Hamas terrorists admit stealing fuel from civilians and hospitals, Israeli military reveals in intercepted call

The Israeli military released a phone call that was intercepted by Israeli military intelligence, shedding light on the reasons for the fuel shortage being claimed in the Gaza Strip, revealing Hamas to it by stealing from civilians in the Gaza Strip .

During the call, a commander in Hamas’ Western Jabaliya Battalion can be heard speaking with the director of the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza City and a third unidentified person, believed to be a member of Hamas.

The director had told international media earlier that his hospital’s fuel supply ran out a few days before but during the call, he and the other two individuals mention a Hamas official demanding the hospital to give him 1,000 liters of fuel from its supply.

The Hamas commander repeatedly hints at the terror organization taking fuel from the hospital’s stocks, which the third person justified as “working as a government for the sake of the country.”

The third person adds that he needed to receive the fuel as quickly as possible since he was under pressure to procure the fuel from his higher-ups.

“The people are pressuring us, a little more and they will start shooting at us because they are pressuring us so much,” he can be heard saying in the call.

Listen for yourselves: pic.twitter.com/iABBnFe1PQ

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 2, 2023

The IDF decided to publish the call, despite the sensitivity of the information and the danger of exposing how it was procured, against the background of increasing international pressure on Israel to allow fuel shipments into the Gaza Strip.

Two weeks ago, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) claimed that Hamas stole fuel and medical supplies intended to be used for refugees from a compound in Gaza, before quickly deleting the relevant posts on X and saying that the fuel was moved to its “health partners.”

Israel’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi on Tuesday also addressed the fuel situation in the Gaza Strip, stressing that Israel has “repelled every day the attempt to convince us to allow fuel to be put into [Gaza], because it is 'oxygen in the arteries' of the killers.”

“Fuel is electricity, and it allows the air filters in the tunnels where the Hamas terrorists are to work,” he added.

According to Hanegbi: “There is enough fuel in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has stored fuel for a period of time. The argument that the fuel should be used by the hospitals is not admissible, because whoever locates his headquarters inside a hospital cannot ask us to allow him to maintain his activity and raise his abilities to harm us.”

“We will not be able to prevent the fuel from entering Gaza forever, but we insist on it and especially try to convince our friends,” Hanegbi added.