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Hezbollah hides millions in cash and gold under Beirut hospital, says Israel military

Lebanese authorities urged to not allow Hezbollah to use the money for terror and to attack Israel

Published: Tue 22 Oct 2024, 5:23 PM

Updated: Tue 22 Oct 2024, 8:12 PM

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  • Reuters

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Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike targeting Beirut's southern suburb of Shayah on October 22, 2024. — AFP

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike targeting Beirut's southern suburb of Shayah on October 22, 2024. — AFP

Hezbollah has stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in a bunker built under a hospital in Beirut, Israel's military said on Monday, adding it will not strike the facility as it keeps up attacks against the group's financial assets.

Fadi Alameh, a Lebanese lawmaker with the Shia Amal Movement party and the director of the hospital in question, Al Sahel, told Reuters that Israel was making false and slanderous claims and called on the Lebanese Army to visit and show it only had operating rooms, patients and a morgue.

Alameh said the hospital was being evacuated. Israel's military said it was not going to strike the facility.

Reuters could not independently verify the details provided by the Israeli military's chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, which he said had been collected by Israeli intelligence for years.

Hezbollah could not immediately be reached for comment.

In a televised statement, Hagari said Hezbollah's former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whom Israel killed last month, had built the bunker which was designed for lengthy stays.

"There are hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold inside the bunker right now. I'm calling on the Lebanese government, Lebanese authorities, and the international organisations — don't allow Hezbollah to use the money for terror and to attack Israel," Hagari said.

"The Israeli Air Force is monitoring the compound, as you can see. However, we will not strike the hospital itself," Hagari said.

Israeli Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi told troops in Lebanon that overnight between Sunday and Monday, aircraft had struck around 30 sites belonging to Al Qard Al Hassan, which Israel says is Hezbollah's financial arm.

Hagari said more strikes against Hezbollah financial sites were to continue.

Hezbollah group said on Tuesday its micro-financing firm Al Qard Al Hassan took all necessary precautions ahead of Israeli strikes last week, vowing to "fulfil its obligations" towards depositors.

The firm "had anticipated such...an aggression and has taken all precautions and will do everything that is necessary to fulfil its obligations towards depositors," spokesman Mohammed Afif told reporters.



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