Hamas is using outpatient clinics at one of Gaza's biggest hospitals to interrogate and torture civilians suspected of opposing its rule or collaborating with Israel, according to Israeli security agencies.
In a joint statement yesterday, the IDF and Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, said the terror group was using Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, as an internal security hub as it struggled to maintain control over a war-ravaged population.
Parts of the hospital, which was badly damaged during the war, are being used for “interrogations, torture, and collecting money,” the statement said.
Patients and hospital staff have witnessed the permanent presence of Hamas operatives, some of them masked, in various areas of the hospital compound, and Nasser continues to serve as “major military infrastructure.”
The IDF and Shin Bet said the hospital was being exploited for repression following an “erosion in support” among the people of Gaza for Hamas, which was trying to “impose its rule through intimidation, interrogations, and torture of residents.”
They said: “The exploitation of civilian infrastructure for interrogations and torture is a widespread phenomenon within the Hamas terror organisation.
"These actions by the Hamas terror organisation constitute a violation of international law, which prohibits the military use of hospitals."
The reports are based on intelligence gathered by the IDF and Shin Bet during operations in Khan Younis.
Hamas, Palestinian health authorities, and humanitarian groups have rejected the claims.
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