Israel releases video of interrogation of hospital director in Gaza Strip

Israel’s internal security agency Shin Bet published a video of the interrogation of hospital director Kamal Adwan.

In the video, Ahmed Al-Kahlot says that Hamas’s political leadership used the hospital in the early days of the war because they thought they would not be attacked there. He also said that he, along with some other medical workers, were part of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

The interrogation was filmed in a small room painted white, with an Israeli flag hanging on one of the walls. It’s unclear, he writes CNN whether Al-Kalot spoke freely and had access to a lawyer after his arrest on December 12.

Unlike most hospitals in the enclave, which are run by the Ministry of Health, Kamal Adwan Hospital is under the General Directorate of Military Medical Services, which is part of the Ministry of Interior in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to CNN before the release of the video of the interrogation, the hospital’s head of pediatric services, Dr. Hossam Abu-Safiya, and nursing director Eid Sabbah said the hospital only provides medical services and that dozens of people have been arrested at the hospital over the past week. The two doctors also claim that the behavior of Israeli soldiers in the hospital was both dangerous and brutal, even after almost all the male Palestinians in the building were arrested and taken away.

The key argument of Israel’s political and military leaders was that any such abuse of Gaza hospitals by Hamas provided justification for Israeli military attacks under international humanitarian law.