CNN suggests Israeli army 'rearranged' weapons in Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital

An analysis by US broadcaster CNN has not excluded the possibility that the Israeli army "rearranged" weapons it claimed to have found at the Al Shifa Hospital in besieged Gaza before the international media were allowed to visit the site.

CNN said on Saturday that according to a November 15 video published by Israeli army spokesperson Jonathan Concricus, an AK-47 gun was seen behind an MRI machine in one of the buildings in the hospital complex.

But when Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst visited the site, he filmed two AK-47 guns behind the MRI machine, not one as appeared in the earlier video by the Israeli army.

"It is unclear where the second AK-47 gun came from and why it is not visible in the earlier IDF clip," said CNN.

It noted in its analysis that BBC was also granted access to the MRI room at the hospital and filmed the two AK-47 guns.

"Our visit was tightly controlled; we had very limited time on the ground and were not able to speak to doctors or patients there," BBC reported earlier this week.

Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Qatar broadcaster Al Jazeera that what Israel had shown in videos from under Al Shifa Hospital so far "could easily have been planted by the army itself."

"All they’ve shown is a Kalashnikov and a laptop that they could have put there easily and claim that it was found there," the veteran Palestinian legislator said.

Hamas also denies Israeli military claims.

"The occupation forces are still lying … as they brought some weapons, clothes and tools and placed them in the hospital in a scandalous manner," Qatar-based Hamas senior member Ezzat El Rashq said.

Israel's response

"The discrepancy between the military's own video and the BBC footage was due to the fact that more weaponry and terrorist assets were discovered throughout the day," the Israeli army claimed in response to CNN.

"Suggestions that the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] is manipulating the media are incorrect."

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has said dozens of patients, including premature babies, died at the hospital between November 11-16 due to a lack of electricity as the Israeli army cordoned off the hospital before storming it.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed more than 12,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children, flattened thousands of civilian structures, and enforced a full blockade, leading to a shortage of supplies, including food, fuel and medicine.

Over 3,600 Palestinians, including 1,750 children, are missing or buried under debris of bombed buildings.