IDF releases footage it says shows armed Hamas men at Kamal Adwan Hospital

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has released video that it says shows armed Hamas members at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip. In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the military's spokesperson called the hospital a "major hub for Hamas terrorist activity" and said the material it was publishing drew on intelligence as well as the footage itself.

According to the IDF, the hospital is at present working as a medical clinic during daytime hours, while Hamas uses the building and the ground around it as cover. In a later post on X, the military said the released material includes the interrogation of a man it describes as a Hamas member, who, by the IDF's account, admits that he was employed at the hospital while also being involved in militant activity.

What the Israeli military is alleging

The IDF's case, set out across its Telegram statement and two posts on X, rests on several claims. It says that both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have, over recent years, used the hospital and its immediate surroundings to prepare and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians and on Israeli soldiers. The military's first post on X said Hamas is still using the site to plan attacks and to rebuild its capabilities, and that it does so by taking advantage of the presence of patients and medical workers.

The IDF also accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields at the hospital and says this breaches international law. The phrase "as previously revealed" in one of the posts indicates that the military has made allegations about this hospital before, and that it presents the new footage as further support for them.

The posts describe the footage in general terms. They do not, in the text provided, set out how many armed people appear in it, when it was recorded, or what specific activity it shows beyond the presence of weapons.

Kamal Adwan Hospital and Jabalia

Kamal Adwan Hospital is located in Jabalia, an area in the north of the Gaza Strip, the coastal territory that borders Israel and Egypt. The IDF's description of the facility as currently operating as a daytime clinic suggests it is not functioning as a full hospital, though the reports do not explain what services it offers or how many patients it treats.

Northern Gaza, including Jabalia, has been the scene of repeated Israeli military operations against Hamas, and hospitals in the territory have frequently been at the centre of competing claims by Israel and Hamas about how they are being used.

Who the groups named are

Hamas is the Islamist movement that has governed the Gaza Strip and runs an armed wing. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the IDF also names, is a smaller armed group that operates in Gaza alongside Hamas. Israel, the United States and the European Union, among others, designate both as terrorist organisations.

The IDF is Israel's military. Its spokesperson's unit publishes statements, video and intelligence claims through official channels including Telegram and X, which is where all three reports used for this article originated.

Hospitals under the laws of war

The IDF's reference to international law reflects a recurring argument. Under international humanitarian law, hospitals, medical staff and patients receive special protection in armed conflict. That protection can be lost if a medical facility is used to carry out acts harmful to the enemy, although the rules still require warnings and attention to civilians. Using civilians to shield military activity is prohibited. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of embedding in medical facilities in Gaza, and Hamas has repeatedly denied such accusations. Footage releases of this kind are part of how the Israeli military makes that case publicly.

What the reports do not say

Every claim in this article comes from the Israeli military. No independent organisation, news outlet or international body is cited as having verified the footage or the intelligence behind it, and we have not been able to verify it ourselves.

The reports do not include any response from Hamas, from the hospital's management or from health authorities in Gaza. They do not say when or where the video was filmed, how many armed people it shows, or who the interrogated man is, when he was detained and under what circumstances he was questioned. They also do not say whether the IDF intends to take any action regarding the hospital, and this article does not speculate on that.