IDF releases video shows terrorists describing use of hospital, schools as bases

The world can now see for itself how Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists have been using Shifa Hospital in Gaza as a base for their terrorism after the IDF Intelligence Directorate published video footage of terrorists describing the role of the hospital, as well as schools, in their operations.

The terrorists seen in the footage were detained close to Shifa Hospital in recent days during the IDF's military operation in the area.

During interrogation, Nabeel Rajab Abed Shteiwi, a terrorist from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group, said he has been active with PIJ since 2012, specifically involved in “missile production.”

“Shifa, or schools and places like that, are our shelter,” Shteiwi said, referring to Hamas and PIJ in Gaza. He said he had been living in the hospital for three months.

When asked where in the hospital the main headquarters was, Shteiwi responded that the terrorist group “does not have specific headquarters. They are in all the buildings, scattered everywhere.”

He also admitted that the terrorists will wear uniforms to pretend they are nurses to move around the hospital more freely.

“You might see someone who doesn’t look like a nurse but is dressed in nurse clothes walking around.”

The IDF also published the interrogation of a Hamas terrorist, Bakr Ahmed Bakr Qanita, who said he was in Shifa Hospital for 25 days.

Qanita said that he was responsible for 143 operatives and that there had been 600-1,000 Hamas operatives inside the hospital. He told interrogators there were “certain places” in Shifa that belong to Hamas, including in the medical residency department where terror operatives store weapons. Qanita said he was “in charge of the defensive area in Gaza.”

He also said that Hamas uses the Specialist Building of the hospital as one of its main bases, along with the Management Building.

“I told the officer there where the Islamic Jihad places are, like in the Maternity Ward for example,” he added, describing it as their “headquarters.”

Qanita admitted that Hamas and PIJ use hospitals all across Gaza as bases because of “the large population and the large displacement,” and said the choice of location was influenced by the convenient access to essential resources like water and electricity.

“In the end, the civilians, the sick, the injured, are affected by this,” Qanita stated.

The IDF revealed that Shifa Hospital was used for the planning and execution of terror attacks.

“The terrorists disclosed details of Hamas terror infrastructure deeply embedded within the hospital, which is used by senior Hamas operatives for planning and directing terror attacks," read the IDF statement.

During the IDF’s raid on Shifa, Israeli soldiers arrested 500 members of Hamas and PIJ.

“One hundred and seventy terrorists were neutralized... The IDF apprehended hundreds of terror suspects with confirmed ties to Hamas or Islamic Jihad, making this one of the most successful operations since the start of the war,” said IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari in a briefing on Sunday evening.

Those include several “very significant” senior Hamas and PIJ commanders., according to the IDF.