WATCH: Israel Defense Forces Take 70 Hamas Terrorists Prisoner at Kamal Adwan Hospital

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a video of IDF troops taking 70 Hamas terrorists captive. The captured militants were taken in and around Kamal Adwan Hospital, near the border of Gaza and Israel.

A video shows dozens of suspected Hamas terrorists laying down their weapons, after being captured by Israeli troops at a northern Gaza hospital after days of shelling.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released the footage on X Thursday, showing a throng of men walking single-file with their hands up through an area piled high with rubble under the watchful eye of soldiers.
The next portion of the recording shows alleged Hamas terrorists, now with their shirts off, dropping their weapons, including assault-style rifles and ammunition, on the ground.
IDF soldiers from the 460th Combat Brigade of the 162nd Division, along with members of Israel’s security service Shin Bet, carried out the operation to capture 70 terrorists in the Kamal Adwan Hospital near the Israeli border.
The medical facility in Beit Lahiya has been surrounded and under heavy fire for days.

IDF and ISA forces apprehended dozens of terrorists in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza.

Over 70 terrorists came out of the hospital with weapons in hand. The terrorists were transferred to field interrogators for further questioning.

This is what dismantling Hamas looks like. pic.twitter.com/OQi7jjGqTg
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 14, 2023

The IDF has taken some criticism over its practices of stripping down captured terrorists.

The en masse surrender at the hospital comes just days after videos and photos circulated widely in the media showing about 100 Hamas detainees stripped down to their underwear, some blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs, being rounded up by IDF troops.
The images taken in a debris-strewn street in Jabaliya raised concerns among human rights activists about the humiliating treatment of prisoners by the IDF.
Following the public outcry, a military official said the army would change its arrest procedures.

Most Hamas militants would presumably fall under the status of "Unlawful combatant" or "Unprivileged combatant" as defined by the Geneva Conventions and therefore are not entitled to the protections given traditional prisoners of war. All of the Hamas terrorists so far killed or captured by the IDF would fall into one of these two categories of "unlawful combatant:"

Combatants who would otherwise be privileged but have breached the laws and customs of war (e.g., committing perfidy or killing surrendered enemy combatants). The loss of privileges in that case only occurs upon conviction, i.e. after a competent court has determined the unlawfulness of the conduct in a fair trial.
Combatants who are captured without the minimum requirements for distinguishing themselves from the civilian population, i.e. carrying arms openly during military engagements and the deployment immediately preceding it, lose their right to prisoner of war status without trial under Article 44 (3) of Additional Protocol I.

This does not exempt any captured Hamas terrorists from protections under the recognized practices of war, but it does preclude them from immunity from prosecution generally extended for uniformed military members who operate within those practices; the Hamas militants, rather, can be treated as captured civilian criminals and liable to punishment under the laws of the capturing power. From what has been released to date, it would appear that Israel is operating within these guidelines. Further, given the history of groups like Hamas, stripping captured terrorists to ensure they are wearing no hidden weapons or munitions seems a prudent action.

See more recent RedState reporting on this issue at these links: