Ten Gaza Medical Workers Identified as Hamas and PIJ Commanders
Research compiled by Salo Aizenberg cites terrorist groups’ own martyrdom notices to document Hamas and PIJ infiltration of Gaza’s medical system
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Research compiled by Salo Aizenberg, a board member at HonestReporting, found that Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and affiliated terrorist social media channels posthumously identified multiple Gaza health-sector workers as members or commanders of their armed wings. The cases add to evidence cited by the IDF and U.S. intelligence that Hamas and PIJ exploited parts of Gaza’s medical infrastructure, though the scale and specific operational use of each facility remain disputed.
Hospital Administrators Doubled as Terror Commanders
Tamer Mohammed Salman al-Humaidi, a 42-year-old administrator at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, was revealed by PIJ to have served as a military commander while managing hospital operations. On March 31, 2024, Israel said it struck a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operations room in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing an Islamic Jihad commander. The IDF said the strike was conducted precisely and that the hospital building was not damaged or affected in its functioning.
The strike targeted what Israeli intelligence identified as a command and control center embedded within the hospital compound, which the IDF stated was “used by Hamas terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.” PIJ’s own acknowledgment that al-Humaidi held both an administrative hospital position and a military command role provided direct confirmation of the dual-use pattern Israeli forces had been documenting.
Operating Room Technicians as PIJ Unit Commanders
Haytham Muhammad Hammad worked as an operating room technician while commanding a PIJ military unit, according to Aizenberg’s review of PIJ martyr notices. PIJ’s confirmation that Hammad held a command position while working in hospital surgical facilities underscored the depth of militant infiltration into medical operations. His case represented what Aizenberg characterized as the seventh confirmed hospital worker exposed as a Hamas or PIJ commander at the time of his research.
Nurses Who Commanded Artillery and Combat Units
Ahmad Salah worked as a nurse at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis while simultaneously serving as an artillery commander for Hamas, according to a martyrdom notice published by the terrorist organization. Israel said it had credible intelligence that Hamas held hostages at Nasser Hospital and that remains might be inside, and AP also reported that a released hostage said she and more than two dozen other captives had been held there.
According to Aizenberg’s findings, Ahmed Abdul Aziz al-Talbani served as both a Hamas platoon leader and a medic while working in Gaza’s medical system. Research suggests al-Talbani, also known as “Abu Adham,” served as director of medical services in Khan Younis while commanding Hamas forces.
Mohamed Kamal Al-Eid, killed on March 29, 2026, worked as a nurse while serving as a Hamas combatant. Aizenberg’s research documented that at least six nurses in Gaza hospitals have been confirmed as Hamas combatants, mostly commanders, based on the groups’ own martyrdom announcements.
Broader Pattern of Medical Worker Infiltration
The ten cases documented by Aizenberg represent what researchers describe as a systematic strategy by Hamas and PIJ to embed operatives within protected civilian sectors. In a March 2026 analysis of one half of a PIJ list of 86 killed commanders, Israel Policy Forum’s Gabriel Epstein identified 43 commanders and found civilian professions for 10, including three nurses, three journalists, and two lawyers. He said 38 of the 43 appeared on the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health death list.
U.S. Intelligence Confirms Hospital Use for Command Operations
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January 2024 that Hamas and PIJ used Al-Shifa Hospital to “exercise command and control activities, store weapons and hold ‘at least a few hostages,’” according to declassified assessments. Hagari said IDF intelligence assessments indicated that more than 85 percent of major medical facilities in Gaza had been used by Hamas for terror operations
Internal Hamas documents from 2020, obtained and analyzed by NGO Monitor, stated that health facilities were used during escalations as gathering places for wounded operatives in “sensitive positions in the resistance” and for commanders of the movement and government. The documents, which originated from Hamas’s Ministry of Interior and National Security, described how the International Committee of the Red Cross operated in a wing inside Al-Shifa Hospital “adjacent to the movement’s offices.”
Implications for Casualty Reporting
The systematic embedding of military commanders within Gaza’s medical workforce raises questions about casualty figures that categorized these individuals solely as healthcare workers. Epstein’s analysis of PIJ’s commander list found that 38 of 43 identified militant commanders appeared in the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health’s death toll as civilians, demonstrating how dual-role operatives skewed casualty statistics reported to international media and humanitarian organizations.
Joe Truzman, senior research analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal, previously stated that “Hamas’s track record of using hospitals and other civilian infrastructure to carry out attacks against Israel” made the military operations at these facilities necessary despite their complexity.