A former Hamas operative has claimed the terror group uses Gaza civilians as human shields. 

In an interrogation video released by the IDF, Zahdy Ali Zahdy Shahin said he and other civilians were used as cover by Hamas during their ongoing war with Israel. 

Shahin, who was interrogated after being captured in the Strip, also claimed he was placed alongside other civilians in Al-Shifa hospital by Hamas, which the IDF later targeted as ‘Hamas HQ’.

When the IDF entered the hospital, he said terrorists from the group came upstairs and “sat among” civilians.

He told interrogators that he challenged several members of the terror group, saying “your place isn’t here, it is below”. However, he was then threatened. 

In another video released yesterday, Muhammed Darwish Amara, identified as a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said that Hamas terrorists were hiding in civilian homes. 

Amara told the IDF that his son came home to find terrorists asleep in his apartment. “There was no permission from me,” he told interrogators.

He also said he had seen another home taken over by Hamas, who “take advantage” of family homes.

An aerial view shows the compound of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City (Photo: Getty)

In this case, the owner challenged the terrorists, who told him: “If you don’t like it, get out of here, it isn’t your business”. They threatened to put explosives between him and his wife if he continued to complain.

Hamas has been repeatedly condemned for weaponising civilians in Gaza, including by the European Union’s representative for foreign affairs.

Josep Borrell stated in November that Hamas were using “hospitals and civilians as human shields,” something which was contributing to the “deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.

Israel has also condemned Hamas for launching rockets from schools, building tunnels under children’s bedrooms, and embedding itself among civilians.

The Al-Shifa hospital, where Shahin confirmed terrorists were hiding, was subject to a targeted operation in November. Later that month, the IDF released video evidence which they said "unequivocally proves the modus operandi of the terrorist organisation Hamas, which systematically operates from hospitals”.

Hamas political official Ezzat El-Reshiq said the claims had “no basis in truth”.