A Shin Bet interrogation of Ahmed Kahlot, the head of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabaliya has revealed information that confirms and supports Israel’s assertion that Hamas uses hospitals as command centers and bases of operations.
Ahmed Kahlot was not only the head of the hospital, but doubled as a lieutenant colonel in Hamas since 2010. He admitted that no less than 16 hospital staff, including doctors and nurses worked directly for Hamas. The hospital
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades also had operatives employed in the hospital.
On December 12, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said that Israeli forces had entered the Kamal Adwan hospital, which the IDF later confirmed. Over the course of several days, troops detained some 90 operatives inside the hospital and seized numerous weapons.
The Shin Bet and IDF released a joint statement on the Dec. 12th operation, that noted that some of those captured at the hospital had participated in the October 7th massacres in southern Israel.
When pressed on Hamas operations at the hospital, Kahlot noted that one Hamas leader and two senior officials had offices inside the hospital.
“There are places for senior officials. They also brought a kidnapped soldier there,” he said. “There is a designated space for interrogations, internal security and special security. They all have private phone lines within the hospital.”
No further information about the kidnapped soldier’s identity or when he was brought to the hospital was provided.
“They hide in hospitals because they believe that hospitals are a safe place,” Kahlot told the Shin Bet interrogator. “They will not be harmed if they are inside a hospital.”
The information that Kahlot provided the Shin Bet is considered a game changer in terms of providing the ammunition for Israel’s global PR war. According to international law, it is forbidden to attack hospitals unless they are being used as a base of operations for a military. Kahlot’s testimony is key to giving Israel the green light to directly attack the remaining hospitals in Gaza.