Shin Bet field interrogations expose Hamas strategy – report

The agency’s real-time interrogations from hundreds of Hamas detainees sometimes lead to last minute changes in IDF attack plans.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency is conducting real-time interrogations on the field from hundreds of Hamas detainees in Gaza, gathering critical intelligence on the terror group operations which sometimes results in fundamental changes in IDF attack plans, the Jerusalem Post revealed in a report published on Tuesday.

The detainees include 105 who were arrested in Israel’s south after taking part in the October 7, and more than 500 detained later. Dozens were vetted as “high impact detainees” by the agency’s Unit 504, the report said, with interrogations leading to significant revelations about Hamas’s broader tactical operations and intentions.

Some of the detainees were mid-level or lower ranking, and in some cases, were Gazan civilians who had “spontaneously joined the slaughter when they heard about the success in breaking into Israel as it was happening,” the report said.

One terrorist admitted the strategic use of ambulances by Hamas, stating, “Al-Qassam [Brigades] has its own ambulances, some of which are also at the military base… the appearance of ambulances is similar to civilian ambulances so that they do not arouse suspicion or be bombed by Israel. During combat, ambulances are also used to evacuate fighters and operatives. They also transport food, IEDs [improvised explosive devices], and weapons, because that’s the safest way to get there.”

Additionally, the terrorist revealed the extent of Hamas’s exploitation of civilian infrastructure, particularly healthcare facilities, for military purposes. “Most of Hamas’s senior political and military figures are hiding in hospitals, especially Shifa Hospital. They take advantage of the hospitals so they won’t be bombed,” he disclosed.

The Shin Bet and IDF have established both a system for constant updates about the October 7 invasion and a new physical apparatus in the South to assist with ongoing targeting and IDF counter-invasion maneuvering operations. This intelligence is regularly assisting in deciding whether to attack specific targets and when to attack them.

Videos released by the Shin Bet on October 23 showed six separate interrogations of captured Hamas terrorists, all echoing a similar sentiment of ruthless tactics. “The instructions were to kidnap women and children,” said one. Another described an encounter with a dead body, saying: “Her body was lying on the floor. I shot her, and my commander yelled at me for wasting bullets on a dead body.”

The Shin Bet’s efforts are supported by a large number of its retirees who have returned to service during the war, enabling the agency to better manage the multitude of tasks faced by it.

Separately, as reported by World Israel News, the Shin Bet last month inaugurated a new unit with the sole purpose of locating and killing every Hamas terrorist involved in the October 7 attack from Gaza, with a particular focus is on members of an elite Hamas commando group within the organization’s Nukhba wing.

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