Ahmed Kahlot, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital, appeared to confess during an interrogation by Israel’s Shin Bet his hospital served as a Hamas base, The Times of Israel reported Tuesday.
Kahlot told the Shin Bet, Israel’s version of the FBI, he and some 16 hospital staffers were Hamas military operatives and he joined the terrorist organization in 2010, according to the outlet. (RELATED: IDF Suspends Soldiers After They Used Mosque Loudspeakers To Broadcast Jewish Prayers)
Gaza hospital director admits Hamas used medical complex as operational hub https://t.co/95iWZhkNc1 . Click to read ⬇️
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) December 19, 2023
Kahlot also apparently confessed other employees served in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a different terrorist organization, The Times of Israel reported. Footage of his apparent confession with an English translation was tweeted out by Yaari Cohen, an employee of Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
🚨 Breaking – Director of one of the biggest hospitals in Gaza, ‘Kamal Adwan,’ admits he is a senior Hamas terrorist (rank equivalent to Brigadier General) and admits Hamas was using the hospital as a terror base. pic.twitter.com/lX4MclglA6
— Yaari Cohen (@YaariCohen) December 19, 2023
Kahlot described in the video how scores of senior civilian and military Hamas officials used his hospital. “They had rooms [in the hospital], which they hid in. They stayed there for ten days and then they changed places to a different place,” Kahlot told his Shin Bet interrogator. When asked why Hamas did this, Kahlot appeared to say the hospital was regarded as a “safe place” where they knew they would not “be targeted.”
Kahlot told the Shin Bet his hospital was also used to house a kidnapped Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier, and Hamas had an array of private ambulances which were marked differently from other ambulances and not used for medical purposes.
Kahlot was arrested alongside many of the hospital staff mid-December following the capture of the hospital in the northern Gaza Strip by the IDF, CNN reported. Prior to and during the current IDF military operation in Gaza, Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes. It is widely recognized that under international law, such misuse of hospitals and other typically protected facilities and persons results in these places and persons becoming legitimate military targets as well as the loss of any special protection, the Red Cross reported.