Ex-USAID director in Gaza says it was well known Hamas used Shifa Hospital, traveled in ambulances

Dave Harden, a former USAID mission director in the West Bank and Gaza, says that it was well known in the Strip that Hamas terrorists used Shifa Hospital as a commander center and would use ambulances for travel.

“When I was in seat, it was broadly suspected/understood as far back as 2014 that Hamas used the Al Shifa Hospital complex as a command center and base for operations,” Harden writes in a thread on X, noting it was based on assessments by both Palestinian and Israel officials.

He adds that Hamas operatives “used ambulances to move its people,” something he learned in conversations with the then-head of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Harden also writes that he knows “from first hand experience that Hamas shot at innocent Gazan civilians trying to escape firefights.”

He goes on to point out that under international law, health establishments lose their protected status if they are “used to interfere directly or indirectly in military operations.”