IDF: Documents found in Gaza expose terrorists’ ‘systematic exploitation’ of hospitals

The Israel Defense Forces published on Friday two documents it had seized in Gaza that provide more details on the extent to which Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations exploited hospitals throughout the Strip to carry out terrorist activities.

The papers were uploaded online in their original Arabic-language format (here and here) and were translated into English by the IDF in separate documents (here and here).

The first document, written in 2019 by the deputy commander of Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade, outlines a protocol for handling suspects taken by Hamas for interrogation and apprehension, the military said.

Among the locations used for interrogations are Nasser Hospital (in Khan Yunis), the Red Crescent Hospital (apparently Al-Amal Hospital, run by the Palestine Red Crescent Society, located in Khan Yunis) and the European Hospital (in Al-Fukhari, near Khan Yunis), according to the document.

The document also discussed the guidelines provided for patrols during wartime, saying “security teams in each battalion were assigned to operate within their respective residential areas (company sectors), with each member responsible for his designated area,” according to the IDF translation.

If further names three persons responsible for the interrogations.

The second paper, written in 2020, is centered on a request by Palestinian Islamic Jihad to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry to allocate space for the organization’s terrorist activities. The document largely criticizes PIJ for not adequately coordinating its activities with the relevant authorities in the Shifa (Gaza City), Al-Rantisi (Gaza City) and Kamal Adwan (Beit Lahia) hospitals.

The document, which was found in a vehicle loaded with equipment near Shifa Hospital, does not specify who authored it. The translation shows it was addressed to the “Department of National and Islamic Organizations.”

The activities mentioned in the document include the positioning of mortar shells near the hospitals, documenting rocket launches, taking over offices and establishing an operations room for use by the terrorist group. The document also details the security risks associated with such exploitation, the IDF said.

One activity mentioned in the paper involved several commanders and personnel of PIJ’s Saraya al-Quds armed wing, some of whom “forcibly took control of the [Al-Rantisi Hospital] upper floor and established an operations room there.”

In addition, the document expressed concern that such activities could provide the “Zionist enemy with a pretext to target and bomb Ministry of Health institutions and departments.”

It further stressed that accepting PIJ’s request could open the door for “other factions and military entities to submit similar requests, claiming that they are entitled to the same right. This endangers hospitals and healthcare facilities and leads to a breakdown in discipline, particularly because Islamic Jihad operatives and members of other factions lack sufficient security awareness, as has been clearly demonstrated during various rounds of escalation with the Zionist enemy.”

The Israeli military said it has further of evidence regarding terrorist activities in hospitals across the Gaza Strip.

“The IDF has clear indications that Hamas has conducted terrorist activities from within Nasser Hospital over the past several years, both before and since the outbreak of the war [on Oct. 7, 2023], including as recently as the past few weeks,” the military said.

The IDF condemned Gaza’s terrorists for exploiting “hospitals and medical infrastructure ... intended to provide medical care ... and the special protection afforded to them under international law.”

Hamas held dozens of hostages at Nasser Hospital

Earlier on Friday, the IDF said that Hamas held dozens of hostages at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, during the war, including women, children, elderly people and foreign nationals, and used the medical facility as a heavily guarded military headquarters.

The disclosure came a day after the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) announced that an Israeli airstrike on the hospital compound had targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, a senior commander of Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade, along with other terrorists operating from the facility.

According to the military, many of the hostages held at the hospital were abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the Hamas-led massacre of Oct. 7, 2023.

The IDF said Abu Ismail was responsible for holding numerous hostages captive during the war, including Edan Alexander, Nimrod Cohen, Staff Sgt. Oz Daniel, Col. Asaf Hamami, Avera Mengistu, Capt. Omer Neutra and Matan Zangauker.

IDF, Shin Bet slay more than 10 terrorists in Gaza

Separately on Friday, the IDF and the Shin Bet said they have eliminated in separate strikes over the past week more than 10 terrorists throughout the Gaza Strip.

The statement named three terrorists among those who were killed:

• Muhammad Ata Zaki Kishawi, a Nukhba Force terrorist in Hamas’s “military” wing, who infiltrated Israeli territory during the Hamas-led invasion into the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023.
• Ali Na’im Aish Abu Asei, an operative in the Saif al-Islam faction who took part in manufacturing weapons as part of a workshop that the IDF and Shin Bet dismantled.
• Hani Ibrahim Said Khudri, a supply company commander in the Sabra Battalion under Hamas’s “military” wing, who also infiltrated southern Israel during the Oct. 7 massacre.

The slain terrorists had advanced attacks on IDF troops and Israeli civilians and operated to restore the capabilities of the Hamas organization, in systematic violation of the ceasefire, the two agencies said.

Before the strikes, measures were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including ensuring the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance, the military added.