Hamas using Gaza hospital for ‘torture’ of Palestinians amid eroding support, says Israel
Netanyahu denies Israel has approved entry of international peacekeepers into Gaza; Turkey, Egypt and Qatar call on Board of Peace to pressure Jerusalem to halt airstrikes in Strip
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Israel accused Hamas on Thursday of using a southern Gaza hospital as a torture site for Palestinians to stave off an “erosion of support” for the terror group in the Strip, as progress on the US-backed plan for its disarmament continued to stall.
The plan calls for Hamas to give up its weapons in exchange for Israel gradually withdrawing its troops from the enclave. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the plan until Hamas fully disarms, and denied on Thursday that he had approved the entry of international peacekeepers into Gaza.
Hamas has said it accepts the plan. But a joint IDF and Shin Bet statement on Thursday asserted that the terror group remains desperate to hold onto control in the Strip in light of its declining support there, and is increasing its intimidation of Palestinians.
Hamas has been “increasing the activity of its security apparatuses and attempting to impose its rule through intimidation, interrogations and torture of residents,” the Israel Defense Forces said.
The military and Shin Bet said they could now reveal intelligence information “showing that the Hamas terror organization exploits” the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where it “carries out torture and interrogations.”
“According to the information in our possession, in the Yassin building, on the second floor of the hospital’s outpatient clinics, interrogations by Hamas’s internal security and military intelligence are taking place,” the statement said. “Beyond this, Hamas exploits the hospital as a center of governance unrelated to its medical function, for the purposes of interrogations, torture, and collecting money.”
צה"ל ושב"כ חושפים: ארגון הטרור חמאס מבצע חקירות ביטחוניות ועינויים בבית החולים ׳נאצר׳ בח'אן יונס
לכל הפרטים????https://t.co/cWBMH4aUpo pic.twitter.com/5TzkEb6w2H
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 20, 2026
The IDF also said Hamas was using a former hospital office building that was later converted to a house of worship as an interrogation center.
According to the statement, Nasser Hospital continues to serve Hamas as a “major military infrastructure” site, as “patients and hospital staff witness the permanent presence of Hamas operatives, some of them masked, in various areas of the hospital compound.”
The IDF said “Hamas’s use of the hospital creates fear and harms patients, service providers and medical staff.”
Israel has repeatedly offered evidence of medical facilities’ regular use by Palestinian terror groups as bases of operations due to their protected status. Israeli hostages have also said they were held at Nasser Hospital.
Earlier this year, the aid group Doctors Without Borders said it has suspended noncritical medical activities at Nasser Hospital due to the presence of armed men at the medical facility. And last year, a doctor who also serves as a spokesperson for Nasser Hospital hinted that he had been threatened by Palestinian Islamic Jihad due to his refusal to let the terror group’s operatives enter and use the hospital.
Israel has also faced international criticism for strikes and military activity at hospitals it says are used by Hamas and other terror groups. Thursday’s statement said such use was ongoing.
“The exploitation of civilian infrastructure for interrogations and torture is a widespread phenomenon within the Hamas terror organization. These actions by the Hamas terror organization constitute a violation of international law, which prohibits the military use of hospitals,” the IDF and Shin Bet statement read.
The IDF said it is warning Gazans that Hamas “is afraid of losing control of the Strip, and therefore uses hospitals, schools and other civilian facilities for its needs.”
Netanyahu denies okaying deployment of international troops
Amid the US pressure to move ahead with the plan for Hamas’s disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal, Netanyahu’s office on Thursday stressed that Israel has not yet approved the deployment of the nascent International Stabilization Force to Gaza, following Hebrew media reports suggesting otherwise. The force is meant to take over responsibility for securing areas from which Israel has withdrawn and address other security and humanitarian needs.
“Contrary to media reports, the political echelon has not approved the entry of the international force to the Gaza Strip,” the statement read, adding that “Israel has made it clear that there will not be any reconstruction in the Strip before Hamas is fully disarmed.”
The statement appeared to refer to footage circulated by Hebrew media earlier this week showing foreign military officers touring the Rafah area alongside IDF personnel, which some outlets described as an initial deployment of ISF troops.
An official with knowledge of the matter told The Times of Israel on Tuesday that the footage came from a “pre-deployment site survey” by senior military officers from Burundi and Uganda – the latter of which announced earlier this month that it approved the deployment of troops to Gaza as part of the ISF – amid preliminary discussions with Israel about joining the force.
Israeli officials said last month that the Israeli security cabinet had voted to approve certain legal measures allowing the limited entry of the ISF under the US-backed plan for Gaza, which would include 200 troops from “friendly countries.”
US envoy Jared Kushner visited Israel this week and sat down with Netanyahu and other officials from the US-backed Board of Peace — after they had met with Hamas figures in Egypt — in order to push for progress in the postwar plan. But Kushner exited the region without any apparent breakthrough.
Despite Israel’s rejection of the plan, the Board is nonetheless advancing progress on the ISF, with Trump’s administration recently telling Congress it is sending more than $206 million for the force.
Also Thursday, Turkey, Egypt and Qatar — which have been trying to mediate an end to the Gaza conflict — condemned recent Israeli strikes in the Strip and urged Israel to meet its ceasefire obligations and avoid steps that could escalate tension.
“The intensification of Israeli attacks undermines regional and international efforts at a critical juncture, as intensive efforts are under way to implement the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” they said.
The international community and Trump’s Board of Peace, which is overseeing the ceasefire, must take the necessary steps to ensure compliance and prevent further escalation, they added.
Israel has said it is targeting Hamas commanders who are actively planning attacks on Israeli troops deployed in Gaza, as justification for the strikes despite the ceasefire.
The Times of Israel Community.