IDF Says It Won’t Strike Beirut Hospital With Hezbollah Cash Bunker Underneath It

Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari speaks to the press from The Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defence, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 18, 2023. Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli armed forces stated on Oct. 21 that they would not strike a Beirut hospital where Hezbollah has allegedly constructed a secret bunker underneath to hide millions of dollars in cash and gold.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Hezbollah has “deliberately” built the bunker underneath the al-Sahel hospital in southern Beirut but did not provide any evidence.

Hagari said the bunker is equipped with infrastructure for long stays and enables combat direction from underground. He said the bunker had been used by Hezbollah’s former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month.

“According to the estimates we have, there is at least half a billion dollars in bills and gold stored inside the bunker. This money could and still can be used to rebuild the state of Lebanon,” he said in a video address.

An illustration provided by the IDF shows that the bunker is connected to two nearby buildings, both of which appear to have underground access to the bunker.

Hagari called on the Lebanese government and international organizations to prevent the Iranian-backed group from using the stashed money to carry out terrorist activities and attack Israel.

The IDF spokesperson said that the Israeli Air Force will continue to monitor the compound where the bunker is located but emphasized that it “will not strike the hospital itself.”

“Our war is not against the citizens of Lebanon but against a murderous terrorist organization that Iran continues to arm and direct according to the interest of the Iranian regime,” he said.

The hospital has reportedly evacuated its medical staff and patients following the IDF’s announcement. Hospital director Fadi Alameh has rejected the IDF’s claims and urged the Lebanese army to conduct inspections of the building, local media reported.

The IDF launched a series of targeted and intelligence-based strikes on sites linked to Hezbollah’s financial operations in Lebanon’s capital city Beirut on Oct. 20.

Israeli Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said that 30 Hezbollah-linked sites were hit in the Oct. 20 strikes, including branches of the U.S.- and Saudi-sanctioned Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association.

“We are striking in Beirut, and you are dealing with targets here—all of this forms a response against Iran, which funds and sends weapons here,” Halevi told troops in Lebanon on Oct. 21.

Prior to the strikes, the IDF had issued evacuation orders for Beirut and urged people living “near [the] sites used to fund Hezbollah’s terror activities” to move away immediately.

According to the Israeli army, Hezbollah fired roughly 170 projectiles from Lebanon into Israel on the night of Oct. 21, triggering the activation of sirens in various areas of northern Israel.

The IDF has described Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association as the financial arm of Hezbollah, which it stated had helped the Iranian-backed group in storing “billions of dollars” of funds for its terrorist purposes.

In a show of support with Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, and after Israel’s retaliatory strikes in Gaza later that day, Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on a near-daily basis in violation of U.N. security resolutions, forcing many residents in northern Israel to flee to the center of the country. The trade of fire between Israel and Hezbollah turned into an all-out war last month.

Israel launched its military operation in Gaza after Hamas carried out its 2023 attack in which more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Department stated that Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza has led to more than 42,700 deaths to date.