US 'still convinced' Hamas used Al-Shifa Hospital as command center as Israeli raid continues

U.S. officials say intel confirms Hamas used the hospital as a control center.

As pressure grows on the Israeli military to justify its ongoing raid of Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, the White House is standing behind its assertion that U.S. intelligence shows Hamas was using the complex to shield a key command center and carry out its military activities.

“We have our own intelligence that convinces us that Hamas was using Al-Shifa as a command-and-control node and most likely as well as a storage facility,” White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday.

“They were sheltering themselves in a hospital, using the hospital as a shield against military action and placing the patients and medical staff at a greater risk,” he continued. “We are still convinced of the soundness of that intelligence.”

Kirby declined to answer questions on whether Israel had shared any new intelligence with the U.S. gathered from its sweep of the hospital, which is now in its second day.

"I'm not going to talk about specific intelligence that may pass between the two of us," he said.