A secretive military intelligence unit called IDF Unit 504 was key in unmasking Hamas’s abuse of hospitals for terror and hostage-taking, The Jerusalem Post reports. Unit 504 has received thousands of calls from Gazan Arabs wanting to help them against Hamas, apparently unhappy with the terror regime’s reign.
Unit 504 has interrogated over 300 Hamas terrorists, including those who had been in Shifa Hospital, where there were many Hamas forces disturbing the medical staff.
One terrorist estimated that he had seen between 80-100 terrorists at al-Shifa hospital. He added that Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were “camouflaged” in the dress of various kinds of medical helpers, including using the emergency room for their activities.
According to Jerusalem Post, another Palestinian, Hamdoah Riad Assad Samlah, told how Hamas terrorists were using 50,000 Palestinian civilians at the large Palestine Red Crescent Society building in Gaza as human shields. He said that no one would resist Hamas or they might be killed.
Samlah said that Hamas wrapped their rockets in civilian blankets to hide them from the IDF and were frequently shooting from the nearby surroundings of the building.
Another Palestinian told Unit 504 that he saw over 100 Hamas terrorists controlling Rantisi Hospital in Gaza, split up into tents of around five to six men per tent, Jerusalem Post reports. He said that he was also in a hospital known as the Sweden Hospital, where he saw at least seven Hamas terrorists. Though they were in civilian garb, he said he knew one of them personally, and that the rest were armed.
“It seems that the residents of Gaza are unhappy with the barbaric conduct of Hamas.”
A senior Unit 504 commander told the Jerusalem Post, “Until now, we have arrested more than 300 terrorists as part of the invasion, who were taken for extended questioning to Israel. The information which came out of questioning such prisoners has had tremendous value, led to eliminating other terrorists, and to enhancing the security of our forces.”
The senior officer told the Jerusalem Post his unit received thousands of calls from Gazan Arabs wanting to help them against Hamas, “an order of magnitude which we had never seen before. It seems that the residents of Gaza are unhappy with the barbaric conduct of Hamas.”
Unit 504 employs dozens of Arabic-speaking field interrogators spread throughout the battle areas in Gaza. Unit 504’s field interrogation personnel are not just bringing back terrorists to Israel for questioning, but are also questioning terrorists in the field in real-time to assist IDF forces with their immediate battle maneuvers as well as finding Hamas’s sensitive locations on nearby Gaza streets, Jerusalem Post reports.