The IDF revealed on Thursday that Hamas is using the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis to carry out interrogations and torture the Palestinians, in a push to retain control of the Gaza Strip through fear.
According to the IDF investigation, conducted in cooperation with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Hamas is using the second floor of the hospital's outpatient clinics as an interrogation facility.
The investigation also revealed that Hamas is torturing and extorting the Palestinians it brings up for interrogation, transforming the site into its center of power in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to some Palestinian witnesses cited by the IDF, Hamas's terrorists have been spotted inside the hospital, in areas where patients and hospital staff were present, with some of them even wearing masks to avoid being recognized.
The military warned that these actions by Hamas constitute a violation of international law, which prohibits the military use of hospitals.
"Hamas is afraid of losing control of the Strip, and is therefore using hospitals, schools, and other civilian facilities for its own needs and attacking them in spaces intended to serve them," the military added.
Nasser goes from hospital to torture room
The IDF also remarked on the different roles that the hospital has been given since the beginning of the war, with it serving as administrative offices, then as a cafeteria, later converted into a house of prayer, and now serving as a Hamas interrogation center.
Back in February, the military said that the hospital, which had been operated by Doctors Without Borders until they were expelled from Gaza, served both as a weapons storage spot for terror and full-fledged Hamas headquarters.
"For over two years, the IDF and the defense establishment have warned about the cynical use by terrorist organizations in Gaza of hospitals and humanitarian shelters as human shields to conceal terrorist activity," stated the military.
The Israeli military struck the southern Gaza hospital in August of last year, killing well-known journalists, including from Reuters, and as many as 14 others. The IDF admitted it mistakenly struck the facility at the time, but noted the strike was approved, meaning there was some Hamas target in place.
It said it was probing the attack at the time, meaning significant aspects of the attack and its results were viewed as a major mistake. The IDF said it did not intend to harm journalists or innocent Palestinian civilians.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.