"When you say it was built by Israeli engineers, did you misspeak?" asked Amanpour.
Barak, who was Israel's prime minister from 1999 to 2001, responded, "decades ago, we were running the place, so we helped them." The Gaza Strip has been controlled by Hamas since 2007.
"It was many decades ago...that we helped them build these bunkers in order to enable more space for the operation of the hospital within the very limited size of these compounds."
Following a pause, Amanpour seemed surprised and struggled to find her next words. "That's sort of thrown me a little bit."
As
Newsweek has previously reported in a Fact Check, several outlets had reported that a bunker or basement had been built at Israel's discretion in the 1980s although whether Hamas has used it as a military headquarters has not been established.
Reports by left-wing Israeli newspaper
Haaretz and other outlets have referred to the hospital's Building No. 2, constructed as an add-on in the 1980s as containing a basement, secure underground operating room and tunnel network.
IDF spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, had said that Israeli intelligence had proven that Hamas used the bunker as its main command area.
The clip of Barak and Amanpour as of Tuesday morning had received more than 860,000 views and sparked a lively thread on social media.
Newsweek has contacted the IDF for a response to Barak's comments.
It comes as another video has gone viral after the
BBC was invited to film the hospital and compared it with Israel's own footage of the site.
BBC Verify said that the Israeli footage appeared to have been recorded before reporters arrived and that the earlier clip showed fewer weapons which the IDF later explained was because more weaponry had been found later in the day.
BBC analysis editor Ros Atkins on November 17 said the IDF video was posted, then deleted, and reposted again, with references to an Israeli soldier held hostage removed. The IDF said the video was a single shot with no edits although Atkins said there was a moment which appears to show an edit.
"We don't know the reasons for that edit, nor how significant it is," Atkins said in the video which as of Tuesday had received 12.4 million views, adding that Israel's military "says suggestions it is manipulating the media are incorrect."
On Sunday, the Israeli military released footage which it says shows hostages being taken into Shifa following the October 7 attack.
Newsweek could not independently verify these videos.
CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour was thrown by the answer given by Ehud Barak during an interview.
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