Gazan hospital ambulance driver admits that Hamas uses hospitals, ambulances to avoid IDF

The soldiers of the 162nd Division and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) forces completed a raid on the Hamas stronghold at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya, the IDF announced Monday. 

Acting on intelligence that indicated terrorists had embedded themselves inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya, Israeli forces had launched a “precise operation” in the area to thwart terrorist activity and apprehend terrorists. Before beginning scans of the compound for the presence of terrorists, the soldiers helped civilians to leave the hospital, the IDF said. 

The Israeli military also said the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) coordinated with the hospital to activate an additional generator, ensuring electricity and oxygen supply for patients during the operation. 

The IDF said it apprehended more than 100 terrorists within the hospital compound, including Hamas terrorists who took part in the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. Some of the terrorists attempted to escape during the evacuation of civilians but were apprehended by Israeli forces. 

During the raid of the hospital compound, the troops found weapons, terror funds and intelligence documents. 

The IDF also released a video of the interrogation of an ambulance driver for the hospital, who admitted that Hamas uses ambulances for transporting fighters and equipment to avoid IDF interference, in violation of international laws of war. 

In the video, the driver says that Hamas operatives are present “in the courtyards, at the gates of the buildings, and in the offices” of the hospital. 

He also said Hamas uses the ambulances to transport their own operatives, both for missions and to the hospital when wounded. 

The raid on Jabaliya has been going on for a couple of weeks, as the IDF acted on intelligence that Hamas’s remaining forces in the northern Gaza Strip were trying to regroup there. 

The IDF claimed that the Jabaliya Refugee Camp served as the main Hamas stronghold in northern Gaza, with terrorists hiding among civilians at shelters. 

The military instructed civilians to evacuate parts of Jabaliya before launching the encirclement of the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago, however, Palestinians reported that Hamas members attack civilians who try to leave. 

IDF troops have maintained a tight encirclement of Jabaliya to prevent Hamas fighters from fleeing with the civilian population. Images on social media showed large groups of people being searched and questioned by Israeli soldiers who were looking for Hamas members among the civilians. 

After convincing most of the civilian refugees to evacuate the area, the IDF intensified its operations in Jabaliya, as was seen in the hospital raid. 

The military reported that more than 50,000 Palestinians have fled the town in recent weeks, with around 600 identified as affiliated with the Hamas terrorist organization while passing through checkpoints.

So far, 10 Israeli soldiers have been killed during the Jabaliya operations, including Colonel Ehsan Daxa, the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade and a resident of the Druze town of Daliyat al-Carmel in northern Israel.