The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) released footage on Monday of two Hamas terrorists explaining to interrogators how they used an ambulance to kidnap Thai and Nepalese agricultural workers during the massacre of Oct. 7 and take them to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The terrorists, Adham Hawwas and Ismail Hawwas, were both seen in security footage at Kibbutz Alumim, near the Gaza Strip, and inside Shifa Hospital.
Both were arrested in Gaza and taken to Israel for interrogation.
“I crossed the fence through a gap that allowed me to pass on foot. After that I got in a white Magnum Jeep and we drove to the settlement gate which was closed. We climbed over the gate and entered the area with the farmers’ rooms,” said Adham.
“Two people I was with took someone [captive] and left with him. Then, in addition to the two abductees, I brought another one,” he added.
“We put the abductees in the ambulance, where Abu Khaled asked one of the abductees: ‘What is your name?’ But he didn’t understand what he was asking. The second kidnapper hinted to him: ‘Thailand?’ and then we realized that they both have the same citizenship and most likely they are [foreign] workers. They [Hamas men] told us to go with the ambulance to Shifa Hospital.”
At Shifa, the first abductee was walked in while the second was wheeled in on a gurney.
Ismail said that someone from Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades was inside the room the hostages were taken to, while two more stood outside. Asked if those men were armed, Ismail answered, “Yes.”
On Nov. 20, the Shin Bet released footage of Palestinians confirming to agency interrogators how terrorists hid inside hospitals and dressed as medical personnel.
Shifa Hospital, located in the North Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City and boasting 570 beds, is the Strip’s largest medical center, serving the medical needs of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. It was built by British authorities in 1946. In the 1980s, Israel renovated and expanded Shifa as part of an initiative to improve Gaza living conditions.
As far back as 2009, the Shin Bet reported during the Gaza war of that year (“Operation Cast Lead”) that Hamas operatives were hiding in the hospital, and that the basement had become Hamas’s headquarters.
In addition to being used to hide Hamas leaders and hostages, the terrorist group is known to have fired rockets, tortured suspected collaborators and hoarded a half-million liters of fuel in the hospital compound.
