White House officials say that American intelligence agencies have their own, independent confirmation that Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza are using tunnels and bunkers under sensitive civilian targets such as hospitals for military purposes.

During a briefing aboard Air Force One en route to the West Coast Tuesday, National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said Hamas and another terrorist group in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are using the Shifa hospital in Gaza that has been the scene of intense fighting in recent days as a command center and to store weapons.

“We have information that confirms that Hamas is using that particular hospital for a command and control mode,” Mr. Kirby said. “That is a war crime.”

America does not support, however, the use of air strikes on the hospital to root out the terrorists hiding behind civilians inside, he said. “Hospitals and patients must be protected,” he said, adding that the innocent people sheltering inside the facility “deserve not to be caught in the crossfire.”

The White House statement confirms what Israel has been saying for weeks, if not years, about Hamas’ use of civilian infrastructure to wage war on Israel. On Monday, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces led American reporters on a tour of the terror base under a pediatric hospital in Gaza, Al-Rantisi, where some of the hostages taken on October 7 were held for weeks.

Hamas has repeatedly denied that it uses hospitals for cover.

In an address to the nation Tuesday night, Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said the Israeli forces now control northern Gaza and its capital, Gaza City, and that the war would soon be entering a new phase, one that could see Israeli troops moving into southern Gaza where hundreds of thousands of civilians have taken refuge, according to Israeli press reports.

Mr. Gallant said his troops have uncovered some 500 tunnel shafts throughout northern Gaza, he said, and that most of them are linked to schools, hospitals, and mosques. Many lead to underground bunkers where arms and munitions are kept. The IDF says it has killed 3,000 terrorists since the war started.

Troops who took over the Gaza governor’s house, which houses the group’s military and police wings, said Tuesday they uncovered a stache of weapons that was stolen from Israeli bases during the October 7 raids.

“I authorized the army to continue advancing, both today and in the coming days, to complete the tasks,” Mr. Gallant said. “There will be no safe place [for Hamas] until we complete our mission and return the hostages.”