Of Hamas’s countless human rights abuses and flagrant violations of international law, one of the most egregious is its exploitation of medical facilities, vehicles, and personnel for military purposes.
The examples are too numerous to list, but let us offer a selection.
For years, Hamas has used Al-Shifa Hospital – Gaza’s largest medical center – as a command and control base, transforming it into a massive human shield for its terrorism.
Hamas's underground bunkers underneath Al-Shifa Hospital
During Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, Israel revealed that Hamas had constructed a bunker underneath the hospital and Hamas leaders were using it as a shelter and an operations center, from which they were directing the group’s terrorist activities. The New York Times reported that Hamas terrorists were going through the wards, killing individuals the group believed were collaborating with Israel. The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry – not to be confused with the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas – accused the terrorist group of using the hospital as a detention and torture center, as well as stealing medical supplies and resources for its own use.
During Operation Protective Edge in 2014, Hamas yet again used the hospital as a base – The Washington Post reported that it had become “a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.” A Hamas operative captured by Israel revealed that the group’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was hiding in the hospital.
In recent weeks, as Operation Swords of Iron has raged in Gaza and Israel, the IDF has produced evidence that Hamas is once again using Al-Shifa – in which an estimated 60,000 people are currently seeking shelter – as a major operational base, with military facilities throughout the hospital complex.
Last Friday, the IDF released recordings proving that Hamas is stealing Al-Shifa’s fuel reserves and using it for its own purposes. On Sunday, the military revealed that Hamas was using several other Gaza hospitals for military purposes, as well: the Qatari Sheikh Hamad Hospital contains an underground attack tunnel and Hamas has used the hospital premises to fire at IDF troops; the Indonesian Hospital contains an underground tunnel network and rocket launchers have been stationed in close proximity to the complex.
As if that weren’t enough, Hamas has been using ambulances to transport both terrorists and weapons – a practice it has utilized in the past – and attempted to smuggle terrorists out of Gaza by slipping their names onto lists of wounded Palestinians being evacuated from the territory for medical treatment.
This is nothing new
None of this is new. All of it is well documented. And yet it has gone largely unmentioned by the organizations and bodies charged with overseeing global humanitarian and medical matters.
While the World Health Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Doctors Without Borders have all released numerous statements about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza – most, predictably, blaming Israel for its response to the massacre of 1,400 of its citizens and the abduction of 240 others – not one has taken Hamas to task for its reprehensible exploitation of the territory’s medical facilities for terrorism.
Why?
We have grown accustomed to the gross bias exhibited by the supposed guardians of human rights and international law towards the Jewish state, and the sense that Israeli lives matter less to them than do other ones, but the victims here aren’t Israeli – they’re Palestinian.
Hamas’s cruel exploitation of hospitals, ambulances, and other medical facilities directly endangers the Palestinian patients and medical personnel it is using as human shields – which is, of course, exactly the point.
If Israel hits any of these sites – which have, in many cases, been transformed by Hamas’s actions into legitimate military targets under international law – it will be met with ferocious condemnation. If it refrains from doing so for fear of hitting innocent civilians, Hamas gets off scot-free and is able to continue using these facilities for its nefarious purposes.
If these organizations genuinely care about their missions and about saving Palestinian lives – and not just condemning Israel – it is long past time for them to speak out against Hamas’s abuses.