The IDF released on Monday, January 1, the interrogation record of a Hamas activist and an Islamic Jihad activist. Two Palestinians reveal how terrorists cynically use the civilian population, threaten Gaza residents, and coerce those who do not comply with their threats. The investigators of the IDF Military Intelligence 504th Unit conducted the interrogations.
"I felt that we were all a human shield for them," said Zuhdi Ali Zahadi Shahi, a former Hamas militant, according to the IDF. "But we also want to save ourselves, and that's where Hamas made a mistake. They went to the south of the Gaza Strip, where there was a safe passage. Your army promised to provide food and water at the end of it. Walking down the street towards the coast, we ran into guys who dragged us inside. They were Hamas members, and they said they would bomb us. They said that no one could go south because of Israeli bombing, so we got stuck in the hospital."
According to the Palestinian, people tried to leave the combat zone through the secure corridor declared by the IDF. However, Hamas militants brought them to the al-Shifa hospital to blend in with civilians. "We were on the lower floor of the al-Shifa hospital, and Israeli soldiers went upstairs. When Hamas heard it, they came up to us. They were scared. I even argued with one of them – told him he had no business among us. He threatened me. He said he would punish me when the war is over. He got furious when I told him to go down." When asked why the terrorist went up to civilians, the interviewee replied, "He wanted to sit with civilians to hide behind our backs."
Muhammad Darwish Amara, presented as an Islamic Jihad activist, shared in the published excerpt of the interrogation: "I was at school and told my child to come back to check the house once a day or two; valuable things were there, and I was afraid of thieves. My son opened the door of the house and saw Hamas militants sitting in my living room. He told me that there were more than 20 militants there, plus a sniper who hid on the floor in the children's room. Their weapons were lying all over the house; I never allowed anything like that!"
