When the Israel Defense Force (IDF) claimed this week that Hezbollah had a secret bunker filled with US$500 million ($753 million) worth of gold and cash beneath a hospital in Beirut, it sparked speculation and panic.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari took the stand on October 21, armed with declassified details about the group’s finances, including its underground treasure chest.

We are one month away from the war that broke out between Hezbollah and Israel after a year of cross-border contacts.

Hezbollah, a terrorist organization banned in Australia, has been exchanging rocket fire with Israel since a Hamas-led terrorist attack on southern Israel on October 7.

Much has been made of Hezbollah’s use of underground tunnel networks, which allegedly help it conduct its operations away from the threat of Israeli planes and drones flying over Lebanon’s skies.

But this message was different; Rear Admiral Hagari was showing a 3D animation of what he said was a facility hidden beneath Al-Sahel Hospital.

Hospital management quickly evacuated the building out of fear of a possible air raid but invited media in Beirut to come and take a look.

Visiting journalists said they found no evidence of the bunker or secret entrances, but the IDF insists they were just looking in the wrong place.

Here’s what we know.

What does Israel claim?

Armed with stylish animations of the bunker layout, Rear Admiral Hagari said it was used by former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed three weeks ago.

During the IDF’s campaign to attack branches of the Al-Qard al-Hasan bank, which Hezbollah said it used to pay its fighters and buy weapons, Rear Admiral Hagari insisted that the group had another stash of funds that it had infiltrated.

Rear Admiral Hagari said that the cash and gold smuggled into the country from Iran were hidden throughout the country and in the capital Beirut.

“Tonight, I will declassify intelligence from Hassan Nasrallah’s hideout, a site that we did not hit, where Hezbollah keeps millions of dollars’ worth of gold and cash,” he said.

“Where is the shelter? In the heart of Beirut, in Dahiyeh, just below Al-Sahel Hospital.”

Rear Admiral Hagari said the entrances and exits of the bunker were in neighboring buildings, referring to the animation of the layout and even added a Hezbollah poster to the computer-generated walls.

“It includes rooms, beds and infrastructure for extended stays, as well as the ability to direct the fight from underground,” Rear Admiral Hagari said.

“Hezbollah built this shelter right below this hospital.

“There are hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold inside the bunker right now,” he claimed in the video, which showed wads of cash and bullion emerging.

According to the spokesman, the Israeli Air Force was monitoring the area but “was not going to hit the hospital.”

How did the hospital react?

Al-Sahel Hospital said it was shocked to be involved in the fight and invited journalists to tour the facility and see firsthand what is and is not there.

A reporter from the German publication DW He entered neighboring buildings to search for the entrance and exit of the shelter.

He couldn’t find them, and others who searched the hospital couldn’t find any evidence of the bunker.

The hospital said there are kitchens, operating rooms, morgue and generators on its two underground floors.

Sahel Health Group operates the hospital, and its chairman, Fadi Alame, said patients had to be evacuated from the facility due to fears that Israel was planning an attack.

“These were baseless accusations aimed at affecting healthcare in the region and closing all medical facilities in the southern suburbs of Beirut,” he told the ABC.

The IDF targets suburbs in southern Beirut, such as Dahiyeh, because of its closer ties to Hezbollah.

“As for these graphics, they don’t even look like a hospital, and frankly that’s a huge lie.”

Mr. Alame’s father founded the hospital and accused the IDF of trying to target medical facilities in Lebanon as it did in Gaza.

“Many hospitals are operating under severe stress and are suffering from overcapacity due to the closure of many medical facilities in the south and Beirut,” he said.

“This probably means more disease, perhaps more complications that affect people’s lives and quality of life.”

IDF stands by its claim

The IDF was quick to deny allegations that it had fabricated the intelligence, directing ABC to a series of social media posts by its international spokesman.

Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said there was a reason why journalists could not find the entrance to the bunker.

“Hezbollah prevented journalists from entering the building where the south entrance chimney is located,” he said on his old Twitter account, X.

“They are probably blocking and hiding the entrance to the bunker in various ways, possibly by building walls to block off the entrances to the bunker, which holds half a billion dollars in gold and cash.”

Lieutenant Colonel Shoshani said other media outlets were wasting their time touring the basement of Al-Sahel hospital because The IDF never said this was the entrance to the facility.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he had “seen no evidence” that the shelter existed.

“We will continue to cooperate with our Israeli counterparts to better understand exactly what they are looking at,” he told reporters in Rome.

Why is the IDF’s claim under intense scrutiny?

Analysts who spoke to the ABC say they believe the reason for such a campaign is to undermine trust, although it cannot be proven.

David Wood of the International Crisis Group told the ABC: “I don’t think people necessarily believe all these claims.”

“But if people in pro-Hezbollah communities no longer believe they can safely access civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, this will put pressure on Hezbollah.

“Its appeal is not only based on an ideological narrative of resistance against Israel, but also that if you are in a community aligned with Hezbollah, you have access to basic basic needs.”

Trita Parsi, vice president of the Quincy Institute in Washington, D.C., said the Israeli Defense Forces’ scrutiny of this allegation was unlike any other throughout the war in Gaza.

“Unlike Gaza, they don’t control who comes in and out of Lebanon,” he said.

“Therefore, it is much easier for journalists to access Lebanon than Gaza to verify these allegations.

“At this point, these statements are no different from Trump’s claim that immigrants are eating cats and dogs in Ohio neighborhoods, and should be treated no differently.”

In the long run, he believes Israel should care more about being called out for spreading such allegations.

“If there is an investigation, the pressure will increase, and that will be important for the Israelis,” Mr. Parsi said.

“It is easy for Israelis to ignore pressure when in reality there is almost no pressure.

“It’s really hard to say that there is clear pressure on Israel from the United States, especially not from Europe.”

It is not new for the Israeli army to accuse hospitals of being secret shelters

Israel has made similar claims about many hospitals in Gaza.

In November 2023, Israel said Hamas had a “central command center” under Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital.

Israeli soldiers entering the hospital found several rifles and ammunition. The Washington Post found that the IDF’s claims have little merit.

There were underground floors but no Hamas command center.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak He explained to CNN that Israel helped build underground chambers.

“Probably fifty or forty years ago, we helped (Palestinians) build these shelters to provide more space for the hospital to operate within the very limited size of this campus,” he said.

Earlier this month, a United Nations commission of inquiry published a report accusing Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity with a “concerted policy of destroying Gaza’s healthcare system.”

The UN Human Rights Office said Israel’s attacks destroyed health facilities in Gaza, detained its soldiers and tortured medical personnel. It targeted medical vehicles during the ongoing war against Hamas.

Hospitals have protected status Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The only exception for hospitals is if they engage in actions that “harm the enemy”, in which case they may be considered a legitimate target.

But if there is any doubt, conjecture, protection of the site in accordance with international humanitarian law.

The onus is on the attacker to prove that a site has lost its protection status. ICC Special Prosecutor Kareem Khan wrote in an op-ed in The Guardian:

“The burden of demonstrating that this protective status has been lost lies with those who fired the weapon, missile or rocket in question.”

Fadi Alame, who is also chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Lebanese parliament, said discussions were ongoing about whether the country’s health ministry would file a lawsuit against Israel for alleged war crimes for encouraging and organizing attacks on hospitals.

“This type of accusation with the aim of shutting down and influencing the healthcare system in Lebanon – this is cheap, this is very cheap and I will pursue it and reserve the right to take any legal action in the future.”