Captured Hamas commander says up to 1,000 militants hiding in Shifa hospital

The Israeli army said that between 600 to 1,000 Hamas fighters were believed to be hiding at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where a military operation has been ongoing for the past nine days, Report informs referring to EFE.

“Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives reveal how the terrorist organizations use Al Shifa Hospital to conduct military operations,” Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

The IDF released video footage of the interrogations of alleged Hamas and Islamic Jihad detainees, captured by Israeli forces during the operation at the Shifa hospital, the largest medical facility in the Strip.

“Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives reveal firsthand that ‘between 600 to 1,000’ Hamas operatives are hiding in the Shifa hospital,” the military said.

The militants provided details on “the deeply embedded terrorist infrastructure” of Hamas within the hospital, the statement added.

The hospital “is used by senior Hamas agents to plan and direct terrorist attacks,” said alleged Hamas member Bakr Ahmed Bakr Qanita in the interrogations.

In another interrogation, an Islamic Jihad member, Nabeel Rajab Abed Shteiwi, who spent “almost three months” in the hospital, stated, “Shifa or schools and places like that are our shelter.”

“Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives do not have a specific headquarters; they are (present) in all the buildings and scattered in the structures,” he said in the video.