Propaganda is flying around like crazy in this conflict and I think it's time for our community to come together and try to separate the truth from misinformation and chaff. Similar to my last post on the al-Ahli Hospital Massacre, we're going to go with the following format:
For top-level comments, post the claim being made as well as who made the claim (please cite as close to the original source as possible) and, if possible, the date/time that claim was made.
For other comments, please try to either prove or debunk claims using multiple sources and verifiable information.
[2023/11/15] On Tuesday night, the IDF released footage showing boxes of guns, weapons and flak jackets hidden behind an MRI scanner that it said were used by Hamas terrorists.
I've been trying to avoid active commentary, but this is just plain silly. An MRI machine isn't a tarp to hide weapons under. It's an incredibly complex and dangerous piece of machinery whose operation is impacted by the presence of metals in the vicinity. The MRI magnet is on as long as the MRI is powered: it's standard procedure to not allow metals within the room an MRI machine is in. MRIs are basically never turned off because quenching can harm the superconducting magnets (don't ask me how, I don't know). There are records of guns being discharged by an MRI machine and there are records of people being hit in the face when a knife is magnetized by the MRI. Out of all the places in a hospital, the MRI room is the worst place to store guns and weapons (especially explosives...), though I imagine modern flak jackets would be fine because they're made of soft fibers.
Sources seem to suggest that MRI scans were being conducted in al-Shifa:
[2023/11/14] Shifa has over 500 beds and services like MRI scans, dialysis and an intensive care unit. It conducts roughly half of all the medical operations that take place in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
According to a brief google, the MRI's magnets are super conducting, so they keep going if the machine is sitting there. Hypothetically, you could unplug the machine and wander it around, though the coils would heat up after a while and stop super conducting (at which point the coil would rapidly heat up and lose its charge as it now has resistance). Liquid helium is used to keep the coils cool and can be vented. The cooling system can also be shut off, but would take a while to start back up and cool everything down to operational levels. I imagine the system (other than the exterior vents) are probably very well insulated, so it doesn't take much power once its cooled (at least maintaining below superconductivity).
If the MRI was being used day to day, you would (could) not keep guns there. The IDF could easily claim that the MRI had been turned off for a while or something.
The magnet material is real fragile and letting it over heat can damage it and make it less effective. Here in the US I have seen it said that turning a machine off and on can cost tens of thousands of dollars in material and time to get it back up to operating after powering it down
Yeah, I've accidentally snapped rare earth magnets under their own power before. I could totally believe a big rare earth magnet would crack under thermal stress.
Apparently there's both permanent magnet MRIs and liquid-helium cooled copper magnet MRIs, both of which can cost tens of thousands in various failures. But if you don't have any source of electricity what are you going to do?
The IDF deleted the relevant video lol so they weren't super confident about this one
[2023/11/17] Tweet, not primary source: BBC admits at least one gun is inserted behind the MRI machine between the IOF's own video and BBC's escorted visit
[2023/11/16] IDF releases video they claim shows a tunnel they uncovered at Al Shifa hospital. The interior is not shown.
[2023/11/16–17] Users in the same thread point out the tunnel's resemblance to a septic tank [link, link, link]
[2023,11,8] IDF earlier claimed that a water reservoir at Sheikh Hamad hospital was a Hamas tunnel