Interrogation of Hamas operative Bakr Ahmed Bakr Qanita
Israel's military intelligence on Tuesday released parts of the interrogation of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists who were captured during the IDF operation in Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which began last week.
They told interrogators that some 600 to 1,000 Hamas operatives had been hiding in the hospital and gave details about the weapons stored inside the medical facility.
They also described the organized Hamas infrastructure in the hospital that was used by senior members of the terror group to plan and direct attacks. One of the prisoners said terrorists are everywhere in the sprawling hospital compound, "in all of the buildings."
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Terrorists captured in the IDF operation on Al Shifa talk to interrogators
(Photo: IDF)
The IDF said the interrogations have provided further proof of how Hamas knowingly puts civilians in Gaza at risk. "The terrorists have nowhere safe outside the hospital so they are in schools or similar places," a military spokesperson said.
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist who worked in missile production for the terror group said he had been in Al Shifa for nearly three months. "This is our shelter," he said. "Hamas and PIJ operatives don't have a specific command center. They are in all of the buildings, he told interrogators. "In the specialists' building, for example, there is a large Hamas presence. It does not mean they are not elsewhere in the compound. You may see someone who does not look like he is a nurse but is wearing a nurses' uniform walking around.
Interrogation of Islamic Jihad operative Nabeel Rajab Abed Shteiwi
A Hamas terrorist who was responsible for the "Gaza defense" and had 143 people under his command was also captured inside the hospital. He told investigators he had been there for close to a month. He said armed operatives were in the medical residents' area and that Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives were in the neonatal ward, which they are using as a command center.
When interrogators asked why he thought hospitals in the Gaza Strip were used by the terror groups he said it is because they are supposed to be off limits for attack. "There are a lot of people and much movement and also water and electricity," he said.
According to the IDF, the operation at Al Shifa, which is still underway, has thus far resulted in the killing of at least 170 terrorists and in the arrest of some 480 suspects who were confirmed to be members of the Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Among them, the military said, were "very senior" people including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad senior command, but their identities cannot yet be revealed because of the important information that they can reveal.