WATCH: Gaza hospital director admits Hamas turned clinic into military facility

Hamas turned the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip into a military base, its director Ahmad Kahlot admitted during an investigation conducted by Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet.

The hospital director's testimony was revealed in a video of the interrogation published by Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday evening.

Kahlot was among dozens of armed suspects who surrendered and were arrested at the hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on Dec. 12, according to the IDF. Footage of the mass arrest was published two days later.

Kahlot was recruited into Hamas as a high-ranking officer and several of the hospital’s staff served as military operatives of the Hamas organization under him, he said.

According to Kahlot, about 16 of the hospital’s employees served in a double role as Hamas terrorists, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and clerks.

Hamas terrorists turned the hospital into a military facility, hiding its operatives there, using ambulances for transport and even holding a kidnapped Israeli soldier there.

“They hide in hospitals because they believe that a hospital is a safe place. They will not be harmed if they are inside a hospital,” he stated.

“Hamas has offices inside the hospitals," Kahlot continued during the interrogation. "There are places for senior officials – they also brought a kidnapped soldier there. There is a designated place for investigations, internal security, and special security. They all have private phone lines inside the hospital.”

Kahlot explained that Hamas has its own private ambulances, with slightly different colors and no license plates. “It was used to bring the kidnapped soldier and to transfer bodies. It comes and goes without transporting the wounded.”

“Once I begged them to take a wounded man to an Indonesian hospital, for healing, for treatment, they refused. Their mission is more important,” the hospital director told Israeli authorities.

“The leaders of Hamas are cowards. They left us on the ground while they’re holing up in hiding places. They destroyed us.”

More than 70 terrorists were arrested during an operation on the grounds of the Kamal Adwan Hospital last week. Several clashes broke out, during which IDF soldiers eliminated more terrorists.

The detainees were taken for interrogation by Israel's Military Intelligence Unit 504 and Shin Bet coordinators.

In the footage published by the IDF, the terrorists can be seen leaving the hospital premises holding weapons above their heads as a sign of surrender.