The Hamas terror group is stepping up preparations for a possible resumption of fighting in Gaza, recruiting teenage boys and using a functioning hospital as a major operational hub, senior Israeli security officials told Epoch Magazine Israel.
The officials said the Israeli defense establishment has identified a significant increase in the group’s preparations, including an accelerated training program that puts boys aged 15 to 17 through just one week of instruction, focused chiefly on small arms.
They also said Hamas is using Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza to prepare attacks and rebuild its capabilities while the facility continues to operate as a medical clinic during the day.
The assessment comes amid renewed Israeli strikes and competing accusations over violations of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreed in October 2025. Hamas denies rebuilding its arsenal or planning attacks and accuses Israel of undermining the truce.
Hospital Used as Operational Hub
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in an Oct. 11 statement and accompanying video footage that intelligence and documentation showed Hamas operatives continuing to use Kamal Adwan Hospital and its surrounding area for military activities.
The military accused Hamas of exploiting the presence of patients, medical staff, and civilians as human shields while preparing terrorist attacks and attempting to restore its military capabilities, in violation of international law.
The security officials who spoke to Epoch Magazine Israel described the hospital as a major center of Hamas operations, echoing the military’s assessment.
The IDF said Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad had used the hospital and surrounding area in recent years to prepare attacks against Israeli civilians and troops, despite repeated Israeli calls to stop using medical facilities for military purposes.
Israeli forces operated in the hospital area in December 2024, finding military equipment and numerous weapons, according to the IDF statement. The military said troops arrested more than 240 people it identified as Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, along with other suspected operatives.
Israel Reports Further Strikes
The Israeli military said on Oct. 13 that it had killed five Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives in southern Gaza.
Three were Islamic Jihad members whom the military identified as an engineering operative, a deputy squad commander, and a rocket unit operator. Two others, killed in a separate strike, belonged to the Rafah Brigade of Hamas’s military wing.
“Recently, the terrorists advanced terror attacks against Israeli civilians & IDF troops and operated to restore the military capabilities of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, in systematic violation of the ceasefire,” the IDF said.
“They were eliminated in order to remove the threat they posed.”
Israel has intensified strikes in recent weeks, saying Hamas has been rearming and carrying out attacks. Progress toward implementing the broader peace agreement, which includes Hamas disarmament, an Israeli troop withdrawal, and eventual reconstruction, has largely stalled.
Gaza health officials say at least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce began last October. Israel says terrorists have killed four of its soldiers during the same period.
In late August, U.S. special envoy Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed that Hamas must disarm before Gaza is rebuilt or Israeli forces withdraw from the territory.
“We don’t want Gaza to ever be a threat to Israel again,” Kushner said at the time, adding that the ultimate objective remained a complete Israeli pullout from Gaza, but only after Hamas had been “really demilitarized.”
Last week, Israelis marked the third anniversary of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. More than 1,200 people were killed, and 251 were taken hostage, prompting Israel to declare war against the terrorist group and move to eradicate its presence from Gaza.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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