IDF Unit 504, the military’s human spying version of the Mossad, has unmasked Hamas’s abuse of hospitals for terror and military purposes, The Jerusalem Post can now disclose. This information was previously provided to a closed group of military reporters but had been censored due to operational considerations. A recording of a Unit 504 interrogation of a Palestinian who had been in Shifa Hospital revealed many Hamas forces there, upsetting the medical staff. The interrogated Hamas terrorist estimated that he had seen between 80-100 terrorists at the hospital. Additionally, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were “camouflaged” as medical helpers and were using the emergency room for their activities. Another Palestinian, Hamdoah Riad Assad Samlah, revealed that Hamas terrorists were using 50,000 Palestinian civilians at the Palestine Red Crescent Society building in Gaza as human shields. He also stated that Hamas wrapped their rockets in civilian blankets to hide them from the IDF and were shooting from the nearby surroundings of the building.
Furthermore, another Palestinian told Unit 504 that he saw over 100 Hamas terrorists controlling Rantisi Hospital in Gaza and in civilian garb at the Sweden Hospital, where he saw at least seven Hamas terrorists, some of whom were armed. Unit 504 has reestablished a new physical center and unit to handle Gaza issues and security issues on Israel’s southern border, doubling its size since the Israel-Gaza war started. The Unit’s involvement in arranging medical and infrastructure assistance for Syrian militias during the Syrian Civil War has also been previously reported.
Unit 504 has interrogated over 500 terrorists and arrested and questioned over 300 terrorists since the start of the Gaza counter-invasion. Over 300 Hamas terrorists have been captured and taken to Israel. The unit has received thousands of calls from Gazan Palestinians wanting to help with intelligence against Hamas. Dozens of Arabic-speaking field interrogators are spread throughout the battle areas in Gaza. They are collecting critical surveillance on the wider front they are about to face and have developed a 360-degree virtual reality device to help soldiers see and feel what it is like in battle areas of Gaza at street level. Unit 504 has played a lead role in convincing the vast majority of northern Gaza Palestinians to evacuate through various means, including electronic, recorded messages, telephone calls, psychological, social media campaigns, and dropping flyers.
The IDF learned from Palestinian civilians about a Hamas outpost that was blocking them from evacuating and was able to use that information to remove the Hamas forces that were interfering.
