Director of Shifa Hospital is arrested by the IDF who say ‘extensive Hamas terrorist activity’ has taken place there during his time in charge

• Mohammad Abu Salmiya had been held for questioning over evidence that Shifa hospital had been used as a command centre by Hamas terrorists, IDF said  

The director of Gaza’s largest hospital has been arrested by Israeli soldiers who say ‘extensive Hamas terrorist activity’ has taken place at the medical facility during his time in charge. 

Mohammad Abu Salmiya had been held for questioning over evidence that Shifa hospital had been used as a command centre by Hamas terrorists, the IDF said. 

The Israeli army raided the hospital last week amid claims Hamas terrorists used a tunnel complex beneath the medical centre as a headquarters. 

The IDF said today: ‘The director of the Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip was apprehended and transferred for ISA questioning following evidence showing that the Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control centre.

‘The Hamas terror tunnel network situated under the hospital also exploited electricity and resources taken from the hospital.

‘In addition, Hamas stored numerous weapons inside the hospital and on the hospital grounds.’ 

Mohammad Abu Salmiya (pictured) had been held for questioning over evidence that Shifa hospital had been used as a command centre by Hamas terrorists, the IDF said

A soldier stands in what the Israeli army says is a tunnel dug by Hamas militants inside the Al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday 

An Israeli soldier climbs out of what the army says is a tunnel dug by Hamas militants inside the Al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday 

The IDF added: ‘Furthermore, after the Hamas massacre on October 7th, Hamas terrorists sought refuge within the hospital, some of them taking hostages from Israel with them.

‘A pathological report also confirmed the murder of CPL Noa Marciano on the hospital premises.

‘In the hospital, under his management, there was extensive Hamas terrorist activity. Findings of his involvement in terrorist activity will determine whether he will be subject to further ISA questioning.’

IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said: ‘Now, the irrefutable truth of Hamas’ exploitation of hospitals in Gaza is on full display to the world.

‘We have an important question to ask the international community: what will you do to stop Gaza’s hospitals from being turned into terror bases in the future?

‘Will you condemn Hamas? Or will you continue to be silent? Will you remain silent? I want to make it clear that Israel is at war with Hamas. We are not at war with the people of Gaza.’

Earlier, Khalid Abu Samra, a chief of department at the hospital, had confirmed Salmiya’s arrest, claiming that he had been arrested with ‘several other senior soldiers’. The IDF’s statement only referenced the arrest of Salmiya. 

‘Doctor Mohammad Abu Salmiya was arrested along with several other senior doctors,’ said Samra. 

An official in the Hamas-run health ministry specified to AFP that one other doctor and two nurses had been detained, as well as the hospital director.

In a statement, Hamas said it ‘strongly denounces’ the arrest of Salmiya and his colleagues, calling on the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organisations to work towards their ‘immediate release’.

Instructions to evacuate the hospital were issued on Saturday, prompting the exodus of hundreds of patients and displaced towards the supposedly safer south of the Palestinian territory.

Israeli soldiers stand near the opening to a tunnel at Al Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City on Wednesday 

Soldiers stand next to what the Israeli army says is the entrance to a tunnel dug by Hamas militants inside the Al-Shifa hospital complex on Wednesday 

A view of what the Israeli military says is an opening to a Hamas tunnel underneath a house near the Al Shifa Hospital on Thursday 

Soldiers walk through what the Israeli army says is a tunnel dug by Hamas militants inside the Al-Shifa hospital complex on Wednesday 

Weapons that the Israeli Army says were left behind by Hamas militants in the Al-Shifa hospital, are displayed at the medical complex in Gaza City on Wednesday 

Weapons that the Israeli Army says were left behind by Hamas militants in the Al-Shifa hospital, are displayed at the medical complex in Gaza City on Wednesday

Israeli troops and military vehicles gather along a street during a military operation in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday 

Salmiya said last week that he had received the evacuation order from Israeli forces after having refused a previous one.

But the Israeli army said the evacuations were carried out at the ‘request’ of Salmiya.

The military released an audio recording presented as a conversation between Salmiya and a senior Israeli officer in which the two men blame each other for the evacuation.

On Thursday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said it joined forces with the United Nations to evacuate a further 190 wounded and sick people, their companions and medical staff from Al-Shifa to other hospitals in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The evacuation took nearly 20 hours due to delays at the checkpoint separating northern and southern Gaza, it said on X, formerly Twitter, adding that three paramedics had been detained, two of whom were subsequently released.

On Wednesday, Israeli soldiers escorted journalists to a tunnel shaft at the hospital complex which they said was part of a vast underground network used by Hamas.

Israeli officials claim Hamas operated a command centre in tunnels under the hospital for years – an accusation the Islamist movement and medical personnel reject.

Al-Shifa hospital has been the scene of an extended Israeli special forces operation as part of its war against militants in the Gaza Strip, where the Hamas-run government says more than 14,000 people have been killed, most of them women and children.

It came after Hamas gunmen poured across the border in an unprecedented attack on October 7. Israeli officials say about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 240 taken hostage.

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