Hamas member tells IDF interrogators that gunmen operated in Kamal Adwan Hospital
Operative says terrorists saw north Gaza hospital as ‘safe shelter,’ used it as armory; unclear whether statements were made under duress, and whether other detainees agree
The IDF released on Tuesday interrogation footage of a Hamas operative detained by troops at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, in which he says that the terror group uses the medical center as a shelter.
Over 240 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were detained by troops at Kamal Adwan during an operation there last month, according to the military.
“They [the terror operatives] think it is a safe shelter for them, because the army cannot strike it directly,” the operative, Anas Mohammad Faiz a-Sharif, said in the interrogation video.
It is unclear whether the statements were made under duress and if they represent the stances of the other detainees.
A-Sharif said the operatives would move weapons to and from the hospital, as well as set out from the medical center at night to carry out surveillance operations and patrols.
“From the hospital the grenades and mortars were given out, to attack the tanks, for ambushes, and for tunnels,” he said.
A-Sharif said he worked at Kamal Adwan as a janitor but was also a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force.
The IDF said that the operatives interrogated by the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 have so far provided “a lot of intelligence information that helps the IDF in its activities in the area.
The IDF’s recent raid on Kamal Adwan, which began in late December and lasted a few days, saw the arrest of over 240 members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and others suspected of being members of terror groups, the military said last week.
The IDF said some of the terror operatives “tried to impersonate patients and medical staff, and some tried to escape in ambulances.”
Among those detained was the director of Kamal Adwan, Hussam Abu Safiya, who the IDF said is suspected of being a Hamas operative.
Before launching the operation, the IDF said it enabled the evacuation of 350 patients, caregivers, and medical personnel to other hospitals, in an effort coordinated by the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).
In the weeks prior to the operation, “tens of thousands of liters of fuel, food, and medical supplies for the essential functioning of the hospital” were delivered to Kamal Adwan.
During the raid itself, the IDF said another 95 patients, caregivers, and medical personnel were evacuated from Kamal Adwan to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, where 5,000 liters of fuel, two generators, and medical equipment were delivered “to maintain and operate essential systems in the hospital.”
Hundreds of Palestinian civilians also left the hospital area “via defined evacuation routes,” the military added.
In response to the raid and detention of the hospital’s director, the United Nations Security Council met on Friday for an emergency session to discuss the raid, though there were not any practical implications from the meeting.
A number of countries such as France, Jordan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia condemned the raid as a violation of international law, and urged Israel to protect hospital infrastructure in Gaza.
Hamas has fought from within hospitals throughout the war and even periodically hid some of the Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7 inside them. International law generally prohibits targeting hospitals during wartime, but hospitals can lose this protection if used for military purposes.
Since October, Israel has intensified its land and air offensive in northern Gaza, stating its goal is to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the area.
Israel had ordered civilians to evacuate the area amid preparations to invade Gaza in October 2023 in response to the Hamas onslaught, which saw thousands of terrorists storm southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said Tuesday that more than 45,885 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, and at least 109,196 people had been wounded, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
The Times of Israel Community.