Amid growing international condemnation over the Israeli military’s arrest late last month of the director of the hospital in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan, the Israeli army said on Tuesday it had new evidence that militants were using the hospital as a headquarters. It was announced that.
The military has released footage of an interrogation of one of the more than 240 militants it arrested in the hospital attack, revealing that Israel says Hamas and other armed groups are deliberately infiltrating hospitals in violation of international law. He claimed that it supports his claims.
The New York Times could not independently verify the claims made in the video or determine the circumstances under which the detainees made their confessions. Israel is detaining many Gazans at Sde Tayman, an army base in southern Israel, where many are held in degrading conditions and former detainees have been accused of assaults and other testified about abuse. The Israeli military denies accusations of systematic abuse there.
A short video released by the military shows a young man who identified himself as Anas Muhammad Faiz al-Sharif, 21, who describes himself as a cleaning supervisor at Kamal Adwan Hospital and has been in charge of Hamas’ military wing since 2021. He explains that he was a member of. He said operatives from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other groups operated out of the hospital, transferring and distributing weapons, patrolling and using it as an observation post, according to the video. It is a safe haven that is not a direct target of Israeli forces.
Hospitals are protected under international law even when they provide medical care to combatants, but they can be the subject of legitimate military action if they are used for other acts “harmful to the enemy.” Still, the military must weigh the expected military benefits of any action against the expected civilian harm, and the harm to civilians must not be disproportionate.
Israel has previously attacked Kamal Adwan and attacked the area around the hospital. In October the military detained or expelled most hospital staff during raids that lasted several days. Before his arrest in December, hospital director Dr. Hassam Abu Safiya said the hospital had been attacked multiple times in recent months.
Hamas did not respond to requests for comment on Israeli claims about its operations.
Doctors and health workers around the world, including in Israel, have condemned the raid on Kamal Adwan and in particular the arrest of Dr. Abu Safiyah. The hospital is the primary medical care provider for thousands of people who remained in northern Gaza through the intensive Israeli military operation over the past three months to quell what Israel claims is a resurgence of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He had become a person.
Dr. Abu Safiyah has been vocal in his protests against Israeli military activities throughout the war, and has frequently highlighted the suffering in northern Gaza, particularly in recent months.
Days after the attack, the Israeli military confirmed the arrest of Dr. Abu Safiyah, saying he was being investigated as a suspect and accusing him of being a member of Hamas. The group has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, so all types of public services, including health care, are intertwined to varying degrees with Hamas.
The Israeli non-profit organization Physicians for Human Rights Israel said on sunday The Israeli military announced that it had rejected the group’s efforts to send a lawyer to meet Dr. Abu Safiyah to assess his condition and detention. The group said, “Despite an urgent request to send a lawyer, the military has prohibited him from seeing his lawyer until January 10.”
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday that Kamal Adwan Hospital would remain open.completely dysfunctional” and said the organization “has not received any updates regarding the safety and well-being of the Director” since his detention. “We continue to call on Israel to release him,” Dr Tedros said, adding: “The attacks on hospitals and medical professionals must stop.”
On Monday, medical workers protested in cities in the United States and around the world demanding the release of Dr. Abu Safiyah and an end to attacks on hospitals and medical workers in the Gaza Strip. san francisco, new york, boston, quebec and london. The rally, organized by Doctors Against Genocide, a Michigan-based global coalition of medical workers founded in 2023, called for: Dr. Abu Safiyah His colleagues are also released.
But the Israeli military has long maintained that Hamas and other extremist groups deliberately infiltrate civilian populations in violation of international law, and despite international condemnation, There is no sign that military operations will stop. Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Helj Halevi said of Hamas in a speech to soldiers in northern Gaza on Monday: And I tell you, we won’t stop. ”
