctors and administrators provided commentary about events unfolding at al-Shifa, offering assurances and narratives that were then relayed uncritically by Western outlets.
These were the sources relied upon by much of the international press in the opening hours of the war. Yet they were already disseminating false or misleading accounts of what was happening inside and around the hospital.
Whether through ideological alignment, fear, or coercion, what followed was not journalism but deliberate omission and distortion. The arrival of Israeli hostages at the heart of Hamas’s stronghold at al-Shifa Hospital was one of the most significant events of the morning of October 7 – and it went unreported.
Until now.
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