Memos point to Red Cross knowledge of Hamas presence in Gaza hospitals

"Two Hamas documents found by Israeli forces in Gaza indicate that international organizations such as the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders are well aware of the presence of Hamas in the Gaza Strip’s medical facilities despite obfuscating or outright denying it publicly, NGO Monitor revealed on Wednesday.

The internal Hamas memos were among a cache of documents declassified by the Israel Defense Forces. NGO Monitor translated the Arabic-language documents into English and released them to the public.

‘While repeatedly echoing Hamas allegations and condemning Israel’s operations to end the exploitation of hospitals for terror, these groups clearly knew that Hamas exploited these facilities and chose to remain silent,’ said Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor.

The documents, dated February and March 2020, not only show Hamas’s deliberate strategy of placing its fighters, leaders and terror infrastructure inside hospitals in Gaza, but reveal that NGOs worked right next to them, in at least one case in an adjoining office.

‘The [International Committee of the] Red Cross chose a wing in Al-Shifa medical complex that is adjacent to the [Hamas] movement offices,’ notes the February 2020 document.

The memo also notes that the French branch of Doctors Without Borders ‘chose the only room in Abu Yousef El-Najar Hospital that has a (safe) communication landline.’

The Hamas documents explicitly state the terror group’s position that medical facilities are not neutral spaces, but a critical part of its infrastructure.

‘Furthermore, these health facilities are a place of gathering for numerous leaders of the [Hamas] movement and the government during times of escalation,’ the February memo said..."