Hamas terrorists use ambulances, schools, hospitals in violation of US-brokered ceasefire, IDF official says
FIRST ON FOX: Amid the recent start of phase two of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Hamas and the Jewish state, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claim that Hamas has violated the deal through its misuse of ambulances, hospitals and schools to regain control of the northern Gaza Strip.
The IDF provided Fox News Digital with exclusive video footage of what it alleges is Hamas operatives using an ambulance to transport terrorists and weapons from the "inner yard of the Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital" to various checkpoints in northern Gaza.
"You see an armed suspect going into the ambulance with a Kalashnikov. The ambulance is connecting the dots for us. We passed the information to the American headquarters of the footage of the militants," an IDF official said of the video shared with Fox News Digital.
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The first phase of the agreement required that Hamas return all hostages held in Gaza. The second core part involves the disarming of Hamas, the U.S. and EU-designated terrorist movement.
An IDF spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "There are disturbing developments over the last few weeks. We see the return of Hamas to the front line, to the yellow line."
The yellow line separates IDF-controlled territory in Gaza, which is estimated to be 53%, from the enclave area not under Israeli control.
"Hamas has returned to schools, hospitals and kindergartens and is turning them into military bases. A Hamas commander is in charge of each school in Jabalia in northern Gaza," the IDF official claimed.
They continued, "We have seen Hamas with Kalashnikovs and, over the past few weeks, Hamas has been using ambulances. We have tracked over several weeks that Hamas uses ambulances to do checks in Jabalia. It is a big change. We see the confidence of Hamas using ambulances. It is a symbol for Hamas that it is gaining confidence and rebuilding itself, a sign of a potential raid on our bases in the future."
The city of Jabalia was the scene of intense combat for the IDF during the over two-year war with Hamas. In May 2024, Fox News Digital reported the IDF secured the bodies of seven hostages from Jabalia. Hamas turned the "civilian area into a fortified combat compound," the IDF said at the time about Jabalia.
When asked about the number of Hamas fighters in Jabalia in January 2026, the IDF official told Fox News Digital, "There are 3,000 Hamas operatives in Jabalia. 75,000 citizens have returned to Jabalia."
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The official said, "In the Jabalia refugee camp there are still functioning tunnels. We are working on destroying tunnels inside of the yellow line and are at an advanced stage of clearing tunnels."
Fox News Digital has reported extensively during the war on Hamas’ use of hospitals as military centers. The IDF operation against Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza resulted in the capture of roughly 100 suspected Hamas terrorists.
Shortly before the ceasefire came into effect in Oct. 2025, the IDF showed international reporters a Hamas terrorist tunnel adjacent to the Jordanian Field Hospital in Gaza City. The IDF said that Hamas terrorists were in the hospital and Jordanian medical personnel cooperated with Hamas. The state of Jordan denied the links to Hamas at its field hospital.
The IDF official said, "At the Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital, a Hamas commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel controls the hospital. We have notified the Americans. The freedom of action of IDF is limited. Hamas is violating the ceasefire. We have footage of Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital that we used to see before Oct. 7. Hamas places citizens in the hospital. The ambulance with Hamas goes through major crossroads."
Hamas invaded parts of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and murdered over 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 individuals.
The IDF official, along with many U.S. and Israeli counter-terrorism officials, have placed large question marks over the possibility of disarming one of the world’s worst and most ideologically committed Islamist terrorist movements.
Hamas officials have stressed over the last week and since the ceasefire started that it will not disarm. The senior Hamas official, Moussa Abu Marzouk, told the Qatari government-controlled outlet Al-Jazeera last week that the Hamas agreement to abandon its weapons "never happened, not for a single moment did we talk about the surrender of weapons, or any formula about destroying, surrendering, or disarmament."
The IDF official said, "There is a lot of belief in phase two and it will include disarming Hamas. I am very pessimistic in this matter. Hamas will not give away its weapons, and it will put on a show. Hamas might have civilians give away weapons. The game will be how good the show is." The official added, "We have indications from the ground level that there is no process of full disarmament by Hamas. We have intelligence that Hamas operatives know that no full disarmament is planned."
When asked about disarming Hamas, Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser (res.), a former head of research in the IDF's Military Intelligence Directorate, told Fox News Digital, "Hamas is not willing to disarm but may be ready to give up some heavy weapons."
Fox News Digital efforts to reach the Hamas spokesman were not successful.