UK doctor who worked at Al-Shifa says Hamas used hospital complex for 'non-medical purposes'

A U.K. doctor who worked at the Al-Shifa hospital says there were areas of the complex where he was not allowed to go on threat of being shot.

He said he frequently saw "dodgy-looking non-medical characters" going in and out of the restricted area, adding that hospital workers avoided the area for fear of Hamas.

"I was welcome everywhere else, and as I say, the doctors and nurses there were very welcoming and very kind, and the hushed tones under which this was said were consistent with all the other hushed tones with which Hamas was discussed. You know, people were genuinely fearful,” the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told France 24.

“I cannot emphasize too much the air of collective paranoia that existed there,” he added.

His comments come after critics of Israel have cast doubt on the Israeli military's claim that Hamas used the Al-Shifa facility as a base of operations.