FIRST ON FOX: During the recent initiation of phase two of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Hamas and the Jewish state, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) assert that Hamas has violated the agreement by misusing ambulances, hospitals, and schools to regain control of the northern Gaza Strip.

The IDF provided Digital with exclusive video footage of what it alleges to be 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 can see an armed suspect entering the ambulance with a Kalashnikov. The ambulance is connecting the dots for us. We passed the information regarding the footage of the militants to the American headquarters,” an IDF official said about the video shared with Digital.

The first phase of the agreement demanded that Hamas return all hostages held in Gaza. The second core aspect involves the disarming of Hamas, a terrorist movement designated by the U.S. and EU.

An IDF spokesperson told Digital, “There have been disturbing developments in the last few weeks. We are seeing Hamas return to the front line, to the yellow line.”

The yellow line divides the 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 conduct checks in Jabalia. It is a significant change. We observe Hamas’ confidence in using ambulances. It is a symbol for Hamas that it is regaining confidence and rebuilding itself, a sign of a potential raid on our bases in the future.”

The city of Jabalia was the site of intense combat for the IDF during the over two-year war with Hamas. In May 2024, Digital reported that the IDF retrieved the bodies of seven hostages from Jabalia. Hamas transformed the “civilian area into a fortified combat compound,” the IDF stated at the time regarding Jabalia.

When asked about the number of Hamas fighters in Jabalia in January 2026, the IDF official told Digital, “There are 3,000 Hamas operatives in Jabalia. 75,000 citizens have returned to Jabalia.”

The official said, “In the Jabalia refugee camp, there are still functional tunnels. We are working on destroying tunnels within the yellow line and are at an advanced stage of clearing tunnels.”

Digital has extensively reported during the war on Hamas’ use of hospitals as military centers. The IDF operation against Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza led to the capture of approximately 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. The IDF said that Hamas terrorists were in the hospital and that 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 informed the Americans. The IDF’s freedom of action is limited. Hamas is violating the ceasefire. We have footage of the Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital that we used to see before Oct. 7. Hamas places citizens in the hospital. The ambulance with Hamas passes through major crossroads.”

Hamas invaded parts of on Oct. 7, 2023, and killed over 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 individuals.

The IDF official, along with many U.S. and Israeli, have cast significant doubts on the possibility of disarming one of the world’s most extreme and ideologically committed Islamist terrorist movements.

Hamas officials have emphasized over the last week and 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 occurred, not for a single moment did we discuss the surrender of weapons, or any formula regarding destroying, surrendering, or disarmament.”

The IDF official said, “There is a great deal of and it will include disarming Hamas. I am very pessimistic about this matter. Hamas will not give up its weapons, and it will put on a display. Hamas might have civilians give up weapons. The game will be about 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 Digital, “Hamas is not willing to disarm but may be ready to relinquish some heavy weapons.”

Digital’s efforts to contact the Hamas spokesman were unsuccessful.