Hamas is known to hide its terrorist activities and official business in civilian targets such as hospitals and schools, but new information reveals just how calculating the terror group is; the manager of a northern hospital in Gaza is also a Hamas commander. Ahmed al-Kahlout, the manager of the Kamal Adnan Hospital in northern Gaza, admitted during an interrogation with Israeli security forces that Hamas used the medical facilities to advance its military operations.
“I know 16 employees in the hospital — doctors, nurses, paramedics and clerks — who also have different positions in the Qassam Brigades,” Kahlout told Israel’s Shin Bet in a video clip released on Tuesday afternoon, referring to the military of Hamas.
“They hide in hospitals because, for them, a hospital is a safe place.” The hospital Kahlout managed is located in the Jabaliya neighborhood of northern Gaza; he explained to Israeli security officials, “They [Hamas] won’t be targeted when they are inside a hospital.”
“That they will not be harmed when they are inside a hospital. Hamas has offices inside the hospitals. There are places for senior officials, they also brought a kidnapped soldier there. There is a designated place for interrogations, internal security, and special forces. Everyone has private phone lines inside the hospital,” Kahlout’s interview revealed.
According to an Israeli military press release he also discussed his history in the organization. “I was recruited to Hamas in 2010 with the rank of Brigadier General. There are employees in the hospital who are military operatives of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades – doctors, nurses, paramedics, clerks, and staff members.”
“I once begged them to take a wounded man to the Indonesian hospital, to Shifa [Hospital], for treatment, they refused,” the Hamas official added. “Their mission is more important. The leaders of Hamas are cowards. They left us out in the open while they hide in hideouts. They destroyed us.”
National Review reports Kahlout has been quoted extensively across global media outlets, including Reuters,NBC News, and Al Jazeera, in recent weeks as a reliable source opining on the state of Gaza’s medical infrastructure. Following his detainment last week by the Israeli military, the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry demanded Kahlout’s release alongside other health officials.