IDF: Hamas Terrorist Planted Explosives Taken From Gaza Hospital

The IDF accused Hamas of “cynically” exploiting hospitals in Gaza for terrorism, thus endangering the civilian population.

By Shula Rosen

The Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday that it killed two Hamas terrorists after they were seen leaving Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, one of whom planted explosives the military said had been stored inside the hospital.

The terrorist planted the IEDs near the ceasefire line in attempt to harm IDF soldiers, according to the statement.

The second terrorist, identified as Muhammad Tammous, was a sniper in Hamas’s “military wing.” He also worked as a “civil defense” worker in the Strip, the IDF said.

“In recent days, the terrorists advanced attacks from within the hospital and operated to restore Hamas’s capabilities, in systematic violation of the ceasefire agreement,” it added.

The IDF accused Hamas of “cynically” exploiting hospitals and other medical infrastructure in Gaza for terrorism, thus endangering the civilian population.

In late 2024, the IDF arrested 240 Palestinian terrorists during an operation inside Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Anas Muhammad Faiz al-Sharif, one of the Hamas members arrested in the raid, subsequently told interrogators that the terrorist organization sees the facility as “a safe haven for them because the [Israeli] military cannot directly target it.”

Also on Wednesday, the IDF killed a terrorist after he crossed the ceasefire line in southern Gaza and tried to sabotage “operational infrastructure,” the military said on Thursday.

The terrorist posed an immediate threat and the IDF struck him right after he was identified near the Yellow Line, according to the statement.

IDF soldiers remain deployed to the Strip in accordance with the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement “and will continue to act to remove any immediate threat,” the army added.

The truce went into effect in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 10, 2025, ending the two-year war that began when Hamas, other Palestinian terrorist groups and Gazan “civilians” invaded the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people, primarily civilians, and taking 251 hostages.

The terms of the ceasefire leave the IDF in control of approximately half of Gaza.

Oct 7. anniversary

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Wednesday that the military “must always be prepared for a surprise war,” speaking on the anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.

“This week we mark 53 years since the Yom Kippur War and three years since Oct. 7—two painful blunders, two failures and a connecting thread between them,” Zamir told fellow commanders at the first exercise of the newly formed 38th Division, according to an official IDF readout.

The lesson of both wars, he stressed, is that “the possibility of a surprise attack must preoccupy us all.”

The chief of staff noted that the IDF opened the week with a day of studying the lessons of Oct. 7. “A commander who does not doubt and entrenches himself in his perceptions will be defeated,” he added.

Zamir was joined by IDF Ground Forces commander Maj. Gen. Nadav Lotan. Also present was Brig. Gen. Sharon Altit, who commands the 38th Division.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it struck approximately 100,000 targets across multiple fronts over the three years since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. More than 31,500 projectiles were launched at Israel from Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Yemen during the same period.

The military said 970 personnel were killed in operational circumstances during the war. More than 70% of wounded soldiers returned to service, while the IDF reserve force grew by approximately 36% as the military established a series of new combat, defense and support formations.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for Hamas’s “military wing,” who uses the nom de guerre Abu Ubaida, marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Wednesday by calling the massacre a “military miracle” and claiming it shattered Israel’s deterrence and security doctrine.

Abu Ubaida also called for broader regional action against Israel, citing Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran and saying there was “no excuse” for others not to act. He also raised the possibility of opening an additional “western front” against Israel.

Some 4,000 Gazan terrorists who invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, have been slain, but around 2,000 remain alive, Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed on Monday night.

Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the Israel Defense Forces to “pursue and eliminate all of them—from senior to low-ranking.

“This is what the murdered and the fallen have commanded us, and this is our duty as a people and as a state—and we will fulfill it,” the defense minister said.