IDF Says Hundreds of "Terrorists" Hiding in Hospitals in Gaza

JakartaHerald.com - Special intelligence unit IDF for interrogation, Unit 504, on Tuesday released initial findings and interrogation recordings of terrorists, where they admitted that their terror group had been abusing Shifa Hospital, using it as a command centre for terror activities. 

The terrorists, some from Hamas and some from Islamic Jihad, admitted that between 600 to 1,000 of their fighters were using Shifa as a base to coordinate attacks against IDF and to hide from IDF patrols looking for terrorists. Islamic Jihad terrorist Nabil Regev Abd Ishtivi said, 

"The fighters are in every building, spread across every area" in the sprawling hospital complex. He also revealed that he had been at Shifa for three months. This means that around one month or less after IDF took over and left Shifa for the first time in mid-November, IDF was back in the hands of the terrorists.

Initially, IDF said they had planned a second takeover operation at Shifa a few days earlier. However, IDF sources later said that higher-level IDF personnel had been working on the operation for about a month.

This raises questions about whether IDF only found out about the terrorists retaking Shifa in mid-February or knew earlier but decided to delay action for unknown reasons.

Despite IDF stating that the Shifa takeover operation was purely a matter of professional military, some Hamas officials said that the operation harmed ongoing negotiations regarding potential hostage exchanges and ceasefire agreements. 

Istivi said that his role in Islamic Jihad was to build and develop rockets, a role he had been carrying out since around 2012. 

Furthermore, he added that Hamas and Islamic Jihad intentionally spread their operations to multiple command locations to reduce the risk of widespread losses if IDF seized one location. 

Senior Hamas operative Bachar Ahmed Bachar Kanita said that he was in charge of defending most of Gaza City, including 143 fighters under his command. Kanita revealed that he had only been at Shifa for about 25 days. 

He also mentioned that Islamic Jihad had used the maternity unit as a mini headquarters, while Hamas used the administration building and specialist unit as mini headquarters.

According to IDF, Gaza terrorists have no safe havens, so they choose to hide in Shifa and other hospitals, which is a clear violation of international law. Despite these efforts, IDF stated that they would pursue terrorists at every location, including hospitals, while trying their best to avoid civilian and medical staff casualties.