Human shields - 'dead baby strategy' by Arab "Palestinians" since early 1980s

DOCUMENTED HUNAN SHIELDS USE BY ANTI-ISRAEL ARAB TERROR SINCE THE EARLY 1980S

United States Policy Toward Lebanon-relief and Rehabilitation ...United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs - 1983

THE PLO THREAT

Israel has found in Lebanon enough PLO weapons to equip a massive army and to supply untold numbers of terrorist cadres...

Arafat boasts of PLO terrorists serving in El Salvador, Angola and ...

In two ways however, the PLO was different from conventional armies. First, the PLO consciously attacked only civilians and, secondly, the PLO used civilians as human shields to protect itself. Anyone who has been to the small country of Israel knows that there are many military targets to be easily found. ..

Yet, the PLO could only find those “military" targets disguised as kibbutz nurseries, school buses, marketplaces or passenger airplanes.

And the second factor that differentiates the PLO terrorist army from conventional armies is its hiding in the midst of civilian centers.

Israeli troops uncovered PLO arsenals, emplacements and bases in schools, mosques, and apartment basements. According to Newsweek, June 14, Israeli soldiers in one engagement, were attacked by PLO fighters disguised as hospital patients.

https://books.google.com/books?id=SvudKjsiDxAC&pg=PA131

Current World Leaders - Page 676 - International Academy at Santa Barbara, 1982

PLO Subversion of Lebanon

The terrorists sought and found new bases in Lebanon. ...

The Deliberate Use of Civilians as Shields Since the beginning of its operations against Israel, the PLO has cynically used heavily populated areas — such as refugee camps or inhabited areas in Beirut and other towns in Lebanon — as bases of operation.

Aware of Israeli reluctance to harm civilians, it has thus often used the latter as human shields.

And indeed, Israel acted with restraint. It elected not to attack targets in the midst of the refugee camps or the towns, but on their peripheries, in order to innocent human lives and ... However, Israel has no choice but to act in self-defense as long as acts of terrorism continue against its people ...

https://books.google.com/books?id=LWNmAAAAMAAJ&dq=human+shields

Viewpoint. Inside Lebanon: A minister's View. Sumter Daily Item - Jan 29, 1983

... The PLO came to Lebanon 12 years ago, after it was evicted from Jordan by King Hussein, that "Black September" in 1970, Hussein's troops killed 10,000 PLO fighters in the expulsion from Jordan of these terrorists which were an increasing threat to the stability of his government. Eight years ago, in 1974, war broke out in Lebanon, as the PLO attempted to wrest this ancient country from its own people. From 1974 to 1982, over 100,000 people were killed in Lebanon by the PLO, half a million were injured, and one million were left homeless, without any significant world objection. The PLO siege of Lebanon, which has been incorrectly portrayed as a civil war, was in fact a reign of terror, during which anyone who refused to cooperate with the PLO was forcibly evicted from his home, watched his wife and daughters raped and mutilated, was tortured and killed, or perhaps just quietly disappeared. The Lebanese people — both Moslem and Christian — were prisoners within their own country.

In additions to the systematic terrorization of Lebanon, the PLO over the past eight years has repeatedly shelled the northern area of Israel, crossed the Israeli border in attacks on civilian people, and from Beirut directed attacks on Israeli diplomats and offices throughout the world, the most recent being the attempted assassination of Israel's ambassador to England, Shlome Argov. The people of Lebanon were fed up with the situation, and some of the several Lebanese factions, mainly Christian, appealed to Israel for assistance, Israel, equally fed up with the constant endangerment of the population of the Galilee, concurred, and in early July of this year the Israeli Army entered South Lebanon.

... We saw the PLO headquarters in Sidon, built near the town square, but underground, beneath a large and popular amusement park (complete with ferris wheel and roller coaster), "hiding beneath the skirts of women." We saw the Moslem hospital which the PLO used as an armament depot, marking their crates of live ammunition with the symbol of the Palestine Red Crescent (the local version of the Red Cross, and whose chairman is the brother of Yassar Arafat; most of the tragically inflated statistics on civilian casualties in Lebanon were provided by the Palestine Red Crescent issued without confirmation by the International Red Cross, which has since discovered how it was manipulated and has issued a formal retraction of the civilian casualty statistics'''). We talked with young men and old men in the streets of Sidon, candidly and happily. They told us how glad they are to have the Israeli army come in, how their freedom has been restored after eight years. "They called the Israeli army "the army of liberation." Nowhere could we find a dissenting opinion.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7YgiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=v6oFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4952,3652451&hl=en

The Media's War Against Israel: The Full Exposé No One Dared Publish - Stephen Karetzky, Peter E. Goldman - Steimatzky/Shapolsky, 1986 - Arab-Israeli conflict - 423 pages - p. 266

By training their cameras on the stark rubble and bloody civilian casualties, the television reporters transformed the reality of Israel's most ... and the agony and casualties such attacks cause, and by rarely explaining how the PLO used civilians as shields, the knights of the Electronic Cyclops failed to give viewers a balanced picture of the fighting...

responsibility for the carnage, or about the PLO's right to use the Lebanese capital's civilian population as hostages to his political maneuverings.

https://books.google.com/books?id=9rZKAAAAYAAJ&q=human+shields+civilian+population+plo

https://books.google.com/books?id=9rZKAAAAYAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=As+hostages+

Official Records - Volume 1 - United Nations. Security Council · 1985 · ‎

(p.5)

..where, of planting its basis among civilians. Civilians, let us remember, are the key to the PLO strategy. It kills civilians and it hides behind them...

In the past year l, more than 600 such attacks have killed or severely wounded more than 75 Israeli civilians -schoolchildren, teachers, commuters, shoppers, tourists ...

They themselves were the intended victims, the designated targets of the PLO, because the aim of the PLO is identical to its methods — murder, deliberate and systematic murder of Israelis and Jews, and ultimately murder of the Jewish State itself.

The most recent killings — and I stress merely the most recent - were the savage early morning slaughter of three defenceless people , a woman and two men , vacationing on a boat at the marina in Larnaca. Like other such "heroic actions", to use PLO language, that one was carried out by the "élite" unit of the PLO, which tells us something, I suppose , about the PLO's ideas of excellence...

https://books.google.com/books?id=QgtSAQAAMAAJ&q=%22it+kills+civilians+and+it+hides+behind+them%22&dq=1985%20%22it%20kills%20civilians%20and%20it%20hides%20behind%20them%22

(p. 6)

The only requirement is that these partners in crime share the PLO's savage impulses In Larnaka, for example, one of the apprehended killers , a foreign recruit to Force 17, who shot Mrs. Esther Palzur in the back of the head, is a British neo-Nazi. And although the PLO had lost its all - important terrorist empire in Lebanon, it established a new extraterritorial base in Tunisia , from which it sought to continue , presumably at a safe distance , its campaign of global terror.

https://books.google.com/books?id=QgtSAQAAMAAJ&q=%22British%20neo-Nazi,%22

(p.17)

Perhaps you representatives think it is an accident that one of the killers in Larnaca was a British neo-Nazi, that the most fervent foreign recruits in the PLO camps in Lebanon were German neo-Nazis, that Yasser Arafat's model, as he put it, is Haj Amin Al-Husseini, who was Hitler's ally in the Middle East and later in Europe.

Do you think it is an accident that they worked hand in hand with Idi Amin, whose idol was Adolf Hitler? Do you representatives not see that all these people are inspired by the same philosophy that throws morality into the gutter?

https://books.google.com/books?id=QgtSAQAAMAAJ&q=%22British%20neo-Nazi,%22

Les états terroristes et la guerre des lâches - [Pages 71-72]

Suzanne Labin · Autoedition, 1987

The PLO has added the additional touch of hypocrisy: It deliberately installs its operational bases and its arms depots in populated areas, in sports stadiums, in religious temples [mosques], in schools, as we have been able to seen in Jordan and Lebanon.

THE CIVILIAN POPULATIONS ARE THE KEY TO HIS MILITARY STRATEGY. The "brave" PLO terrorists are waging camp wars BY SHELTERING BEHIND CIVILIANS.

This is how Fatah in Saida issued on May 28, 1981 this operation order No. 4: “The living quarters of the town of Saida and surrounding villages are excellent shelter areas. The trees allow complete camouflage of vehicles and personnel... Positions should be taken in Saïda's HOUSING AREAS, REFUGEE CAMPS AND VILLAGES.”

Arafat publicly condoned the acts of cowardice I just mentioned.

He said: "Our fighters have the right to use ANY MEANS in their fight against oppression. (Reuters, Tunis, September 3, 1985.)

PLO COLLUSION WITH NEO-NAZIS

Not only does the PLO work for the ends of Soviet imperialism, but also, taking its cue from the Hitler-Stalin pact, it is not afraid to collaborate with neo-Nazis. For this Palestinian International as for the Communist International, THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS.

Otto Albrecht, star of German neo-Nazism, was arrested in 1982 with papers giving him authority to recruit volunteers for Yasser Arafat.

From the payment into a bank account in Hamburg of sums disproportionate to the value of the vehicles delivered, the German police drew the conclusion that this neo-Nazi group was financially supported by communist Palestinian movements, in particular by the group.

https://books.google.com/books?id=8S9FAQAAIAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22collaborer+avec+les+n%C3%A9o-nazis%22

World Refugee Survey - Page 112 - U.S. Committee for Refugees, 1994

... these organizations had "encamped themselves within civilian population centers in southern Lebanon, using the civilians as human shields and enabling them to launch Katyusha rockets and other weapons against Israeli soldiers and civilians with impunity. Faced with this deliberate provocation and escalation, Israel was forced to respond."

https://books.google.com/books?id=auxHAAAAYAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Encamped

Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America - Page 371

Kenneth R. Timmerman - Three Rivers Press, 2004 ‎

Tyranny and the Left: Is Democracy for Everybody?, p.9,

I was in Lebanon at the time Palme made his remark, and the only persecution of Palestinian children in refugee camps was being carried out by Arafat's PLO guerrillas, who used the refugees as human shields to forestall Israeli attacks on PLO military positions. Dozens of Palestinian men were arrested and tortured by the PLO as they attempted to flee Beirut that summer

Dozens of Palestinian men were arrested and tortured by the PLO as they attempted to flee Beirut that summer; I met many of them in a secret Fatah detention.

https://books.google.com/books?id=qjM72QiJfsIC&q=%E2%80%9CPalestinian%22+%22Human+Shields%22

https://books.google.com/books?id=rwUJwFkAinsC&pg=PA371

[Ahlmark, P. (1995). Tyranny and the left: is democracy for everybody? : a summary. Sweden: Timbro. p.9].

[Per Ahlmark, "Vänstern och Tyranniet," ('The Left and the Tyranny'), Timbro , Stockholm, 1994.]

Understanding the Volatile and Dangerous Middle East - A Comprehensive Analysis

By Steven Carol (iUniverse) 2019

The PLO pioneered the tactic of operating in civilian surroundings during the Israel–PLO War in Lebanon in 1982. Testimony of this exploitation of innocent civilians came from the Lebanese who in effect were the hostages, "Palestinian fighters took their guns placed them next to our [Lebanese civilian] homes, next to apartment blocks and hospitals and schools. At their own Ayn Hilweh camp the Palestinians actually put their guns on the roof of the hospitals."

https://books.google.com/books?id=trqzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT145

______

Yoav Gelber, Hani Ziv, Sons of the Bow: One Hundred Years of Struggle, Fifty Years of IDF (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense, 1998), p. 410.

1993... December 13 - A stolen 'Red Crescent' ambulance raced towards a checkpoint near Gaza. The soldiers opened fire on him and the ambulance exploded. Three soldiers were injured. The terrorist was killed.

https://books.google.com/books?id=e0vyhqbH4fcC&q=%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%91%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%A0%D7%A1

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(1996-2003)

Hamas from Cradle to Grave by Matthew Levitt

Published in the Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2004, pp. 3-15.

Hamas is known to use hospitals it supports to secure recruits, medical supplies, and chemicals. In one case, Hamas recruited Mustafa Amjad, a doctor at alGhazi Hospital in Jenin, to help infiltrate suicide bombers into Israel from the Jenin area. After his arrest in June 2002, Amjad confessed to helping Hamas terrorists enter Israel while delivering medicines in his professional capacity.

It happens in schools: Hamas has buried caches of arms and explosives under its own kindergarten playgrounds.

In one case, a Nablus homeowner rented an apartment to someone who claimed to be a schoolteacher. In fact, the schoolteacher proved to be a Hamas fugitive bomb maker who used the apartment as a safe house and bomb production lab. This became selfevident when the explosives he was handling detonated prematurely, wrecking the apartment and killing the tenant.

It even happens in libraries. For example, at one point Hamas operatives in Gaza were in need of a place to safely photocopy Hamas leaflets (claims of responsibility for attacks, political messages, propaganda) they received from the West Bank cell that produced them. The Gaza cell commander recounted photocopying the materials himself “in the library on ‘Umar al-Muranawi Street beside the court house of appeals through a fellow named Nazim who works as a caretaker there as a cover for his Hamas activity.”

Hamas so valued its access to the library, and the services Nazim provided, that it contributed to the library. “We helped him buy books for four hundred dinars” for the library and “bought a photocopying machine for 4,000 [Israeli] shekels and saw to it that it was taken to the library.”

As early as 1996, Israeli authorities identified Hamas logistical support networks as critically important support structures facilitating Hamas attacks.

In the wake of a series of suicide attacks in February-March 1996, then-prime minister Shimon Peres told the Israeli Knesset (parliament): “Hamas has established charitable organizations in order to camouflage its true nature. These charitable organizations raise funds abroad, supposedly to aid orphans, but in fact they use the contributions to purchase explosives.”

The da‘wa’s logistical role in the attacks of early 1996 is among the most fully documented examples available in unclassified sources. Hamas military commander Hasan Salamah openly acknowledged the support he received from Hamas facilitators, “from contacts to recruiting, to locating the places, and all these matters.”

After sneaking into Israel from Gaza, Hamas da‘wa facilitators ferried Salamah across Israel’s midsection into the West Bank, avoiding Israeli checkpoints as they traveled from town to town in the West Bank before arriving in Jerusalem.

According to Salamah, Hamas operatives provided him with safe houses, scouts to identify targets, and recruiters to find the individual suicide bombers. The operatives came from West Bank colleges and vocational schools, and the safe houses included private homes and, in at least one case, a Ramallah mosque where Salamah met a potential suicide bomber for final vetting and assignment.

Hamas logistical operatives drove Majdi Abu Wardah, one of the suicide bombers, to a Jerusalem safe house where others shaved his beard and dressed him to look like an Israeli.

The following morning, Abu Wardah boarded the number 18 bus on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road and detonated his explosive vest killing twenty civilians, including three Americans, and wounding ten, including another American.

Today, Hamas leaders openly call for civilian support for Hamas terrorists wanted by authorities.

In August 2003, Hamas leader Rantisi urged average Palestinians to help Hamas fugitives, writing that “protecting the fighters and to offer them support is part of our religion, is part of the holy war.”

http://web.archive.org/web/20150615175902/https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/opeds/4224db3950778.pdf

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Arafat urged to take children off front line

By Tom Gross, ELECTRONIC TELEGRAPH, Sunday, Dec 17, 2000

PALESTINIAN parents, tired of seeing their sons and daughters killed and injured in clashes with Israeli troops, are becoming ever more vocal in denouncing their leadership for putting children in the line of fire.

In a bold move, a branch of the Palestinian Women's Union in the West Bank town of Tulkarm wrote to Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, saying: "Our children are being sent into the streets to face heavily armed Israeli soldiers. We urge you to issue instructions to your police force to stop sending innocent children to their death."

Israeli officials have repeatedly accused the Palestinian leadership of using children cynically to gain propaganda points in Western and Arab media. They have alleged that Fatah militiamen collect children from their homes and outside schools and take them by bus to isolated Israeli guard posts, where they are provided with stones and petrol bombs to throw at Israeli troops.

They say Palestinian militiamen then stand behind the children and fire live ammunition on the Israelis, who sometimes hit the children when they return fire.

About 40 Palestinian children have died since the present round of violence began in late September. A number of Israeli children have been severely maimed, while the Israeli army has come in for sharp criticism from their country's human rights groups and the international community for failing to develop non-lethal methods of crowd control.

The "Tulkarm letter" would seem to confirm Israeli accusations of cynicism. In those parts of Gaza and the West Bank under Palestinian control few dare criticise this apparent exploitation of children; those who do have been threatened by Mr Arafat's security forces.

A nurse from Gaza who spoke out on television against sending children to the flashpoints was condemned in Palestinian media as a traitor. Other parents in the West Bank say that they have been threatened by Fatah officials for discouraging their children from participating in clashes.

A recent leader in the Palestinian Authority's official newspaper, Al Hayat al-Jadida, branded parents who refused to send their children to participate in the "armed struggle" a "fifth column in Palestinian society".

http://web.archive.org/web/20020812142040/http://www.operationsick.com/articles/20001217_takechildrenofffrontline.asp

[http://web.archive.org/web/20080324101004/http://www.geocities.com/palestiniansarelies/HumanShields.html]

Palestinians Use Children as Cannon Fodder

USA Today (December 8, 2000)

Tulkarm, West Bank - In a rare letter of protest sent in early December to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a Palestinian women's group demanded that the Palestinian Authority stop using children as cannon fodder.

"Our children are being sent into the streets to face heavily armed Israeli soldiers," said the letter from the Tulkarm Women's Union - a local branch of the Palestinian Women's Union, a trade-union group that promotes the status of women in the Palestinian Authority.

"The Palestinian Authority must put an end to this phenomenon. We urge you to issue instructions to your police force to stop sending innocent children to their death."

The letter adds weight to complaints from parents who are beginning to speak out despite what they say has been months of intimidation by armed gunmen loyal to Arafat.

'We don't want to send our sons to the front line, but they are being taken by the Palestinian Authority," says Aisheh, 43, a mother of six in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. She says she decided to speak out after her 17-year-old son was hit in the head by a rubber bullet. He suffered a concussion.

Like other protesting parents, Aisheh declines to allow her full name to be published for fear of reprisals. A nurse from Gaza who spoke out on Palestinian TV against sending children to the flash points was condemned in the Palestinian media as a traitor. Other individuals who refuse to allow their names to be published say they have been threatened by armed Fatah officials for discouraging their children from participating in the clashes.

Israel has faced international criticism for the deaths of at least 38 youths under the age of 17 in the first two months of conflict in which nearly 300 people have died. Nearly 1,000 children have been injured. The Palestinians consider anyone under the age of 17 a child. But children just entering their teens-and some even younger-have been injured in the region's worst violence in nearly a decade.

Bassam Abu Sharif, a special adviser to Arafat, has accused Israeli troops of "cold-blooded killing." He denies Israeli accusations that the Palestinian Authority has placed children at the front of demonstrations to act as human shields for armed gunmen.

"We don't send children-nobody can send children-and we don't hide behind children," Abu Sharif says.

But Aisheh says the militia of Arafat's Fatah movement and the Palestinian security forces provide transportation and encouragement to children eager to answer the call to combat Israel's continued presence on Arab land. "When school finishes, Palestinian Authority security cars go around collecting children from the streets and sending them to the killing fields," she says. "This is very serious because they are children and they are unarmed."

Israeli army chiefs point out that not all the children killed in the recent clashes have been innocent bystanders. They say their snipers have orders to shoot anyone shooting or throwing Molotov cocktails at them, but some of the attackers have been as young as 12.

Palestinian Authority TV broadcasts constant images of children carrying weapons and staging mock attacks on Israelis. Over the summer, children as young as 12 were trained in the use of Kalshnikov rifles and other weapons at special camps by Fatah officials.

"As the number of those killed rises, the Palestinian media extol and exalt not only those killed, but also their willingness to die as martyrs for Allah, emphasizing that dying a martyr's death was the realization of their hopes," says Itamar Marcus, director of the Palestinian Media Watch monitoring group.

Palestinian Authority TV and newspapers also have come under fire, accused of encouraging children to throw stones and Molotov cocktails at armed Israeli troops.

Aisheh's husband, Abdelghani, says intimidation has kept parents from speaking out. "No one here dares to say publicly that he is against sending his own children to the front line," he says. "Some parents who have tried to protest have been condemned as fifth columnists (traitors) and threatened."

Thumbs Up to Matthew Kalman | CAMERA

December 8, 2000

THUMBS UP to USA Today Jerusalem correspondent Matthew Kalman for his trenchant coverage of otherwise unreported stories concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict. On Dec. 8, 2000, for example, in an article entitled “Let our kids alone, Arafat told,” he reported that a group of Palestinian women, the Tulkarm Women’s Union, sent a letter to Yasser Arafat demanding that the Palestinian Authority stop using children in the clashes against Israel.

https://www.camera.org/article/thumbs-up-to-matthew-kalman/

____

Israel To U.N.

"Keep Palestinians From Using Kids As Shields"

By Herb Keinon, The Jerusalem Post,

November 8, 2000

United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Mary Robinson is to begin a week-long visit to the area today, with Foreign Ministry officials saying they will present a strong case to her about the Palestinian's "cynical" use of children as human shields in the recent riots.

Foreign Ministry legal adviser Alan Baker said the use of children in the violence constitutes no less than a "war crime," and cites various international conventions to back up his position. Various international treaties, Baker says, set the age of 15 as minimum age for a child to participate in hostilities, whether directly - through combat - or through other means.

According to Baker, the Palestinians are well aware of the IDF's firing procedures: tear gas and water hoses against rock throwers, rubber bullets against firebomb throwers, and live fire against gunmen.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak explained that the Palestinians are placing the stonethrowers in the front lines, followed by the fire-bomb hurlers and then the snipers. In some cases, he said, some of the Palestinian youths killed during the clashes have actually been shot from behind.

The use of children as combatants was spelled out last week in a letter Israeli Ambassador to the UN Yehuda Lancry wrote to the executive director of UNICEF, asking the children's rights advocate to pressure the Palestinians to keep their children out of areas of potential conflict.

"Chairman Yasser Arafat, who is ruthlessly encouraging the involvement of children in the violence, calls them 'the Generals of the rocks.' He would have the world believe that Israel, with its guns and helicopters, is waging a war against 10-year-olds with small stones," Lancry wrote. "In truth, however, the children... are used as human shields for the gunmen, bomb throwers, and lynch mobs whose faces have been totally obscured and invisible to the media."

The message seems to be getting through, at least at a declarative level.

Yesterday, PA Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said, "There has been an overwhelming agreement among Palestinian factions to carry out a public-awareness campaign to prevent those children under 16 years old from taking part in these demonstrations." According to Abed Rabbo, the children are not knowingly being used as cannon fodder, but rather take part in the protests as a genuine expression of pain and grievance.

The problem, Baker says, is that children at that age are incapable of making the kind of logical decisions regarding whether to place themselves in life-threatening situations, and are in need of parental guidance and authority to protect them.

Regarding Robinson's visit, Mordechai Yedid, deputy director-general of the Foreign Ministry's UN and International Organizations division, said Israel will receive her as the head of the UN's Commission on Human Rights, but not as part of a human rights inquiry commission the body set up last month after adopting a one-sided resolution condemning Israel for "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel, said Yedid, has informed Robinson that it will not cooperate with the body, or in any way assist it in implementing the resolution.

During her two-day visit, Robinson will meet with Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, and Supreme Court President Aharon Barak. A meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Barak is still in the works.

She is scheduled to go to the Palestinian Authority on Friday, where she is slated to meet Arafat and will surely be flooded with numerous allegations of Israeli human rights violations.

Robinson is a former president of Ireland and is seen as a possible candidate in the race to succeed Kofi Annan when his term as UN secretary-general expires in two years.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010417153423/http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/11/08/News/News.15107.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20010306121931/http://www.tzemachdovid.org/Arab_Violence/shield.shtml

http://www.geocities.ws/arabracismandislamicjihad/HumanShieldsTactics.html

Jerusalem Letter /

No. 441 - 3 Heshvan 5761 / 1 November 2000

THE USE OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN

IN THE AL-AQSA INTIFADA

Justus Reid Weiner

Executive Summary / Creating Martyrs for the Media / "Improved" Palestinian Tactics / Incitement by Arafat and his Palestinian Authority / Negating the Raison D'etre of the Peace Process / The Parents' Motivations / Identifying Child Abuse and Possessing the Courage to Speak Out / Israeli Restraint: The IDF Rules of Engagement / International Law: Efforts to Protect Children from the Dangers of Armed Conflict / Conclusion and Outlook.

https://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp441.htm

Doctors: Palestinian intifada abusing children

BY Tom Tugend

December 10, 2000 10:00 AM

Los Angeles, Dec. 10 (JTA) — A group of U.S. pediatricians has condemned the use of children in battles in the Middle East, Asia and Africa as a particularly virulent form of child abuse.

The impetus for their protest came from the use of Palestinian children in the front lines against Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

More than 200 pediatricians formed DOCS — Doctors Opposed to Child Sacrifice — to combat the abuse of children at the hands of parents, clergy and governments.

“Day in and day out, Palestinian families feed their children healthy breakfasts and see them off into battles on the streets of the Palestinian-controlled areas to clash with Israelis soldiers at the edges of their communities,” said Dr. Pejman Salimpour, clinical chief of pediatrics at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

“These children are being used as forced foot soldiers in a war directed by their elders,” he added.

“They are often placed as human shields for gunmen, who shoot over their heads at Israeli positions. Dozens and dozens of young children have been killed, their innocence and souls snuffed out, all as a result of parents and community members who abuse them by encouraging and allowing their involvement in the violence.”

Dr. Neal Kaufman of Cedars-Sinai said: “We’re talking mainly about children 8 to 11 years old. As pediatricians, who are devoting their lives to the health and well-being of children, we are morally bound to raise our voices against this vicious form of child abuse. To remain silent would be worse than standing aside while parents sold their children into slavery or prostitution.”

Dr. Ofelia Marin, a pediatric gastroenterologist in private practice, said that her concern “cuts across religious and national lines. As a Catholic, a physician and a human being, I feel strongly that children should be protected, not used. Sending children into battle is the worst form of child abuse.”

DOCS is focusing on the proliferation of child “martyrs” among Palestinians, but Salimpour said countries such as Sierra Leone, Angola, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia and Afghanistan are guilty of similar practices.

At the same time, DOCS’ founding statement urges all governments “to exercise maximum restraint when confronting non-peaceful demonstrations that include children.”

The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a “child” as anyone under 15 years of age.

Amnesty International estimates that more than 300,000 soldiers who are younger than 16 are currently fighting in conflicts in more than 30 countries.

https://www.jta.org/2000/12/10/lifestyle/doctors-palestinian-intifada-abusing-children

http://www.zipple.com/newsandpolitics/usnews/20001211_palestinian_children.shtml

Arafat urged to take children off front line

By Tom Gross in Jerusalem

17 December 2000

They say Palestinian militiamen then stand behind the children and fire live ammunition on the Israelis, who sometimes hit the children when they return fire.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/1378587/Arafat-urged-to-take-children-off-front-line.html

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Arafat's Strategy of Hate

By Robert Isler

Tuesday, Mar. 20, 2001

... However, their protests were muffled when USA Today reported on December 8 that Palestinian women from Tulkarm were outraged that their children were being picked up after school and brought into battle zones, and had written a protest letter to Arafat demanding that the Palestinian Authority "stop using our children as cannon fodder."

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,103236,00.html

__________

[Ḳashtiʼel, E. (2008). With All Your Heart: Insights Into the Inner World of Israel Hero Major Roi Klein. Israel: Old City Press.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/With_All_Your_Heart/FPIXYAAACAAJ]

With all your heart: a window to the attributes (qualities of character) of Roi Klein - Netanʼel Binyamin Elyashiv - 2007

The name of Major Roi Klein entered the pages of history... after he lay down on a grenade to save his subordinates during the Second Lebanon War, with 'Shema Israel' on his lips...

p. 153:

Roy showed a great deal of composure, as he waited with the order to open fire until the squad approached at short range.

When she did so, Roi's force opened fire and hit three terrorists. As a result of this action, two of the terrorists were killed and the third was wounded, but Roy refused to be satisfied with this achievement, and immediately set up another ambush watching over the bodies of the terrorists.

Indeed, after a short time an ambulance arrived at the scene with terrorists who had come to evacuate the bodies and plant explosives for the IDF forces. Roi surprised this squad as well, and managed to eliminate three more terrorists. The commander of the Central Command gave Roi a certificate of special appreciation for the successful operation, which proved that foot soldiers' ambushes are an effective tool in the Judea-Samaria sector as well. Roi, with characteristic modesty, avoided telling others about the certificate, which he hid under his bed.

https://books.google.com/books?id=kuUgAQAAIAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%91%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%A0%D7%A1

The earth shook - Page 146 - Ilan Kfir · Maariv Library · 2006

p. 139:

... Klein took command... he and the signaller Yochai tried to pull Merhavia into a cover nearby. Someone threw a stretcher at them. Kneeling down, Roi and Yohai tried to lift Amichai onto the stretcher. Around them were other wounded people calling for help. Roy tried to calm them down: "I'm soon coming to you."

Shimon Adega, a fighter of Ethiopian origin, light on his feet and loved, hurried to help the SAMGD [Deputy battalion commander] pull the stretcher. Klein tried to get up from his kneeling position to pick up the stretcher. Avitar Turgeman, a fighter in the Edge Force, suddenly saw the SAMGD throwing himself forward and yelling: "Shema Israel". Shimon Adega was probably the only one who noticed Roy Klein leaping towards a hand grenade that rolled towards them. Avitar heard Shimon shouting hysterically: 'He jumped on the grenade, he jumped on the grenade.' Turgeman was stunned for a second. 'Klein, we're going to get you out,' he shouted. He and Shimon Adega pulled the stretcher to cover. Roy was still conscious. All around the fire continued.

Hand grenades exploded near the force. Cries of victims from all sides: 'Mom, I'm dead.' Roi, fatally ounded, tried to get up. His hand went to the radio switch. His soldiers were amazed when they heard him: "I'm reporting, Klein is dead, Klein is dead..." Before he closed his eyes forever, he still managed to whisper something to Itamar Katz, who had taken command of the company. It was the secret code cipher on his walkie-talkie: "Vered Harim".

Signler Elad Ozeri could not hold back the tears in his eyes: "Roi is dead, Roi is dead," he said to his friends in disbelief. Shimon Adega, the smiling Ethiopian was hit directly and killed... https://books.google.com/books?id=KI2gAAAAMAAJ&q=%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%9F

p. 146:

In 2001, Klein received a medal from the General of the Central Command, for executing a perfect ambush near the IDF's axis of movement near Mount Ebal. A number of terrorist squads operated in the area, specializing in proactive ambushes for IDF forces and settlers moving along the [road] axis. The first ambush ended without results. Contrary to intelligence information, the terrorist squad did not pass the axis. A few days later, it changed the location of the ambush.

Late at night he noticed three terrorists approaching the axis to plant a bomb. Roi and his men let them approach and opened fire at short range. The three terrorists were killed.

Suddenly a Palestinian ambulance appeared. Roy ordered his men to besiege fire. To his surprise, a number of armed terrorists got out of the Palestinian ambulance. Roi opened fire and hit them. In the investigation after the battle, he learned from the Shin Bet that the terrorists who were in the ambulance belonged to a wanted squad that carried out ambushes in the area.

On the night of July 26, 2006, on his way to the last mission of his life, he told his men that for him Bint Jbeil was the closing of a circle. The circle is indeed closed. but at a heavy price. Roi Klein was laid to rest exactly on his thirty-first birthday. Klein was one of [village] Eli's three martyrs in the war...

https://books.google.com/books?id=KI2gAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%91%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%A0%D7%A1

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(July 2001)

Documents from the Defensive Shield prove: This is how the Palestinian Authority supported terrorist attacks and terrorists

Elior Levy, Apr 16, 2022.

... The documents seized in Operation Defensive Shield also shed light on internal frictions between senior members of the Palestinian security forces. One of them, is a letter of complaint signed by the Preventive Security Commander in Ramallah in those days, Sabri Tamizi.

In a letter from July 2001, addressed to the head of the main operations, he laments that the members of "Force 17" in Beituniya are working against IDF forces from the homes of Palestinian civilians, against their will...

To read the full document - click here [https://ynet-images1.yit.co.il/picserver5/wcm_upload_files/2022/04/14/S1e0CNoSN9/2.pdf]

The complaint against the activity of force 17 out of civilian homes

[https://ynet-images1.yit.co.il/picserver5/crop_images/2022/04/14/r1uVEjH45/r1uVEjH45_0_0_2151_3000_0_x-large.jpg]

(Photo: IDF Spokesman)

https://m.ynet.co.il/articles/bk211jtim5

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PLO Uses Churches as "Human Shield" Propaganda

Emanuel A. Winston, a Middle East analyst & commentator

October 27, 2001

It was not surprising to hear Jennifer Ludden of NPR (National Public Radio) or read Hugh Dellios in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE play the "Christian" card. By that I mean that they played today's story from Yassir Arafat's propagandist point of view. That includes Arafat's push for international intervention to save his regime.

Arafat, whose Palestinians have completely reversed the population dominance of Arab Christians who were the majority in the city of Bethlehem into an Arab Muslim majority. It appears that their tactics are being further enabled and guided by the U.S. State Department to get its pool of U.S. journalists, TV anchors and radio commentators to push the idea that Israel is attacking Christian holy places. This is a direct extension of State Department policy to protect a virtually non-existent coalition of Arab nations as America commits to fighting Global Terrorism.

The heavily armed Palestinian gunmen are, as usual, shooting at Israelis from sensitive holy sites, including churches, in order to provoke an aggressive Israeli response so the Arab Muslims may claim international attention. The slugs of journalism are, as usual, going along with the propaganda line of Arafat.

Dellios, quotes a [Greek] Orthodox Christian who says: "We feel the Israelis do not sense the difference between a holy place and a vacant lot." Dellios does not mention the construction by Muslims of a toilet in the space adjoining the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as their comment on Christianity and holy places. Nor does he note that the Palestinian shooters are using these holy places as their virtual "human shield".

I have just finished the U.S. State Department's Chicago journal alias the CHICAGO TRIBUNE and am turning to the equally anti-Israel NEW YORK TIMES. Well, well! Front page column, describing how Israel has blockaded eight Palestinian towns. Do they mention why? Do they say that the Israelis are in "hot pursuit" of the assassins who killed an Israeli Knesset and Cabinet member - just like America is in hot pursuit of Osama bin Laden?

It is no surprise that a delegation of Congressman asked the Bush Administration why the double standard when we Americans have targeted Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda Terror organization.

The death of a 16 year old boy caught the attention of Pope Paul. You remember, this Pope hugged the arch killer Yassir Arafat. Later he cut a deal with Arafat wherein IF the Holy See recognized Arafat's various specious claims on Jerusalem, Arafat would provide the Church with safe passage for all its shrines on the Mount of Olives when it passed into his hands.

As we continue into the body copy of the NYT we see mourners leaving the Church of the Nativity with a prominent photo of a man carrying a coffin with a large cross in its lid. In the background we see gun-toting Arabs. Hey, NEW YORK TIMES, how come you didn't blank out their automatic rifles?

So, the NEW YORK TIMES, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, NPR and, presumably, all the other news outlets connected by their umbilical cords to the U.S. State Department's propaganda machine will be pushing the same line: "Jews attacking Christian holy places". Interesting what political thugs can do when they rise to high places in the State Department or Presidential Administration.

Just yesterday (Sunday, October 21st) I watched Wolf Blitzer in Late Edition on CNN brush aside the statement of a famous guest, Arnaud de Bourgrave who, in the course of the interview, he mentioned that Iran had put out the story that, it wasn't the Muslims who hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon but, it was those sneaky Israelis through the Mossad. This is now being preached in all the mosques of Islam as true and is accepted by Muslims.

Strangely, our aberrant journalists, so anxious to spin this as some sort of Jew vs. Christian conflict, have so carefully avoided the constant Muslim harassment of Christians wherever Muslims were dominant. Journalistic slugs do leave behind a slimy trail which is hard to erase.

So, at the moment, our politically dovish General cum Secretary of State, Colin Powell is pushing, shoving and threatening Israel to stand down their daily defensive war against terror. Somehow, the daily drive-by shootings, car bombs, mortar and sniper attacks have become Ho-Hum for the Media. Only when one Palestinian teenager is killed is the Media interested. They have conveniently forgotten that 658 Israelis have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists since the signing of Oslo September 13, 1993.

Clearly, should the State of Israel take a fall, the cutting-edge journalists who have spun the news against Israel should be personally held responsible for assisting in making the State vulnerable. I would assume that the Nuremberg Tribunal judgement would apply to those who colluded in the State's demise.

There is a massive public relations campaign carried forward through Colin Powell to appease the Muslim world by using threats against Israel that America is not at war with Islam or Muslims. By accommodating anti-Jewish, pro-Arab sentiment against Israel for having lost six wars, our American State Department hopes that the terrorist nations will pretend to join a paper-thin coalition. Bush and Powell shame this great nation by accommodating terrorist nations and selling out a loyal ally.

The Arab nations expect the Bush/Powell Administration to do to Israel what they could not accomplish in six wars.

I do not think our loyal Christian friends will be so easily tricked by Arafat's charges that the Jewish State has suddenly turned on her Christian citizens. Mr. Powell...Mr. Bush...Have you no shame?

http://web.archive.org/web/20011110074722/http://www.gamla.org.il/english/article/2001/oct/win3.htm

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When Attacking Israelis - Palestinians Use Children as "Human Shields"

March, 2001

http://web.archive.org/web/20010305223114/http://www.israelpr.com/plochild.html

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Roland Otto, ‘Neighbours as human shields? The Israel Defense Forces’ “Early Warning Procedure” and international humanitarian law’, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 86, No. 856 (2004), p. 771.

From 2002 onwards, the ‘early warning procedure’ allowed the Israel Defense Forces to obtain assistance from Palestinian neighbours in evacuating houses occupied by wanted people and convincing these people to give themselves up.

https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/irrc-872-bouchie-de-belle.pdf

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Israel will be sorry that it apologized

Mona Charen - THE BALTIMORE SUN

July 29, 2002

[...]

By using women and children as shields, when he knew he was a wanted man, Mr. Shehadeh bears responsibility for the deaths of those civilians.

But now Israel has apologized and called the attack a mistake. Though its reasons are understandable (unlike Palestinians, who rejoice in the sight of dead Israeli children, Israelis get pangs of remorse when they see dead Palestinian children), this will come back to haunt the nation. It sends a clear message that hiding among civilians is sure to be successful from now on.

Israel chose to bomb an apartment building in Gaza because the man it had to kill was so dangerous. The U.S. military has risked (and caused) civilian deaths when we thought we had no other choice. It isn't just that we firebombed Dresden and incinerated Hiroshima and Nagasaki when we felt that our national survival was at risk. Who doubts that if we saw Osama bin Laden at a cafe in Kabul we would not hesitate to strike even if some of those around him would surely be killed as well?

Obviously, neither Israel nor we would adopt the tactics of our adversaries. Israelis are not going to bomb souks and mosques on the West Bank for sport. Nor will the U.S. blow up apartment complexes in Baghdad for no purpose except to inflict suffering. But sometimes, in war, even the good guys must do bad things - if they are serious about winning.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2002-07-29-0207290157-story.html

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[London: Harper Collins. Bergman, R. (2002). Vehareshut Netuna [Authority Given]. Tel Aviv: Miskal-Yediot Ahronot Books and Chemed Books (Hebrew).]

Bergman, Ronen., Waiter, Gil., Alterman, Shahar. "And the authority is given: Where did we go wrong? Thus, the Palestinian Authority has become a production line for corruption and terrorism."

Israel: Yedioth Ahronoth, 2002, p. 262

...that they place sabotage labs near schools and kindergartens for camouflage. Salim Hajah, a senior Hamas operative in Samaria who was arrested during Operation Defensive Shield, admitted that he had set up a sabotage laboratory near a school, and laboratory personnel disguised as students carrying bags and books.

Ahmad Mu'arbi, a senior official at Tanzim Bethlehem, told GSS investigators that he had located his sabotage laboratory in the Daheisheh refugee camp, near a kindergarten.

He and his men used to make explosives and carry out experiments.

In both cases, the children in nearby institutions were in constant danger of being blown up as a result of a work accident.

https://books.google.com/books?id=K7ToAAAAIAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%AA%D7%99-%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8

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Palestinians Again Use Children for Terror Against Israel

11-year-old Abdullah Quraan (center) smiling with his friends hours after being used as a "human bomb" by Palestinian terrorists. Photo: AP

By Israel News Agency Staff

Jerusalem----March 18 [2004]......An attempt by Palestinian terrorists to smuggle a bomb through an Israeli security checkpoint with the help of a 11-year-old boy drew widespread attention on both sides of the conflict Tuesday.

But the similarity stopped there.

Israeli authorities said that the boy, sixth-grader Abdullah Quraan, was carrying explosives and that his handlers intended to blow him up near the checkpoint; the boy, and others, disputed this, claiming the bag he was carrying - swiftly blown up by army sappers - contained auto parts.

Beyond the factual dispute lay a psychological chasm: For Israelis, the case was the latest indication that their enemy is ruthless, even barbaric.

Palestinians said the involvement of children in the conflict - two 17-year-olds carried out a twin suicide bombing Sunday - is a result of Israel's occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. And they see Israelis' moralizing as deluded or hypocritical. When Israelis hear the word "occupation" they know that Palestinians are referring beyond Nablus, Rahmallah and Jenin and are speaking about Tel Aviv, Haifa and Afula. All official Palestinian maps and the map patch that Arafat wears on his left coat shoulder illustrates a map of Palestine which covers all of the State of Israel.

Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi pointed out that hundreds of Palestinian children and teenagers have died in the fighting and that countless others have seen their parents impoverished, humiliated or even killed during the conflict.

"The question of whether Quraan's handlers really intended to blow him up without his knowledge makes absolutely no difference," Israeli commentator Amit Cohen wrote in the daily Ma'ariv. "The man who packed the bomb in a schoolbag must have taken into account the possibility that the child carrying the bomb was liable to get hurt."

Back in school Tuesday, Quraan said he had done nothing wrong. "These people [the Israeli army] are liars, I don't believe them, and if it was a bomb, they would not have let me go so easily," he said at his school.

He said he routinely carries people's belongings across the Hawara checkpoint near his home in the impoverished Balata refugee camp.

The practice is common at the checkpoints across the West Bank, where Palestinians sometimes wait long periods to cross and children are less likely to raise suspicion.

Quraan said he met two men at the checkpoint on Monday. He said he and a friend raced to their vehicle ahead of a crowd of other children to get the business.

"They gave us a small travel bag, a plastic bag, and a bottle of water," Quraan said. The men told him to deliver the goods - described as clothes and auto parts - to a woman on the other side of the checkpoint. He said the men agreed to pay him the equivalent of about $4 to carry the items on a cart.

Alert soldiers confiscated the bags at the checkpoint and cleared the area, Quraan said. A bomb squad came in and blew up the bags. The boy said he was interrogated for several hours and released.

Army spokeswoman Maj. Sharon Feingold said the troops had thwarted a major terror attack and that the boy's life was saved only because a booby-trapped cell phone inside a bag didn't explode. She accused the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a terrorist group affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, of exploiting the boy.

The Israeli human rights group B'tselem, normally highly critical of Israel, called the use of a child to transport explosives a "war crime."

A local leader of Al Aqsa, Hashem Abu Hamdan, denied any connection and suggested the story had been made up by Israel, an opinion expressed by many Palestinians Tuesday.

Abdallah Quran, the 11-year-old Palestinian boy said Tuesday he does not believe the IDF version that the bag he was carrying contained explosives.

"They are lying," he said. "I never saw a bomb. If the bag really contained a bomb, why did they release me?"

Quran's older brother, Muhammad, claimed that Israel staged the incident in an attempt to win the sympathy of international public opinion.

"We have been told many journalists were at the checkpoint before the alleged incident," he said. "This shows that the whole thing was fabricated by Israel in order to defame the Palestinians. They used my brother as a tool in their propaganda machine."

A teacher at Quran's school said the majority of the camp residents is convinced that Israel made up the story.

"If the boy really had an explosive belt, why did they release him so easily?" he asked. "The Israelis are trying to justify their daily crimes against our people and the killing of children."

Ja'far al-Masri, a taxi driver from Nablus who claims he was at the checkpoint when the boy was caught, said he finds it hard to believe that a Palestinian group would exploit a small boy to transfer a bomb.

"I was there and I can't believe that they found explosives in the boy's bag," he added. "I think the Israelis planted the bomb there. The Palestinian groups are much more responsible and they would never do such a thing. Besides, they know that had the bomb exploded at the checkpoint, hundreds of Palestinians would have been killed or injured."

The IDF categorically denied the Palestinian accusations and said the terrorists had made cynical use of the child by placing the bomb in his bag. The IDF has no reason to detain children.

Security officials said it is obvious the terrorists don't want to admit they are recruiting Palestinian children.

Quran said two men asked him to deliver the bag to a woman waiting on the other side of the IDF checkpoint at the village of Huwara, south of Nablus.

Quran, who along with many children his age earn a living as porters at IDF checkpoints, said he was unaware that he was carrying a bomb. "Two men in their thirties paid me five shekels (one dollar), and asked me to deliver the bag to a woman who was waiting in a Subaru on the other side of the checkpoint," he said.

"I was with a friend of mine from the village of Kufr Qalil, who uses a cart to transport big bags," he added. "I was carrying three bags. When we arrived at the checkpoint, a female soldier started searching the bags. Suddenly, before she touched the third bag, soldiers came and took me to the side. I didn't know what was happening."

Quran, a sixth-grader at the UNRWA school in the Balata refugee camp, said he did not see any wires hanging out of the bag or anything else arousing suspicion.

"The soldiers gave me some sweets and asked me to calm down," he recalled. "Some of them shouted at me, demanding to know who had given me the bag. I told them that two men asked me to deliver the bag to a woman and that I didn't know anything else."

While the soldiers were still checking the suspicious bag, the two men tried unsuccessfully to detonate it remotely with a mobile phone.

Security sources said the two belonged to Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, and that the bomb was intended for a suicide attack inside Israel.

But Quran, who was back in school on Tuesday, told journalists that the men who gave him the travel bag told him it contained clothes and auto parts. "I didn't do anything wrong. This is what I do for a living and to help my family."

Many Balata residents said they believe the story was fabricated by Israel in order to defame the Palestinians and drive a wedge between the people and the armed groups.

However, a Palestinian journalist from Nablus who works with the foreign media said he does not rule out the possibility that the Israeli version is true.

"Some people are asking themselves many questions, and are talking about the possibility that Fatah had indeed used the boy," he said. "There have been cases in which Fatah used women and children to transfer bombs."

The Aksa Martyrs Brigades denied responsibility, saying its members do not use children to carry out attacks against Israel.

"There is no shortage of adult fighters," said a local leader of the group. "The aim of the Israeli army is to defame the Martyrs Brigades. We do not use children, because this is inhuman and contravenes our traditions and morals. They are lying."...

It has been common practice by Arafat's Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah to use children as human shields during terror attacks. In many cases, Palestinian terrorists have used ambulances to transport explosives through IDF checkpoints...

http://web.archive.org/web/20040602211025/http://www.israelnewsagency.com/palestinianterrorismchildren120314.html

Palestinians Push their Children to the Forefront of Clashes

"Peaceful Demonstrations" do not include people shooting guns, throwing Molotov cocktails, attacking and stabbing Israeli soldiers and civilians and throwing rocks!

Palestinians use children like this as "Human Shields" and then call this child a "hero" if he gets hurt!

Where are the parents of these children?

Are they only interested in the $300 they receive if their child is injured or the $2,000 they receive from the PLO if their child dies?

Behind these children are Palestinian "peaceful demonstrators" using live gunfire at Israeli soldiers and civilians!

Israeli soldiers using full restraint against attacking "peaceful demonstrators" and paying a high price with their blood!

IF - Israeli soldiers should attempt to defend themselves - they are then called "aggressors"!

http://web.archive.org/web/20010425114405/http://www.israelnewsagency.com/plochild.html

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Palestinian Children Die as Human Shields for Adult Terrorist Leaders

July 31, 2002

by Mary Mostert

Salah Shehadeh, commander of the Izzadine al-Qassam. The Hamas military wing has been responsible for hundreds of attacks against Israelis. He was also planning a "mega-terror" attack inside Israel, "perhaps the biggest Israel has ever seen, a truck with a ton of explosives that was intended to shock the people of Israel and cause hundreds, hundreds of dead," Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said.

At least eight previous attempts to put Shehadeh out of commission had been called off after the Israelis learned that civilians were with him. In fact, six days before a "plane was in the air" with the bomb when Israel discovered that one of Shehadeh’s seven daughters was with him, and the strike was called off, Ben-Eliezer told the Jerusalem Post.

In spite of those efforts, the bomb killed not only Shehadeh, but his 14-year-old daughter, his wife, a bodyguard and 11 other people, seven of them children in adjoining buildings.

Before the bodies could be buried, Nasser al-Kidwa Palestinian Envoy to the United Nations had written a letter to the president of the UN Security Council stating: “The Israeli assault represents the first blatant war crime committed by the Israeli occupying forces since the entry into force this month of the ICC. …“This action definitely falls within the jurisdiction of the court and, as such, measures to bring the perpetrators to justice should be taken.”

If the Israeli action that killed a terrorist planning a major assault on Israeli civilians is a war-crime, what, pray tell, was the Palestinian action by Iz A-Din Al-Masri, a member of Hamas, on August 9, 2001 when he carried a bomb into the Sbarro-Pizzeria in the center of Jerusalem and detonated it, killing 15 people, including seven children, and injuring 130 other civilians? What was the action of Shadi Tubasi, another member of Hamas, when he walked into the Matza restaurant in Haifa, detonated his explosive belt, killing 15 people and injuring 40?

Obviously, it must also be a war crime. So, why are the war crimes of the Palestinians ignored by the Arab world? Why is it they think killing Israeli children leads a Palestinian to heaven, whereas accidentally killing Arab children leads to the International Criminal Court?

Perhaps even more pertinent is the fact that Shehadeh, who certainly knew the Israelis were out to get him, kept himself surrounded by children - his own children at that. Any man considered worthy to be called a man, knowing that his life was in danger, would make sure his wife and children were out of danger...

We see a pattern here among the Palestinians. Children are mere cannon fodder, useful mostly as human shields to protect terrorist leaders.

Should the Israelis have allowed Shehadeh to continue his plan to detonate his one ton bomb in downtown Jerusalem, causing hundreds of deaths, including children, rather than take a risk of hurting some of Shehadeh’s child shields?..

http://web.archive.org/web/20030311183210/http://www.conservativetruth.org/article.php?id=366

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(2002)

Written in Blood: The Chilling Operations Diary of the Battle of Jenin Revealed | Maariv news

Tel Ariel Amir, April 29, 2016

It was one of the most heroic and complex battles during Operation Shield in 2002, which aimed to eradicate Palestinian terrorism. One intense hour on April 9 that left behind 13 martyrs, many displays of heroism and stories of warrior brotherhood. A reserve infantry force, operating inside the Jenin refugee camp, went into an ambush in a small, low courtyard, which was named "the bath", thus becoming a stationary target for dozens of terrorists who had fortified themselves on the upper floors of the buildings around them. Under the cover of darkness, dozens of fighters from the Islamic Jihad sniped at them and threw trapped cans at them. But the evil of the reserve fighters was in their hands. Under heavy fire and at the risk of their lives, they worked uncompromisingly to rescue their wounded comrades. It was the sacrifice that led to the loss of the liver experienced by the assisting company from the 7020 battalion.

Now, exactly 14 years after that bloody battle, which took place on the seventh day of Passover, the diary of Jenin's operations has been revealed for the first time...

When did you understand that most of your friends to the department are not between life? "A moment before I entered the yard for the third time, which was silent at once, simply silence." The bath was armed with bodies and the mirror was creepy, I felt a dignity when I went to the fatal friends and crossed them.. These fighters are that he saved a whole nation by sacrificing their lives. After their deaths, the attacks decreased and we were here for their right. " What do you remember from your friends to battle? "It's hard to describe what we felt in Jenin, because it's a deep talking experience in us, I see Jenin's sights every day, I prefer to remember my friends as life and not like the laps in the yard in the refugee camp. They fought in a fierce. They are with me all the time." Full of March 2002 was loaded with terrorist attacks, as Israel did not know for many years, and therefore, according to all "black March". About 11 suicide bombings occurred in those days, and that the attack in the Park Hotel in Netanya, where 30 Israelis were murdered to celebrate the Passover order. In the same evening, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided, on the exit for the operation of a shield, in order to harm the terrorist infrastructure and stop the wave of attacks. The military operation went out on March 29 and surround all the grounds of Judea and Samaria. IDF forces entered Nablus, Ramallah, Jenin, to Bethlehem, Qalqilia and Talkram, bread from home to Beit House, revealed arms and arrested. In most cities, there were relatively easy fights, but Jenin There was another story.

The fighters entered the city on April 2. It was the first time when the army was dealing with a civilian environment, which used inhabitants as human shield. The Islamic Jihad members prepared for the battle and the mines throughout the small refugee camp, and bonzed about 15,000 cargo and explosive traps. Inside the houses, snipers hid, and the troublemaking alleys were placed. The conquest of Jenin was imposed on the Reserve Division 5, which one of its supervisors is 7020, known as Nachshon. The division will be buried in Golani 51 Battalion under the command of Ofek Buchris, in the reserve and graying units 13. The continued forces from Shutral, the Engineering and Cherry Unit. "On Friday, two days After the attack at the Park, I received an order 8", from Alfasi (43), which went to the operation and left at home behind him a pregnant woman. "I arrived at the base of the division and saw people in the clothes of holiday and those returned Especially from the farthest eastern trip. No one hesitated, the percentage of stabilization was full. We all was clear that we reached to save one's souls in Israel. After two days training, our mission is Nablus. Only then the command was changed to Jenin, the capital of suicide. "In the face of it, there were preceding concerns?" There was a high sense of mission. If there were concerns they were erased. We initially arrived at the Salem checkpoint, on the outskirts of Jenin, and immediately noticed the pastoral environment. Remote could be seen in the Jezreel Valley and the Gilboa, but the planes …returned me to reality. I thought of the symbolism of a military operation on Passover, which is the holiday of the liberty. On the first day of Jenin Givat Hatanas, but the next day we returned to the Salem checkpoint and entered the nightmares into the refugee camp, located in the city center. Next to the hospital we went down the tools and around was dark. The first thing I saw was pharmaceutics glued to the walls of most houses, including pictures of suicide bombers or of Jews who were murdered. It put me in the focus. We immediately entered one of the houses and so looked our activity in the days to come. We moved from a house under a strong fire. Whenever you break the door, purify the floors, and there is no quiet moment. "The entrance to the refugee camp was slow and nervous. The ground was full of sabotage, connected to a hire, and it had to neutralize them one by one. About the soldiers who were treated with improvised explosives. From time to time, bombers' terrorists in an attempt to explode among them. Jenin's operations diary details the frequent reckless encounters." Chase After a blue Subaru near the cemetery, an eight man with vests and weapons. A tank shell shooting at them, "Sample was written on April 6 at 11:20. Five minutes later, the Operation Sergeants wrote:" Shooting from a mosque tower toward our forces. Snipers responded. They also identified 20 armed men into a house... "

https://www.maariv.co.il/news/military/Article-539787

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Essays on Law and War at the Fault Lines - Page 550

Michael N. Schmitt · 2011

In April 2002, Israeli troops entered the Jenin refugee camp from which the terrorists were operating. During the fighting, the terrorists used human shields

extensively. Because of the risk to civilians, the IDF mounted ground operations, rather than aerial attacks.

https://books.google.com/books?id=SgGQr9DQXI0C&pg=PA550

A Passover Massacre, a Terror War, and the Lies They Told

Mar 23, 2021 — As a result of the Park Hotel massacre and Bloody March, Israel’s government decided to draft 20,000 IDF reservists, including my cousin Ofer, and launch operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale IDF counterterrorism operation in the West Bank. It took place between March 29 and May 10, 2002 and marked the beginning of the end of that period of unfathomable horror.

The Jenin Refugee Camp was the site of Defensive Shield’s most notorious battles. The IDF encountered heavy resistance from Palestinian terrorists. The camp was densely populated, which forced the IDF to make a moral, meaningful and eventually costly choice: engage in door-to-door combat instead of bombarding large swaths of the camp. The reason was to avert a high number of civilian casualties. The decision was not only that of Israel’s high command but also reflected the values of how the IDF soldiers operated on the ground.

The result was devastating. The ferocious exchange of fire resulted in the death of 23 IDF reservists, 13 of whom died in one bloody day. Little did the IDF soldiers know that an integral part of the Palestinian terrorists’ battle plan involved women and children. They used them not only as human shields — a practice sadly seen often — but also deployed them as combatants on the front lines, as well as logistical and intelligence support. In that battle, Palestinians weaponized Israel’s values and the IDF’s ethical code against its soldiers

https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/334537/the-lies-they-told/

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Not a Suicide Pact

International Law, Israel and the Palestinians

By Louis Rene Beres

April, 2002

... The cycle is familiar. Palestinian terrorists intentionally attack Israeli women and children. Israel, having absolutely no choice, retaliates against PLO infrastructures, aiming exclusively and conscientiously at military targets. But sometimes Israeli fire unavoidably kills and injures Palestinian noncombatants, creating the false impression of lawlessness on both sides. This delusionary view can be compared to an interpretation of current US attacks against al-Qaeda fighters which blames this country for harms done to Afghan civilians...

In the final analysis, Israel has no alternative to maintaining lawful self-defence operations against the Palestinian terrorist forces. Such operations need not be injurious to noncombatant populations so long as the PLO/PA do not seek to hide behind these populations as human shields. Bound by the laws of war of international law, these terrorists, whenever they choose to commit perfidy, are the responsible party for all resultant harm done to Palestinian civilians

http://web.archive.org/web/20020422073627/http://www.aijac.org.au/review/2002/274/int_law.html

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Understanding the Volatile and Dangerous Middle East: A Comprehensive Analysis, by Steven Carol, iUniverse, Sep 26, 2019

The Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip used UN ambulances to evacuate armed terrorists from clashes with Israeli forces...

In a much-noted case, on May 24, 2004, a video tape filmed by Reuters, broadcast on numerous television networks worldwide, showed two ambulances arriving at the site where an exchange of fire took place between the IDF and terrorist operatives during an IDF action in the Gaza Strip. One of the ambulances was clearly marked with a Red Crescent and “UN,” and flying a UN flag...

During the 2008–09 First Gaza War, Hamas used human shields again...

https://books.google.com/books?id=trqzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT146

A Gaza ambulance drive who described how Hamas operatives tried to force him to use his ambulance to....

https://books.google.com/books?id=trqzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT147

During the Israeli retaliation for the incessant rocket fire— Operation Cast Lead— Hamas operatives made several attempts to commandeer the Al-Quds Hospital's (located in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City) fleet of ambulances to move terrorists, thus copying their tactics from 2004.

https://books.google.com/books?id=trqzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT148

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Hamas Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad

By Matthew Levitt · (Yale University Press) 2008 [Page 95]

Indicted in September 2002, Attalah admitted to using his U.N. vehicle on multiple occasions that summer to transport arms, explosives, and armed PRC activists..

https://books.google.com/books?id=Min9VpiravsC&pg=PA95

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Shielded' from the truth of war

by Jonathan S. Tobin

Jewish Exponent

March, 2003

The real heroes are the soldiers of the United States and of Israel who are risking their lives to protect us all against evil regimes and terrorists. Not the leftist fools who seek to stop them for doing their jobs. Were her goal truly humanitarian, Corrie and other so-called "human shields" would have done better to attempt to protect the men, women and children of Israel from the bombs and bullets of their Palestinian friends. Instead, Corrie died while trying to "shield" launching sites for missiles that have rained down on the people of Israel. ...

This story was published in the DallasJewishWeek

on: Thursday, March 27, 2003

https://www.dallasjewishweek.com/dallas-jewish-week-8833.html

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Why is the IDF continuing operations when the withdrawal is apparently imminent?

Amos Harel, Haaretz, March 8, 2004

At this stage of the conflict, the fact that four children and teenagers are among the dead is hardly addressed in Israel. The photographs from the recent operations do indicate that the militants use a crowd, including many children, as a "human shield" against IDF forces. Israel against launching operation.

http://web.archive.org/web/20040402041347/https://7th-day.co.il/tzahal/lama.htm

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Knesset Protocols. Israel. Keneset · 2005 - Page 20377

On May 13, 2004, UNRWA published a statement of condemnation in which it announced that on May 11, armed terrorists took over an ambulance in the Zaytun neighborhood and forced the driver to drive an armed wounded Palestinian to the hospital. At the same time, news spread that there was a tape of the event, taken by the Reuters agency. In the past we received information about other cases of terrorists using UNRWA ambulances.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Hm_g3-gtfE8C&q=%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%91%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%A0%D7%A1+%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D

OPT: UNRWA calls on all parties to respect the neutrality of its ambulances - Israel

Posted - 13 May 2004

Originally published - 13 May 2004

Press Release No. HQ/G/09/2004

UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, has issued a call to all the parties to the conflict in the ...territory to respect the integrity of its ambulance services and the neutrality and impartiality of its staff.

The call follows an incident in Gaza City on 11 May in which armed Palestinian militants threatened the lives of an UNRWA ambulance team (a driver and a paramedic) and forced them to transport an injured gunman and two of his armed colleagues to a hospital in Gaza City.

UNRWA condemns this action in the strongest possible terms. While its ambulances do not make any distinction between the injured, whether they are injured fighters or noncombatants, at no time and under no circumstances should armed men enter any UNRWA vehicle.

https://reliefweb.int/report/israel/opt-unrwa-calls-all-parties-respect-neutrality-its-ambulances

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An "explosive ambulance" attack was thwarted in Jerusalem

Publication was allowed: IDF and Shin Bet activity in Bethlehem revealed a terrorist cell that was about to carry out double attacks in Jerusalem. The plot: transfer of an explosive belt by ambulance, which will help pass checkpoints. Security officials: "This is further proof of the cynical exploitation of the terrorist organizations"

Efrat Weiss | Posted 15:21, Nov 2, 2004

The General Security Service and the IDF forces have thwarted a number of terrorist attacks in Jerusalem in recent weeks, including an attack that was supposed to be carried out by introducing an explosive ambulance into the capital - this was allowed to be published today (Tuesday).

It was the activity of the security forces in Bethlehem that exposed the squads, which were assembled following cooperation between Hamas and Islamic Jihad - which is becoming more and more routine recently. The squads, according to security officials in Israel, were partly composed of Palestinian police officers. Their activities were directed by the jihadists in the Gaza Strip.

One of the squads that was captured included four suicide terrorists, all single 16-17 year olds from Bethlehem. They planned to carry out double attacks in the Mea Shearim and French Hill neighborhoods in the capital. Hamas was supposed to provide the terrorists, while Jihad - the explosive devices. Taking responsibility for carrying out the attacks was supposed to be shared by both organizations. The members of the organization have already had time to gather information about the goals.

Said Abu Gidian (Jidian) [قال أبو جديان], a Jihad operative from the Gaza Strip, was the director of the operation. Muhammad Daraawi [محمد الدرعاوي], an activist in the Palestinian national security apparatus who was recruited to Tanzim in Bethlehem, was involved in the planning of bringing the ambulance into the capital. Mohammed Najjar, a Palestinian policeman from Bethlehem, who in his role served as the driver of the Palestinian police chief in Qalqiliya, was also arrested along with him, as well as other policemen. The four recruited suicides are aged 16-17, all single from Bethlehem.

According to the security officials, Mohammed Darawi, who is suspected of carrying out shooting attacks in the Jerusalem area, admitted in his investigation that during a shift in Mokta in Bethlehem, he met an operative in the Palestinian National Security apparatus in Rafih, who asked him to help infiltrate a suicide bomber with an explosive belt into Jerusalem using an ambulance on a route that bypasses the checkpoints. Darawi turned to two Tanzim activists from the Bethlehem area, who were arrested several months later, and told them that there was an explosive and suicide ambulance with an explosive belt, who was ready to go with it to Jerusalem and carry out a suicide attack. He asked them for assistance in introducing the terrorist.

The security establishment says that Darawi's planned activity to use the ambulance as a car bomb was based on the assumption that the use of the medical vehicle would prevent an inspection by the security forces, and would help terrorists move freely into Jerusalem. "This proves a step up in the cynical exploitation of evacuation and medical vehicles by the terrorist organizations in order to carry out attacks," Israeli security officials say, adding that once again it has been proven that there is no separation between the PA's official security mechanisms and the terrorist organizations.

According to security officials, recently there has been a significant increase in the involvement of the Gaza Strip in directing and carrying out attacks, in which the terrorist is supposed to leave Samaria for Bethlehem and from there penetrate into Israel. "This plan was adopted because the buffer zone surrounding the Gaza Strip makes it difficult to carry out attacks on Israel directly from there, and because the buffer zone has not yet been completed in Judea and around Jerusalem."

https://www.ynet.co.il/article/2998612

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Israel Protests at UN Against Terror Attacks - Herb Keinon (Jerusalem Post)

Aug 19, 2004

Arye Mekel, Israel's outgoing deputy ambassador at the UN, sent a letter to the president of the UN Security Council describing last week's attack at a roadblock north of Jerusalem that killed two Palestinian bystanders and wounded six Border Policemen as an example of why the roadblocks are so important.

Mekel wrote, "The continued Palestinian use of terrorism, with the support and toleration of the Palestinian leadership, is not just an ongoing and egregious violation of basic international norms, signed commitments, and the explicit terms of the road map. It is the enemy of peace in the region, and endangers the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians."

He also wrote, "The firing of rockets from civilian areas in Beit Hanoun [in Gaza] is a grave violation of international humanitarian law not only because it targets innocent Israeli civilians. Palestinian residents' lives are also put at risk, and held hostage, by the continued and despicable tactics adopted by Palestinian terrorists by which innocent Palestinians are used as human shields and civilian areas are used as staging ground for terrorist atrocities in direct violation of the most basic human rights and humanitarian norms."

https://www.dailyalert.org/archive/2004-08/2004-08-19.html

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Near East Report - Volume 48, Issues 1-22 - Page 20 - 2004

Child Labor

PALESTINE TERRORISTS ARE CO-OPTING CHILDREN TO AID IN TERROR AND TO SERVE AS HUMAN SHIELDS FOR GUNMEN

In a phenomenon widely practiced since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising and before, terrorists have continually exploited children. The recent arrest of three boys, ages 12, 13, and 15 who said they planned to use homemade guns to shoot Israelis in the northern city of Afula spotlights a rising trend – the co-opting of children into Palestinian terrorism.

As part of the campaign by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to incite children toward violence and to educate and instill hatred, the PA has intentionally mobilized children to man the front lines in its struggle against Israel. In addition to directly engaging children in carrying out terrorist plots, Palestinian terrorists are frequently using children as human shields in order to protect Palestinian gunmen as shown in a dramatic Reuters photograph taken last month.

“The situation is spinning out of control,” Former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg told NER. “Parental control has given way to parental approval – some of it is financially driven, part of it’s is the kids want to do it, and there is peer pressure.”

Palestinian terrorists view children as the easiest of recruits – they are influenced, indoctrinated and forcibly persuaded to assist in suicide bombings and other terrorist plots. In a 2001 survey of one thousand youngsters between the ages of 9 and 16 by the Islamic University in Gaza, 45 percent said they had taken an active role in violence and 73 percent said they wanted to become martyrs.

Even more shockingly, Israeli intelligence has indicated the presence of 7 and 8-year-old children dispatched by terrorists on scouting missions for suicide attacks. Israeli source have also uncovered information that points to senior Palestinian operatives placing explosive laboratories close to Palestinian schools near unsuspecting children in order to conceal terrorist activities.

“It’s a culture of terror that has infiltrated the psyche of young Palestinians that wasn’t there before,” ways Former Amb. Ginsberg. “It used to be that they played a cat-and-mouse game throwing rocks at Israeli tanks. It’s now become a situation of active participation [in terror] and reward [for it]."

https://books.google.com/books?id=BsMMAQAAMAAJ&q=%E2%80%9CPalestinian%22+%22Human+Shields%22

https://books.google.com/books?id=BsMMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22throwing%22

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U.N.'s One Small Step

Jun 26, 2004 | by Anne Bayefsky

Is the U.N. finally ready to get serious about anti-Semitism?

...Although Palestinian self-determination is equally justified, the connection between demonizing Israelis and sanctifying Palestinians makes it clear that the core issue is not the stated cause of Palestinian suffering. For there are no U.N. resolutions deploring the practice of encouraging Palestinian children to glorify and emulate suicide bombers, or the use of the Palestinian population as human shields, or the refusal by the vast majority of Arab states to integrate Palestinian refugees into their societies and to offer them the benefits of citizenship. Palestinians are lionized at the U.N. because they are the perceived antidote to what U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi called the great poison of the Middle East -- the existence and resilience of the Jewish state.

Of course, anti-Semitism takes other forms at the U.N. Over the past decade at the commission, Syria announced that yeshivas train rabbis to instill racist hatred in their pupils. Palestinian representatives claimed that Israelis can happily celebrate religious holidays like Yom Kippur only by shedding Palestinian blood, and accused Israel of injecting 300 Palestinian children with HIV-positive blood.

U.N.-led anti-Semitism moves from the demonization of Jews to the disqualification of Jewish victimhood: refusing to recognize Jewish suffering by virtue of their ethnic and national identity. In 2003 a General Assembly resolution concerned with the welfare of Israeli children failed (though one on Palestinian children passed handily) because it proved impossible to gain enough support for the word Israeli appearing before the word children. The mandate of the U.N. special rapporteur on the "Palestinian territories", set over a decade ago, is to investigate only "Israel's violations of . . . international law" and not to consider human-rights violations by Palestinians in Israel.

It follows in U.N. logic that non-victims aren't really supposed to fight back. One after another concrete Israeli response to terrorism is denounced by the secretary-general and member states as illegal. But killing members of the command-and-control structure of a terrorist organization, when there is no disproportionate use of force, and arrest is impossible, is not illegal. Homes used by terrorists in the midst of combat are legitimate military targets. A nonviolent, temporary separation of parties to a conflict on disputed territory by a security fence, which is sensitive to minimizing hardships, is a legitimate response to Israel's international legal obligations to protect its citizens from crimes against humanity. In effect, the U.N. moves to pin the arms of Jewish targets behind their backs while the terrorists take aim.

https://www.aish.com/jw/s/48882167.html

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Arab Terrorist's Wife Used Baby to Hide Grenade

Soldiers arrested a terrorist's wife who held her baby to hide a grenade. In the same house, troops found a suitcase of explosives. The IDF also killed four other terrorists who attacked them.

Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, Oct 23, 2005

Haruv Battalion soldiers searched a house in a village near Shechem early Saturday after receiving reports that ammunition was hidden there, according to Lt.-Col. Arik Chen. They discovered 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of explosives in a suitcase and arrested five terrorists.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/91609

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Michigan Journal of International Law. Volume 26, Issues 3-4,

University of Michigan Law School, 2005. Page 886

[Vol 26:869]

V. ISRAEL

Israel, threatened continuously by terrorist attacks, has been beset by hostile violence since before its inception. Attacks have violated international law in many ways: using children not merely as soldiers but as "martyrs;" deliberately targeting civilians;"

manufacturing weapons to cause both maximum destruction and maximum suffering," as by the inclusion of nails , and anticoagulants; using ambulances to smuggle explosives; "using Palestinian civilians as human shields;" using violence to derail peace ... 29 , 2004

https://books.google.com/books?id=BUfvcMjWRtIC&q=%E2%80%9CPalestinian%22+%22Human+Shields%22

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lgf: Palestinian Human Shield Watch

Palestinian Human Shield Watch

Charles Johnson

Fri Sep 8, 2006 at 2:21 pm PDT • Views: 350

A Palestinian militant points his rifle towards Israeli troops as other gunmen and civilians look on during an Israeli army raid in the village of Qabatiya, near the West Bank town of Jenin, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2006. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

UPDATE at 9/8/06 5:29:50 pm:

Notice: some of the same people appear in this image from August 8, 2006:

A Palestinian militant fires toward Israeli troops during an arrest raid in the West Bank village of Qabatiyeh near Jenin, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2006. Four Palestinians were wounded when the army arrested an Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades militant, Palestinians sources said. The army said two Islamic Jihad militants were arrested during the operation. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

UPDATE at 9/8/06 6:50:01 pm:

And the August 8 photo was the subject of this “clarification” by the Associated Press:

RETRANSMITTING ORIGINAL FULL FRAME FOR CONTEXT TO SHOW THAT PEOPLE IN BACKGROUND ARE NOT DIRECTLY IN THE LINE OF FIRE — A Palestinian militant fires toward Israeli troops during an arrest raid in the West Bank village of Qabatiyeh near Jenin, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2006. Four Palestinians were wounded when the army arrested an Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades militant, Palestinians sources said. The army said two Islamic Jihad militants were arrested during the operation. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

Yet Mohammed Ballas and the Associated Press and the guy in the khaki pants have foisted another one of these photos on the world.

http://web.archive.org/web/20110813203335/http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=22479

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Sources in the IDF: Terrorist squads use Palestinian civilians as human shields - YNET | Posted 13:34, 06/07/2006

IDF sources said that "in recent hours, terrorist cells in the Gaza Strip have been using Palestinian civilians as human shields to fortify the shooting."

According to the sources, "the terrorists are firing from populated areas and endangering the lives of Palestinian civilians."

https://m.ynet.co.il/Articles/3272038

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Palestinians Bar Attacks with Human Shields

THE MEDIA LINE STAFF

11/19/2006

https://themedialine.org/news/palestinians-bar-attacks-with-human-shields/

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Human Rights Watch: Stop Human Shields in Gaza

TML Staff

11/22/2006

https://themedialine.org/mideast-daily-news/human-rights-watch-stop-human-shields-in-gaza/

Beit Hanoun: Women act as human shields

Gaza Strip town under siege for five days now as part of Operation Autumn Clouds. All access roads blocked. Men leaving city accompanied by women who act as their 'human shields.' Residents report severe humanitarian crisis. UNRWA: IDF not allowing food and water into Gaza Strip. IDF denies reports

Ali Waked, Gaza | Published: 11.05.06 , 22:53

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3324081,00.html

GAZA STRIP: Palestinians use women as human shields

... gunmen escape siege

Friday, November 3, 2006

By Yakub Ralwah

of The Associated Press

...several hundred who had heeded a call by Hamas militants to ring the mosque in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Their presence allowed the gunmen inside to escape, some reportedly wearing robes supplied by the women, ending their 19-hour standoff with soldiers parked outside in tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Troops seized Beit Hanoun on Wednesday in their fiercest bid in months to halt Palestinian rocket fire on nearby Israeli communities. More than 20 Palestinians, most gunmen, have been killed since the offensive began, including a 22-year-old man killed today.

The mosque became the focus of the fighting in the town after dozens of gunmen sought refuge from troops there Thursday. Most were thought to belong to the military wing of the ruling Hamas party.

Armored vehicles quickly surrounded the building, and the two sides began exchanging fire that lasted throughout the night, the military and Palestinian security officials said.

Israeli soldiers trying to pressure the gunmen to surrender also threw stun and smoke grenades, and knocked down an outer wall of the mosque with a bulldozer, causing the ceiling to collapse.

With sporadic shooting persisting this morning, Hamas radio broadcast a call to women to go to Beit Hanoun to shield the militants. Dozens of women left their homes to a hurry to the mosque, and en route, came under Israeli fire, witnesses and officials said...

The army said troops spotted two militants hiding in the crowd of women and opened fire, hitting the two.

By midmorning today, veiled women protesters had gathered outside the mosque, where troops were positioned in tanks and armored personnel carriers. The army said the gunmen in the mosque took advantage of the demonstration to escape because there were not enough soldiers to block the protesters from approaching the building, and troops did not want to shoot into the crowd.

http://web.archive.org/web/20061106030344/http://www.pjstar.com/stories/110306/pm__BBE5F07L.012.shtml

Gaza women killed in mosque siege

3 November 2006

Hamas appeal

In the dramatic mosque rescue, Hamas radio issued an appeal to local women when a tense stand-off developed between Israeli forces surrounding the building and up to 15 militants who had taken refuge inside.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6112386.stm

Women aid escape of gunmen in Gaza

Richard Boudreaux and Rushdi abu Alouf The Baltimore Sun

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip --

November 4, 2006

... the militants devised an escape plan, said Abu Ubaida, a Hamas spokesman: The Hamas radio station appealed to women in the town of 37,000 to converge on the mosque to protect the fighters, who numbered 73...

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2006-11-04-0611040306-story.html

HAMAS MILITANTS FLEE GAZA MOSQUE AIDED BY WOMEN

BY RICHARD BOUDREAUX AND RUSHDI ABU ALOUF

NOV. 4, 2006 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

GAZA CITY —

About 200 Palestinian women broke through an Israeli troop and tank cordon around a mosque Friday to serve as human shields, allowing dozens of armed militants to flee an Israeli siege, but only after two of the women were killed.

Answering a call from the Hamas radio station, the women took to the streets in a mass public intervention of a kind rarely seen in this conservative Muslim society. They carried extra robes and veils with them to disguise some of the militants holed up in the mosque.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-nov-04-fg-mideast4-story.html

Palestinian women in Gaza help free besieged gunmen; 17 killed in Israeli offensive

By YAKUB RALWAH, Associated Press

2006/11/04 07:07

Hundreds of Palestinian women in robes and head scarves streamed into a Gaza combat zone to help free gunmen besieged by Israeli troops at a mosque. Two women who came under fire were killed and at least 10 were wounded, but some gunmen managed to escape.

The women, many with ties to the Islamic militant group Hamas, left their homes after daybreak Friday in response to appeals on the local Hamas radio station or telephone calls from friends and relatives. By nightfall, they were celebrated as heroes, an unusual role in a deeply conservative society that tends to keep women on the sidelines. Until Friday...

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas "saluted the women of Palestine ... who led the protest to break the siege of Beit Hanoun."

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/298675

Two mosque human shields killed in Gaza

MILITANTS holed up inside a Gaza mosque besieged by Israeli troops escaped yesterday after hundreds of women who streamed there to serve as human shields provided cover for their flight, the army said.

SAT, 04 NOV, 2006

Dozens of gunmen sought refuge in the mosque on Thursday. Most were thought to belong to the military wing of the ruling Hamas party.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-20017467.html

Steinitz: responsible for the tragedy at Beit Hanoun - the terrorists - Walla! news

Nov 8, 2006

... All the sorrow for the harm to civilians, the responsibility for the tragedy rests entirely on the shoulders of the terrorists who use the citizens of Beit Hanon as 'human shields' to shoot at the city of Sderot."

https://news.walla.co.il/item/1004327

Palestinians' high-risk human shield tactic

Updated: Monday, 20 November 2006, 16:40 GMT

Alan Johnston - BBC News, Gaza

The "human shields" have deterred at least one Israeli air strike

Schoolgirls chanting their defiance of Israel were among the crowd that gathered to defend the two-storey home in the town of Beit Lahiya.

Along with the girls had come old men, neighbours and militants.

All of them were ready to defy the Israeli air force. They were ready to put themselves in the line of fire.

But they knew too that a similar human shield tactic had worked a few days earlier.

The Israelis had backed off knowing that to strike would cause large numbers of civilian casualties which would, of course, have played very badly in the court of international opinion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6166362.stm

Middle East | Gaza shields an 'illegal tactic' - BBC NEWS

Nov 22, 2006 — A watchdog criticises Palestinian armed groups in Gaza for using civilians as human shields against Israeli attacks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6173850.stm

Human-shield tactic works again in Gaza

Sonia Verma

Jerusalem

Published November 20, 2006

... Another Hamas militant received a similar call -- a standard procedure for the Israeli air force in recent months in order to avoid civilian casualties. The PRC and Hamas have both claimed responsibility for recent rocket attacks against Israel.

"I told [Baroud]they should refuse to depart. Then I offered to bring more people to his house to protect them, like we did at the mosque in Beit Hanoun," recalled Dr. Shanti, who holds a doctorate in English. "We fully expected the Israelis to fire at us, but if they did, we would face it with strength."

It was decided that a group of men would guard the two homes that night and a team of women would stand in at sunrise. The homes are between Beit Lahiya and the Jabiliya refugee camp.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on the rooftops and nearby balconies throughout the night, firing guns into the air and chanting "Death to Israel. Death to America." Apache helicopters circled overhead, then retreated.

Yesterday morning, Ms. Shanti divided dozens of women into smaller groups who took to the roofs in two-hour shifts.

"We wanted to give the men a chance to sleep and the women a chance to work and pick up their kids from school," she explained.

Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas arrived at Mr. Baroud's home later in the morning to show his support.

"We are so proud of this national stand. It's the first step toward protecting our homes, the homes of our children," he told reporters, climbing onto the roof.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/human-shield-tactic-works-again-in-gaza/article1110653/

Palestinian shields foil Israeli strikes

(AP)

Updated: 2006-11-20 10:41

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - Hundreds of Palestinians serving as human shields guarded the homes of two top militants Sunday, a new tactic that forced Israel to call off missile strikes on the buildings and re-evaluate a mainstay of its aerial campaign in Gaza.

In recent months, the Israeli air force has repeatedly struck the homes of militants after warning residents by phone to clear out. Israeli security officials said they did not know how to respond to the human shield tactic, but pressed ahead with other airstrikes Sunday.

...

The standoff over the homes of the militants began late Saturday when Mohammed Baroud, local leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, was informed by the army that his house would be hit. The three-story building is home to 17 people from Baroud's family. Another militant from Hamas also received a warning.

Instead of fleeing, though, the two decided to stay in their homes..

http://web.archive.org/web/20110213121144/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-11/20/content_737467.htm

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Terrorists Hide Behind Civilians.

Some 45 dead terrorists in the IDF's anti-Kassam military operation of the past 5 days. Three civilians were killed; Olmert says terrorists continue to use "human shields." More Kassams at Sderot.

Hillel Fendel, Nov 05, 2006 1:16 PM | updated: 1:28 PM

The IDF's Operation Autumn Clouds entered its fifth day today (Sunday), having killed 45 terrorists in Gaza and uncovering much ammunition and explosives. Both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that the objective of the current IDF offensive is to "reduce" - not uproot - "the Kassam rocket shootings from Gaza into Israel."

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter called for an even stronger military invasion of Gaza, saying only such activity could prevent increased terror activity from Gaza. Olmert said in response, "You generals, you always propose stronger measures after you leave your position; why didn't you make such proposals when you were in the Shabak?"

Peretz said that the offensive is going according to plan, and that the IDF is allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza.

In addition to the dead terrorists, a 12-year-old Arab girl was also killed - and Prime Minister Olmert blamed her death on the terrorists' desire to use civilians as cover and protection for their activities.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/114850

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Gaza: Use of human shields continues

[Jerusalem Post]

Nov 29, 2006

Yaakov Katz, Khaled Abu Toameh - Concerned that Palestinians will create human shields around every terror target in the Gaza Strip, a high-ranking officer said Sunday that the IDF was prepared to launch ground raids into Palestinian territory to demolish buildings that could not be destroyed in airstrikes. The officer said that the IDF would continue to phone Palestinians before bombing the homes of known terrorists, but might change the amount of time it gave the Palestinians to evacuate the area.

https://www.jpost.com/israel/gaza-use-of-human-shields-continues

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It's Always Israel's Fault

Nov 30, 2006

[Edmonton Sun-Canada] Mindelle Jacobs - The concept of land for peace has long been the reigning sentiment fueling the push for consensus in the Middle East. Too bad it's a myth. Israel retreats and the Arabs smell weakness, ululating in joy as they dream of the eradication of the Jewish state. By now, the Palestinians should have been well on their way to statehood. It's been more than a year since Israel uprooted thousands of Jewish settlers and pulled out of Gaza. But when you elect terrorists whose priorities include murdering Israelis and kidnapping Westerners for kicks, it's hard to build a state, never mind lure tourist dollars. Israelis live in hope that one day Palestinians will choose reconciliation and peacemaking over terror and hatred. Ordinary Palestinians, however, continue to embrace murderous pursuits, as exemplified by the recent decision of a 64-year-old grandmother to blow herself up near Israeli troops. If "innocent" Palestinians want peace, they should stop forming human shields to protect terrorists and destroy the rockets in their backyards instead.

http://web.archive.org/web/20061207061957/https://edmontonsun.com/News/Columnists/Jacobs_Mindelle/2006/11/30/2560368.html

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Video: Terrorists firing mortars from schoolyard

Footage shows terror cell preparing to launch mortar shells near elementary school in Gaza, fleeing site after launches. IDF says terror organizations 'aware of our sensitivity to these areas and they take advantage of that, this is as cynical as their use of the civilian population gets'

Hanan Greenberg | Published: 10.31.07 , 21:05

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3466387,00.html

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Fatah claims: Hamas uses us as a "human shield"

According to Fatah operatives, Hamas members dispersed their detainees in Gaza at the organization's outposts, leaving them there when IDF attacks began. One of the detainees was killed by IDF gunfire at a Hamas outpost near Khan Yunis. And her three children

Ali Waked. Jan 3, 2008

The Fatah movement this evening (Thursday) casts accusations against Hamas, according to which its operatives use Fatah detainees detained in the Gaza Strip as "human shields" in the face of IDF attacks in the Gaza Strip, following the recent attack by an IAF against a Hamas building in Rafah. The operative was arrested yesterday while returning to the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing.

The focus of the current storm between the movements is Abdullah Kishta, a 27-year-old Fatah activist who Fatah claims was wanted by both the IDF and Hamas. Kishta fled the Gaza Strip with the Hamas takeover in June last year, and yesterday Kishta took advantage of the return of 2,000 Palestinian pilgrims. Who returned to the Gaza Strip to infiltrate between them back from Egypt, however, Hamas members who anticipated infiltration attempts by Fatah wanted to locate Kishta in droves, and arrested him upon entering the Strip.

Kishta was arrested along with about seven other Fatah operatives, who were scattered in various Hamas facilities throughout the Gaza Strip. He himself was taken into custody at the Hamas post in Tel Sultan, and killed in an IDF bombing in the area.

Eyewitnesses reported that Kishta's body was taken to the hospital with his hands and feet still handcuffed, a reminder of the "treatment" he received before killing him at Hamas facilities. The Fatah movement was quick to accuse Hamas of using its Fatah operatives as a "human shield" against Israeli attacks.

Fatah spokesman Fahmi Za'arir even claimed that Hamas had evacuated the outposts and left Fatah operatives in place, who had fallen victim to Israeli attacks. "This phenomenon is a continuation of Hamas' ugly and immoral criminal policy with Fatah members. Hamas gangs evacuated the post in Rafah, but left Fatah prisoners in the area who had to deal with Israeli air force attacks, injuring 18 of them," Zaarir claimed.

He added that "this is ugly terrorism and racism by Hamas that is copying the Israeli style of action. Whether it is regarding the abductions and destruction of homes and the use of detainees..

https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3490167,00.html

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Humans as a weapon - Ynet

Feb 24, 2008 -

In the morning, Hamas plans to test tools with a new method of warfare that it has learned from Hezbollah: "spontaneous" mass demonstrations. The Palestinians may understand that their plot has been exposed and wait for another gym class. Acute confrontations may also develop. How will the security forces operate? And what will be done in the explanatory arena?

Ron Ben Yishai Posted: 24.02.08, 23:22

Now it is no longer just about civilians as a "human shield" for terrorist operatives. Hamas is planning for the morning (Monday) the first 'tool test' with a new method of fighting: an alleged, spontaneous, assault of unarmed Palestinian civilians on the fence and the crossings between the Gaza Strip and the southern Negev. In this method of fighting the civilians become a real "human weapon".

https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3510724,00.html

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Hamas using Palestinians as human shields: "We desire Death as you desire Life"

Al-Aqsa TV, Hamas | Feb 29, 2008

Hamas member of Palestinian Parliament (Legislative Council), Fathi Hammad: "For the Palestinian people death became an industry at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire Death, as you desire Life."

https://palwatch.org/page/900

[https://youtu.be/xY9pVNlkNxg]

Fathi Hamad (Hamas): Women and children serve as human shields - Videos - A look at the Palestinian media

2008-2009

Fathi Hamad (Hamas): Women and children serve as human shields. Fathi Hamad, Member of Parliament for Hamas "Death among the Palestinian people has become an industry in which women excel, and all who excel in it excel ...

The jihad fighters excel in it, and the children excel in it. Thus they [the Palestinians] created a human shield from the women, children, the elderly and the jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: 'We aspire to death as you aspire to life.' "

[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas) 29/02/2008]

https://www.palwatch.org.il/main.aspx?fi=642&fld_id=642&doc_id=8197

http://www.takeapen.org/Takeapen/Templates/showpage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=84&FID=1318

https://youtu.be/RTu-AUE9ycs

[http://www.peacewithrealism.org/images/hammad.jpg]

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Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. United States. Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office, 2008

March 5 2008

... and launch sites amongst the Palestinian civilian population, utilizing them as human shields ; Whereas intentionally targeting civilian populations and the use of human shields violates international humanitarian and human rights law ;

https://books.google.com/books?id=Mq30VL7yquYC&pg=PA3207

Congress & the Middle East: House Resolution Condemning Palestinian Rocket Attacks (March 5, 2008)

... Whereas those responsible for launching rocket attacks against Israel routinely embed their production facilities and launch sites amongst the Palestinian civilian population, utilizing them as human shields;

Whereas intentionally targeting civilian populations and the use of human shields violates international humanitarian and human rights law...

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/house-resolution-condemning-palestinian-rocket-attacks-march-2008

"H.Res. 951 — 110th Congress: Condemning the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist …." www.GovTrack.us. 2008.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hres951

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The Long and Short Way -

Moshe Ya'alon - Yedioth Ahronot, 2008 - Page 36.

Hamas, PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) and Fatah - who attack the State of Israel with terrorist attacks and rockets challenge the world order. These organizations also violate the laws of war by targeting civilians and by using their citizens as 'human shields.'

https://books.google.com/books?id=tXIMAQAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22%D7%9E%D7%92%D7%9F+%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%99%22

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Ignorance of international law is no excuse. Nor is taking laws out of context.

May 24, 2008 at 10:16

[...]

The Geneva Convention, and other international laws regulating conduct during warfare, makes clear distinctions of what is, or is not a "war crime." Using human shields is a war crime. Conducting warfare from population centers is a war crime. Engaging in perfidy, such as having armed militants dressed as civilians, having armed militants dressed in the uniforms of their opponents, using fake surrenders as a pretext to attack, is a war crime. Deliberately firing upon civilians, or deliberately directing fire towards civilian centers in an effort to produce civilian casualties, is a war crime.

If one were to add up all of these actions committed by Hezbollah and Hamas since 2006 alone, the number of clearly defined war crimes that they committed against Israel would exceed 100,000 separate instances.

http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/129811

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Hamas placed children on rooftops as human shields preventing Israeli attack on Qassam workshops and warehouses

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

http://www.imra.org.il/story.php?id=38440

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Human Shields in Gaza - The Volokh Conspiracy

Dec 31, 2008 — Human Shields in Gaza: Ha'aretz: The IDF has made frequent use of what is known as " knocking on the roof": Militants are warned by phone

http://volokh.com/posts/1230756039.shtml

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Gaza: Hamas gunmen hide in hospitals

Shin Bet chief briefs cabinet on day five of Gaza offensive, says terror operatives hide in hospitals, mosques. IDF: Hamas increases use of densely populated areas for launching pads

Roni Sofer -

Dec 31, 2008

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3648020,00.html

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The ceasefire will take effect at 02:00; Olmert: The IDF will withdraw only after a complete cessation of rocket fire from Gaza

Olmert: "If Hamas continues fighting, Israel will respond with full force"

TheMarker, 17/01/2009

We reached important international understandings like no other. During Friday we signed a document of understanding with the US to take the necessary steps - to prevent infiltration into Gaza."

"Today I received phone calls from the British, Italian, German and French governments expressing their sympathy. Hamas took over the Gaza Strip by force. It acted when the Palestinian population was a human shield and acted under the auspices of mosques and kindergartens when the Palestinians were hostages."

https://finance.walla.co.il/item/1419332

Hamas and Human Shields at the U.N. School

by Philip Klein - January 7, 2009, 3:51 PM

The AP reports:

GAZA CITY, Gaza (AP) — Residents of a Gaza neighborhood are confirming Israel’s claim that Hamas militants had opened fire from the cover of a U.N. school where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge.

Israeli forces fired back with mortars, and hospital officials says three dozen Palestinians were killed.

Two residents say a group of militants had fired their mortars from a street near the school, then fled into a crowd of people in the streets. The Israeli army says two of the dead were militants. It accuses Gaza’s Hamas rulers of “cynically” using civilians as human shields.

And here’s a video from 2007 of Hamas members firing rockets from the same location. Nobody who is being intellectually honest can dispute the fact that Hamas uses civilians as human shields to make Israel hesitate, or, alternatively, to gain a propaganda victory when civilians are killed. That forces Israel to make a choice. Either Israelis target Hamas militants — with the unfortunate consequences that civilians may be killed — or they never fire if civilians are in the area, which would send a signal to terrorists that as long as they hide among women and children they can fire their rockets with impunity.

As I’ve mentioned before, this is also another reason for the disproportionate death tolls. Israelis go to great lengths to protect their own civilians, while Hamas makes the strategic decision to place its own civilians in harm’s way.

https://spectator.org/17142_hamas-and-human-shields-un-school/

[Gazans Tell AP that Hamas Staged Attacks from Cover of UN School

https://www.dailyalert.org/archive/2009-01/2009-01-07.html]

The Blame Game: Israel, Hamas, and Civilian Deaths in Gaza

Assessing blame for innocent casualties in the offensive launched by Israel into Gaza.

By Sam Dealey

Jan. 7, 2009

... Palestinians themselves, who now confirm Israel's assertion.

Here's an excerpt from one Associated Press report:

Residents of a Gaza neighborhood are confirming Israel's claim that Hamas militants had opened fire from the cover of a U.N. school where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge.

...Two residents say a group of militants had fired their mortars from a street near the school, then fled into a crowd of people in the streets.

And here's another, also from the AP:

Palestinian residents, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fear of retribution, said several militants ran toward the crowd, trying to use it as cover, when the first Israeli mortar shell missed them.

... Gaza militants used to wear black or khaki uniforms, but since the start of the Israeli offensive have been operating in civilian clothing, blending into crowds, residents say.

Maybe it's time to re-evaluate which side shows such callous disregard for Palestine's civilians.

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/sam-dealey/2009/01/07/the-blame-game-israel-hamas-and-civilian-deaths

Ottawa blames Hamas for civilian deaths at school

CAMPBELL CLARK

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

January 6, 2009 at 10:15 PM EST

Hamas has made a habit of using civilians and civilian infrastructure as shields for their terrorist activities, and that would seem to be the case again today,” he said in an interview.

He added: “In many ways, Hamas behaves as if they are trying to have more of their people killed to make a terrible terrorist point.”

http://web.archive.org/web/20090107100444/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090106.wgaza_canadians07/BNStory/International/home

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Daily Press Briefing

Robert Wood, Deputy Spokesman

Washington, DC

January 7, 2009

QUESTION: But how can you have a diplomatic solution without Hamas?

MR. WOOD: Hamas is clearly a party to this conflict and there are interlocutors with Hamas that are trying to get Hamas to stop firing rockets and to play a constructive role in the region. But Hamas is a problem, and we have been encouraging Hamas to show – you know, to go down a different path, as I said earlier. It’s chosen not to do that. It’s firing rockets at innocent civilians. It’s using civilians as human shields. That’s unacceptable, and you can’t play a positive role in trying to bring about peace in the region if that’s what your agenda is.

https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/jan/113653.htm

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EU official: Hamas responsible for Gaza

By Tovah Lazaroff, January 26, 2009

European aid commissioner says, "When you kill innocents, it is not resistance. It is terrorism."

... "At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas," said Michel, according to AFP. "I intentionally say this here: Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such." Reuters quoted Michel as criticizing Hamas for its use of civilians as "human shields" and for fighting in populated areas.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/eu-official-hamas-responsible-for-gaza

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Hamas' use of civilians as a "human shield"

Jan 2, 2009 - Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip as "human shields." The terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip have built an extensive military infrastructure that includes a large stock of. Rockets.. https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/Data/pdf/PDF_08_204_1.pdf

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Testimony of residents of the Gaza Strip regarding their use as a "human shield".

Jan 28, 2009 http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/Data/pdf/PDF_09_043_1.pdf

Gaza victims describe human shield use

By JPost.com Staff

JANUARY 29, 2009 22:48

PA daily recounts how Hamas turned family farm into a fortress and launching pad for rockets.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/gaza-victims-describe-human-shield-use

Gazans: We were used as 'human shields' - Ynetnews

Jun 7, 2010 — A report exclusive to Ynet reveals testimonies of Strip residents who claim soldiers used them as 'human shields' during Operation Cast Lead

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3915558,00.html

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Sources: Hamas Leaders Hiding in Basement of Israel-built Hospital in Gaza

Shin Bet Chief says militants hiding in Shifa Hospital because they know it will not be targeted by Israel.

Amos Harel - Jan. 12, 2009

Senior Hamas officials in Gaza are hiding out in a "bunker" built by Israel, intelligence officials suspect: Many are believed to be in the basements of the Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City, which was refurbished during Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Shifa, the coastal strip's largest hospital, was built while Gaza was under Egyptian rule, before 1967.

During the mid-1980s the building underwent massive refurbishment as part of a showcase project to improve the living conditions of residents.

Millions were invested in the project, which was overseen by Shmuel Goren, the coordinator for activities in the territories at the time.

The Israeli civil administration in the territories constructed the hospital complex's Building Number 2, which has a large cement basement that housed the hospital's laundry and various administrative services.

During a cabinet meeting a week ago, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin said senior Hamas officials found refuge in the hospital basement because they know Israel would not target it, due to the patients in the upper floors. Palestinian sources told Haaretz that not all the senior Hamas leaders are hiding in one place.

Rather, they have spread out, and some are constantly changing locations. Some of the bunkers they are using were linked by tunnels Hamas built in recent years.

https://www.haaretz.com/1.5061646

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Underground Warfare - Daphné Richemond-Barak · (Oxford University Press), 2018 – Page 209

UNDERGROUND WARFARE IN URBAN AREAS

Hamas did not have to dig to reap the benefits of operating underneath the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBBADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA209&#v=onepage&q=Reap&f=false

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The So-called International Community

By MONA CHAREN, January 3, 2009 5:00 AM

Waiting in vain for an international outcry...

In 2005, perhaps accepting Bennett-Jones’s interpretation of history, Israel pulled out of Gaza completely, uprooting all of the Jewish settlers, and leaving the area completely to the Palestinians to administer. Rather than build a society of their own, Hamas, which controls Gaza — the Palestinian Authority controls the West Bank — has used its independence to launch a ceaseless barrage of missiles against Israel.

It’s often pointed out that Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. It’s more than that. Hamas, with Iran’s backing, is committed to Israel’s violent destruction. Missiles have fallen on schools and homes. Hamas is explicit about desiring Israeli counterattacks, because while Hamas aims to kill Israeli civilians, they know that Israel tries very hard not to kill Palestinian civilians. But every Palestinian death at the hands of Israel is seen as a propaganda victory for Hamas — which is why they place their munitions and terrorists in mosques, hospitals, and homes crowded with children. Hamas representative Fathi Hamad stated it explicitly: “For the Palestinian people death became an industry, at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly (Palestinians) created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire death as you desire life.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/2009/01/so-called-international-community-mona-charen/

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HAMAS’S PALESTINIAN VICTIMS: HUMAN SHIELDS

By: Gilead Ini, January 21, 2009

As the media broadcast and discuss images of destruction in the Gaza Strip, it is essential that they recall, and alert the public to, the context [http://camera.org/index.asp?x_context=3&x_outlet=12&x_article=1573] within which those images exist — most narrowly, that during the fighting Hamas launched attacks against Israel from crowded and built up civilian areas.

By basing its leaders, fighters and rocket launchers near or inside homes, mosques and schools, Hamas chose to put its neighbors in the line of fire, and invited destruction that, even with today’s most advanced guided weapons and with unprecedented [http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2009/01/bbc-former-british-army-colonel-richard/] attempts to reduce civilian casualties, is an inevitable result of contemporary urban warfare.

Some media reports have referred to the mingling of Hamas fighters among civilians as merely an Israeli claim. One unsigned report by the Associated Press, for example, reported that “Israel says Hamas militants are launching rockets from civilian areas and using non-combatants as human shields” (emphasis added; AP, “Israel denies attack on clan members in Gaza town,” Jan. 10, 2009).

This is a partial and misleading truth. In fact, it is not only Israel but also independent journalists and Palestinian witness who have attested to Hamas’s self-serving and illegal tactic.

To be sure, Israeli officials and soldiers have drawn attention to the issue. Gabriela Shalev, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, said [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign+Relations/Israel+and+the+UN/Speeches+-+statements/Statement_Amb_Shalev_UNSC+_4-Jan-2009.htm] on Jan. 14, 2009 that “Hamas and terrorists like it … view civilians not as a population to be avoided in an armed conflict but as a population to be exploited in an armed conflict.” Israeli soldiers have told reporters of discovering schools [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167270150&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull] rigged with explosives and homes [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3651866,00.html] serving as weapons depots, and intelligence officers have noted that some Hamas leaders took shelter in a hospital [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/world/middleeast/11hamas.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast] basement. Maps [http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/hamas_e046.pdf] seized during the military operation provide other examples of the organization’s intentional mixing of weapons and civilians.

There is also video evidence from IDF aircraft showing Hamas rocket activity from a schoolyard [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN9WzUc7iB0&feature=channel_page] and just outside of schools [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LGubwghyEw&feature=channel_page], secondary explosions caused by weaponry stored [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCVr7MBhgj0&feature=channel] in mosques [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwP_LusgPAw&feature=channel_page], and military attacks from Palestinian homes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHNk6eBw3ME&feature=channel_page].

While the videos linked to above and numerous other similar clips released by Israel provide incontrovertible evidence of Hamas locating military objectives within and near densely populated areas, they do originate from Israeli sources. Still, to report only that “Israel says” Hamas bases itself among civilians amounts to error of omission.

Shireen Shihab, for example, is not an Israeli. She is a Palestinian resident of Gaza City who told [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/world/middleeast/06scene.html?em] the New York Times she saw Hamas fighters launching rockets from her neighborhood. Jabaliya resident Ibrahim Amen told [http://www.iht.com.proxy.collactive.com/articles/2009/01/06/mideast/mideast.php] reporters he saw a commander of the Hamas military wing near a UN school just before the school was damaged by Israeli mortar fire. More strikingly, the 16-year-old Amen said he was recruited to the area of the school to build positions for Palestinian fighters. Two other Palestinians witnessed [http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2009/01/07/israelis_hit_school_in_gaza_30_killed/] “a small group of militants firing mortar rounds from a street near the school,” according to the AP. (This is the same AP that later asserted only that “Israel says” rockets are being fired from civilian areas in Gaza.) Palestinian Hanan Abu Khajib saw [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/world/middleeast/17israel.html?th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1232559411-5nJYDZcXIswtedPrMvDomA&] the same thing. Talal Safadi relayed [http://www.newsweek.com/id/180691/page/2] that “resistance fighters were firing from positions all around the [al Quds] hospital.” Mohammed Sadala’s Beit Lahia home was destroyed because Hamas fighters broke into the empty house and used it to fire at Israeli troops, he told [http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,603203,00.html] a reporter. His neighbor, Hail, pointed out that Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters used his house, kept weaponry their, and even left wires leading from his home to a neighbors house, which appeared to have been booby trapped. Mohammed Shriteh, a Palestinian ambulance driver, says [http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/hamas-tried-to-hijack-ambulances-during-gaza-war/2009/01/25/1232818246374.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1] he was ordered at gunpoint to transport Hamas fighters in his ambulance. A Palestinian reporter in Gaza was caught on tape [http://blog.camera.org/archives/2009/01/news_station_used_to_launch_a_1.html] amused that Hamas had apparently just fired a Grad rocket from under the building from which she was broadcasting.

A Western reporter described [http://www.newsweek.com/id/180691] a Qassam rocket being fired in the Nuseirat refugee camp from “smack in the middle of the four buildings, where every apartment was full, most of them with newly made refugees,” and a camouflaged tunnel of the type used by Hamas in a residential neighborhood in Jabaliya. (The tunnel was seen only a few yards away from a Palestinian woman who told the reporter that there were no such tunnels.)

The United Nations’ top humanitarian official, John Holmes, protested this “reckless and cynical use of civilian installations by Hamas,” calling it, and Hamas’s attacks on Israeli civilians, “clear violations of international humanitarian law.”

Because Hamas’s use of civilian areas to attack Israel is well documented, journalists who relay this as an Israeli claim effectively mislead the public. It would be more honest to report, as fact, that “many purely civilian neighborhoods aren’t safe because Gaza militants often fire rockets from such areas,” as did [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-gaza7-2009jan07,0,134708.story] the Los Angeles Times; or that Hamas puts civilians at risk “by storing weapons among them, including in mosques, schools and allegedly hospitals, too, making them potential military targets,” as did [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/world/middleeast/17israel.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th] the New York Times.

Journalists who witnessed, or found witnesses willing to talk (a number of Palestinian witnesses told reporters that they wished to remain anonymous because they feared “reprisal” by Hamas), about Hamas’s use — or more aptly, abuse — of Palestinian civilians despite extremely difficult reporting conditions should be commended. Thanks to their work, and to Israel’s video footage, there is no reason at all for responsible media outlets to pretend that Hamas’s disturbing practice is just an Israeli claim. News consumers deserve to be told all the relevant facts when they hear about civilian casualties and damage to civilian areas in Gaza.

https://www.camera.org/article/hamas-s-palestinian-victims-human-shields/

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EDITORIAL: Hamas' Palestinian victims

By - The Washington Times - Thursday, January 8, 2009

One of the most shameful aspects of the war Hamas is waging against Israel is the terror group’s effort to maximize Palestinian civilian casualties - and the way this story is often ignored or buried in Western media accounts. CNN and other outlets provide powerful images of Palestinian civilian deaths and U.N. officials’ statements denouncing Israel. On Tuesday, John Ging, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), told The Washington Post in an interview that both Israeli and Hamas leaders were to blame for civilian deaths in Gaza. This moral equivalence is slanderous. There is a mountain of evidence from Israeli and Palestinian sources suggesting that Hamas deserves overwhelming blame for the mounting civilian death toll

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/08/hamas-palestinian-victims/

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Israel says map shows Hamas puts Gaza civilians at risk - CNN.com

Jan 9, 2009

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The Israeli military says it has found a "sketch" detailing "the deployment of explosives and Hamas forces" in the Al-Attara neighborhood in northern Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces says this map from Hamas shows positions of booby traps and snipers in Al-Attara.

The Israel Defense Forces issued a news release Friday saying paratroopers found a map that "describes the location of explosive devices and firing positions in the middle of the civilian population in the dense neighborhood, which endanger the life of the civilians."

"That's what Hamas has been doing throughout the entirety of the operation -- perversely using civilians as human shields," said Brig. Gen. Yuval Halmish, officer-in-chief of Israel's Intelligence Corps.

The IDF said the map depicts sniper positions at a mosque entrance and in nearby mosques.

It shows "the directions the snipers are aiming," the IDF said.

The map "indicates that explosives are planted in the entrances of civilian homes."

There are bombs planted throughout the area, including one next to a gas station.

"The important point is the disregard for human life in using entrances to civilian homes," Halmish said.

"They booby-trapped the entrances of civilian houses with explosives put close to them," he said.

"The objective is of course to hit our forces, but a local explosion also damages the houses of the civilians and causes great damage, and likely killing civilians," he said

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/09/hamas.sketch/

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UN envoy: Hamas uses Gazans as human shields

In letter of complaint to Ban Ki-Moon, Security Council Gabriela Shalev says Islamist group operating out of mosques, schools and private homes; adds Hamas war room discovered under largest hospital in Strip

Yitzhak Benhorin | Jan 14, 2009

WASHINGTON - Israel's UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev filed a complaint Tuesday night with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council over the cynical use of Palestinian civilians by Hamas.

During Israel's Gaza operation, Hamas has operated out of mosques, schools and private homes while using civilians as human shields, she said.

According to Shalev, a Hamas war room was discovered beneath the largest hospital in Gaza, and terrorists are frequently opening fire from inside private residences while holding the tenants hostage.

The ambassador said that Hamas was booby-trapping homes with complete disregard for the safety of their occupants, and assured the UN chief that Israel was taking all necessary measures to prevent civilian casualties.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3655758,00.html

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Pilot: I aborted missions to avoid hitting civilians - The Jerusalem Post

Aron Heller - Jan 14 2009 — He said he has seen Hamas use civilians as its human shields, and he has held his fire in such cases.

https://www.jpost.com/israel/pilot-i-aborted-missions-to-avoid-hitting-civilians

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Parliamentary question | UNRWA's close interaction

Parliamentary question

E-0629/2009

European Parliament

UNRWA's close interaction with terrorist organisation Hamas

28.1.2009

Answer in writing

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0629/09

by Paul van Buitenen (Verts/ALE)

to the Commission

During the recent military operation ‘Cast Lead’ by Israel in Gaza, the Hamas terrorist organisation used UNRWA compounds such as schools to attack Israeli forces and civilian targets and to store weapons and ammunition. UNRWA has over 25 000 Palestinian Arabs on its payroll. In the Gaza strip, which is controlled by Hamas, UNRWA is running 200 schools. In 2004, (now former) UNRWA director Peter Hansen was quoted in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in which he mentioned that it was quite possible that members of the terrorist organisation Hamas were on the UNRWA payroll.

— As the EU is UNRWA's main sponsor, what has the Commission done to ensure that none of the employees of UNRWA are affiliated with a terrorist organisation? Has there been an official investigation to check the claims of Mr Hansen? If so what are its findings?

— Can the Commission exclude the possibility that members of a terrorist organisation are currently being employed by UNRWA?

Has the Commission taken note of the article ‘UNRWA Schools in Gaza infiltrated by Palestinian terrorists’ written by Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs researcher Jonathan Halevi, as appeared on 22 January 2009 in the Hebrew version of http://www.ynetnews.com, in which the following is stated?

— Suhil el-Hindi won the UNRWA workers committee elections held on 14 June 2006. Suhel el-Hindi is the head of the teachers sector at UNRWA schools and openly identifies himself as a Hamas representative. He controls the curriculum in UNRWA schools, the employment of teachers in those schools, and the summer camps.

— Hamas Interior Minister Said Sayyam who was responsible for Hamas terror attacks and was killed during the recent military operation ‘Cast Lead’ apparently was a UNRWA teacher for 23 years.

Can the Commission clarify whether these statements are correct? If this is the case, UNRWA as a Hamas-dependent organisation depends heavily on EU support. What consequences does this have for the EU’s financial support of UNRWA?

OJ C 189, 13/07/2010.

Legal notice - Privacy policy

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2009-0629_EN.html

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CHESLER CHRONICLES

Jews: To The Muslim Gas Chamber.

BY PHYLLIS CHESLER - JAN 30, 2009 4:55 PM ET

Today, we have grown used to seeing Palestinian and Hamas supporters goose-step, Nazi-style, shoot out their arms as they deliver the Hitlerian “Sieg Heil” salute. They also chant and scream: “Jews to the ovens,” “Hitler did not kill enough of you,” “Jews to the gas chambers.”

This is raw, rank, Jew-hatred or anti-Semitism; that much is clear. But we are also faced with a major paradox. These same Palestinian and Hamas supporters routinely hold signs that accuse Israel of being a “Nazi” state. To them, Gaza is “Auschwitz,” and the Israelis have “occupied” it with “genocidal” intentions.

Of course this is not factually true. According to my colleague, Dr. Barry Rubin: “In 1939, there were seven million Jews in continental Europe. At the end of the Holocaust, only one million Jews survived. There are currently 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza. At the end of the 2009 war, 1,199,000 Palestinians are still there. The percentage of Jewish civilians killed by Germans and their allies was 86 percent. The percentage of Gazan Palestinians killed by Israelis is 0.1 percent. The number of Jewish civilians deliberately killed by Nazis and their allies is 6,000,000. The number of Palestinian civilians deliberately killed by Israelis=0.” (Please see below for his additional comparisons)...

Dr. Kobrin calls this “psychological splitting. They want to have it both ways.” What she means is that the Palestinian propagandists and Muslim jihadists want to both identify with the Nazis as triumphant, death-cult destroyers–and also with the (past) and preferred sacred status accorded to dead Jewish victims. The Palestinians and other Islamists offer up their own babies, women, elderly, and civilian populations as human shields, human sacrifices, in order to obtain this grisly goal. They also engage in faked staged photos to approximate such Jewish-style deaths as well...

http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/2009/01/30/jews-to-the-muslim-gas-chamber

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Gaza E.R. ~ Hamas Hiding in Shifa Hospital? | Wide Angle | PBS

13 Jan 2009 — Hamas Hiding in Shifa Hospital? Israeli intelligence officials say that Hamas leaders are operating out of a bunker underneath Shifa Hospital...

But WIDE ANGLE reached a doctor in Gaza who believes Hamas officials are hiding either in the basement or in a separate underground area underneath the hospital and said that they moved there recently because other locations have been destroyed by Israel. The doctor, who asked not to be named, added that he believes Hamas is aware that they are putting civilians in harm’s way.

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/wa-blog/gaza-er-hamas-hiding-in-shifa-hospital/4086/

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HRW acknowledges Palestinians used human shields in Cast Lead

By Dan Izenberg, Yaakov Katz, Herb Keinon -

Jerusalem Post, August 13, 2009

A Jerusalem-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, Bill Van Esveld, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that there was evidence to indicate that war crimes were committed by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who allegedly used civilians as "human shields" during Operation Cast Lead...

https://www.jpost.com/Israel/HRW-acknowledges-Palestinians-used-human-shields-in-Cast-Lead

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Eye-witnesses: Hamas used human shields in Gaza war | PMW Analysis

Sep 16, 2009 — However, PMW reported in May that Hamas stole 46 ambulances donated for use in the war and used them as "military vehicles"..

https://palwatch.org/page/1382

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International Law and Armed Conflict: Fundamental Principles and Contemporary Challenges in the Law of War

Laurie R. Blank, ‎Gregory P. Noone (Wolters Kluwer; 2nd edition, September 14, 2018) – Page 627

... Storing munitions in mosques or hospitals, launching rockets from residential...

Cast lead...

Anthony H. Cordesman, The “Gaza War”: A Strategic Analysis 24 (2009) (describing how Hamas used a mosque to store Grad missiles and Qassam rockets), http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/090202_gaza_war.pdf; Jeffrey Fleishman, Charges Fly in. Battle Over What Happened in Gaza, L.A. Times, Jan. 23, 2009, at A1 (detailing how Hamas used a bunker beneath a hospital as a headquarters).

https://books.google.com/books?id=fmxuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA627

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The UN Gaza Report: A Substantive Critique : an Expanded Text of Ambassador Dore Gold's Presentation During an Exchange with Justice Richard Goldstone at Brandeis University on November 5, 2009

Dore Gold · 2009 · ‎Jerusalem Ctr for Public Affairs - Page 8

Israel's strategy during the Gaza War was to separate Palestinian civilians from the Hamas military, while Hamas sought to merge them, using civilians as human shields.

Hamas television reports the use ofthe Palestinian population as human shields in the Gaza War (left). Fathi Hammad (right), a leading member of the Hamas Parliament--and today the Hamas Interior Minister-- praised the use of human shields earlier in 2008.

https://books.google.com/books?id=SxqKJ8ASEPUC&pg=PA8

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Using civilians as humans shields: launching rockets at Israel from locations close to buildings and schools

Published: 19/01/2009

An Al-Arabiya TV correspondent reports a rocket launch: "The rocket launched now was a Grad? It was launched from under the office!”

1. Hanan al-Masri , an Al-Arabiya TV correspondent who works in the station's offices in Gaza City , recounted that during Operation Cast Lead at the end of December, a Grad rocket was launched at Israel from under the building she worked in, located in the heart of the city. She said she heard a very loud noise and thought it was an Israeli Air Force attack. However, it turned out that it was the sound of a122mm Grad rocket being fired from under the building.

https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/18335/

Gaza Reporter Caught on Tape Confirming Hamas Fired Rockets Near TV Offices

Israel releases tape of Al-Arabiya presenter saying Grad fired 'below the building', networks deny claim.

Yoav Stern - Jan. 20, 2009

Footage of a presenter on the Arabic language television station Al-Arabiya apparently confirms that Hamas fired at least one rocket from close to a building used by journalists during the 22-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces shelled the building, drawing international condemnation, and television networks with offices in the building denied that rockets had been launched from anywhere nearby.

But the recording, filmed by an Israeli and released Tuesday by Israel's Foreign Ministry, shows Al-Arabiya presenter Hanan Al-Masri saying that a Grad rocket had been fired from a location near the studios at Al-Shuruk tower in Gaza City. Al-Masri did not realize that she had been caught on camera.

Al-Masri, a Gaza resident, has been a reporter for Al-Arabiya for three years. She is filmed discussing other issues until she is apparently distracted by the firing.

"...A rocket from here? It's here," she says and turns to look at a window. "Listen, it's here, below the building..."

The production team tells Al-Masri that a rocket has been fired from a nearby location. She then calls someone and says: "The rocket that was just fired from here is a Grad?... It's as if it was fired from beneath the office. It was very loud. I thought it was bombing but it was a rocket launch."

The Foreign Ministry says the film is proof that Hamas had fired from the area of the studios.

Although the movie was filmed in one of the first days of Israel's 22-day offensive in Gaza, and Al-Shuruk tower was bombed only towards the end of the war, the Foreign Ministry views it as proof that Hamas did not refrain from launching rockets close to members of the media, and perhaps even fired near them in a bid to draw Israel into bombing the building.

https://www.haaretz.com/1.5065276

Al-Arabiya Footage Confirms Hamas Fired From Building Used By Journalists [English subtitle]

Jan 22, 2009

Footage of a presenter on the Arabic language television station Al-Arabiya (العربية) apparently confirms that Hamas fired at least one rocket from close to a building used by journalists during the 22-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip...

The reporter, Al-Arabiya presenter Hanan Al-Masri is caught on camera saying that a Grad rocket had been fired from a location near the studios at Al-Shuruk tower in Gaza City. Al-Masri did not realize that she had been caught on camera. A rocket from here? It's here, she says and turns to look at a window. Listen, it's here, below the building.

The production team tells Al-Masri that a rocket has been fired from a nearby location.

She then calls someone and says: The rocket that was just fired from here is a Grad? Its as if it was fired from beneath the office. It was very loud. I thought it was bombing but it was a rocket launch. This is an out-Take of Al-arabiya-TV Reporter Hannan al-Masri learning of an Hamas missile being fired from the ground floor of the building housing the Al-Arabiya studio in Gaza City on January 1, 2009.

The video was intercepted by satellite hobbyist.

The video is in arabic, but at 0:26 she actually says, It seems that it came out from under the office. She is apparently talking to her husband or brother.

Translation:

Journalist: A missile was launched from our place? From here?, it was launched from here!, no, from under our building. How many? Was the missile launched from under our place a Grad. The missile was launched just now, it seems like it was launched just outside the office. It made a big bang, I thought it was an airstrike, but it was a missile. They launched it from under the office! (Giggles)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPDZYmcyzqA

https://ne-np.facebook.com/IsraeleAdesso/videos/dedicato-a-chi-si-indigna-per-labbattimento-del-palazzo-che-ospitava-i-media-int/478790026511993/

L'Arche - Issues 609-610 - Page 45 - 2009

[La journaliste entend les missiles du Hamas, mais elle n'en parle pas

Hanan Al-Masri est la correspondante à Gaza de la chaîne de télévision al-Arabiya Basée à Dubaï. Les studios de la chaîne sont situés à la plein centre de la ville de Gaza. Dans un immeuble...

(Elle parle dans son téléphone portable) Est-ce que le missile qui a été tiré d'ici était un Grad? Juste a l'instant. Comme s'il venait

depuis juste au-des-sous du bureau. Il a fait un bruit terrible. J'ai cru que c'était un raid aérien mais c'était un missile. Ils l'ont tiré juste à côté du bureau."]

Journalist hears Hamas missiles, but does not talk about them

Hanan Al-Masri is the Gaza correspondent for Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV channel. The channel's studios are located right in the center of Gaza City. In a building...

(Speaks into her cell phone) Was the missile that was fired from here a Grad? Just at the moment. As if he was coming from just below the office. He made a terrible noise. I thought it was an air raid, but it was a missile. They shot him right next to the office."

https://books.google.com/books?id=J9M_AQAAIAAJ&q=Hanan+al-Masri+missile+2009

https://books.google.com/books?hl=iw&id=J9M_AQAAIAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22Bruit%22

John Oliver Blames Israel for Hamas War Crimes

Emanuel Miller - May 18, 2021

See, for example, the video below of an Al-Arabiya journalist expressing shock in 2009 that Hamas fired a Grad rocket at Israel from under the building in which she was located. “They launched from under the office,” she exclaims.

https://honestreporting.com/john-oliver-blames-israel-for-hamas-war-crimes/

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Hamas used kids as human shields'

By Yaakov Katz, 15/03/2010

Exclusive: New research report highlights extensive use of civilians during Gaza op.

Hamas gunmen used Palestinian children as human shields, and established command centers and Kassam launch pads in and near more than 100 mosques and hospitals during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last year, according to a new Israeli report being released on Monday that aims to counter criticism of the IDF.

The detailed 500-page report, obtained exclusively by The Jerusalem Post, was written by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (Malam), a small research group led by Col. (res.) Reuven Erlich, a former Military Intelligence officer who works closely with the army.

https://www.jpost.com/israel/hamas-used-kids-as-human-shields

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PA President Mahmoud Abbas: Hamas Leaders Fled to the Sinai in Ambulances during the Israeli Campaign in Gaza

#2255 | 01:42

Source: Palestinian Authority TV

Following is an excerpt from a speech delivered by PA President Mahmoud Abbas at the Arab American University in Jenin. The speech aired on Palestinian Authority TV on October 13, 2009.

https://www.memri.org/tv/pa-president-mahmoud-abbas-hamas-leaders-fled-sinai-ambulances-during-israeli-campaign-gaza

Abbas: Hamas Leaders Used Ambulances To Flee

by IPT News • Oct 27, 2009 at 5:46 pm

https://www.investigativeproject.org/1487/abbas-hamas-leaders-used-ambulances-to-flee

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Gaza Reporter Caught on Tape Confirming Hamas Fired Rockets Near TV Offices

Israel releases tape of Al-Arabiya presenter saying Grad fired 'below the building', networks deny claim.

Yoav Stern

Jan. 20, 2009

The Israel Defense Forces shelled the building, drawing international condemnation, and television networks with offices in the building denied that rockets had been launched from anywhere nearby.

https://www.haaretz.com/1.5065276

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YqrMqbLEYvU

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Harm to Civilians from Palestinian Armed Groups’ Rocket Attacks | HRW

August 6, 2009

This 31-page report documents attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups since November 2008 that killed three Israeli civilians and seriously injured dozens of others, damaged property and forced residents to leave their homes. The rockets unlawfully struck populated areas up to 40 kilometers inside Israel, placing roughly 800,000 Israeli civilians at risk. Rockets that fell short of their intended targets in Israel killed two girls and wounded others in Gaza during this period. Palestinian armed groups that launched rockets from densely populated areas also unlawfully put Gaza civilians at risk of Israeli counterstrikes...

Harm to Civilians from Palestinian Armed Groups’ Rocket Attacks

While Hamas has at times significantly decreased the level of rocket fire from Gaza, including by pressuring other armed groups to stop unauthorized attacks, it has taken no apparent action to prosecute or otherwise hold accountable Hamas forces or other Palestinian armed groups for launching unlawful rocket attacks against Israeli civilian areas.

The rockets fired by Hamas and other armed groups are primarily locally made “Qassam” rockets, with a range of 16 kilometers. A smaller number are Soviet-designed “Grad” rockets, with a 21-kilometer range. The rockets have hit Israeli cities and towns close to the 1949 armistice line between Gaza and Israel, primarily Sderot; in 2008, rockets also struck Ashkelon and Netivot. Since late December 2008, some longer-range rockets have struck as far as 40 kilometers inside Israel, including, for the first time, the cities of Beer Sheva and Ashdod.

None of these rockets can be reliably aimed. Under international humanitarian law applicable to the fighting between Palestinian armed groups and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), such weapons are inherently indiscriminate when directed towards densely populated areas. The absence of Israeli military forces in the areas struck by the rockets, as well as statements from the leaders of Hamas and other armed groups, indicate that many of these attacks are deliberately intended to strike Israeli civilians and civilian structures. Individuals who willfully authorize or carry out deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians are committing war crimes.

The rocket attacks have caused civilian casualties and property damage. Civilian structures damaged in recent attacks include a kindergarten, a synagogue and private homes. An Israeli early warning siren system, which gives civilians roughly 10 to 45 seconds to find cover in prepared shelters, depending on their distance from the launch site in Gaza, has undoubtedly limited the number of civilian casualties. However, the repeated attacks have, over months and even years, taken a psychological toll on the population in areas close to Gaza. The laws of war prohibit attacks the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population. Because of the rocket attacks, thousands of people have moved away from frequently targeted areas such as Sderot municipality.

The rocket attacks have also placed civilians in Gaza at risk. The unpredictable nature of the crude rockets has meant that rockets have struck areas not only inside Israel but also inside Gaza; on December 26 a rocket hit a house in Beit Lahiya, killing two Palestinian girls, ages 5 and 12. In addition, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have frequently violated the laws of war by firing rockets from within populated areas. In doing so, they failed to take all feasible precautions to avoid placing military targets within densely populated areas, such as by removing civilians under their control from the vicinity of military targets, and protecting civilians from the danger resulting from military operations...

Cease conducting attacks from locations near populated areas in Gaza in violation of international humanitarian law requiring all feasible precautions to protect civilians from the effects of attacks, and avoid locating military objectives in densely populated areas...

This report concerns rocket attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on civilian population centers in Israel since November 2008. ..

Firing Rockets from Populated Areas

Numerous Palestinians in Gaza told Human Rights Watch that during the course of Israel’s aerial campaign and subsequent invasion of Gaza in late December and early January, members of Palestinian armed groups redeployed from more open and outlying regions – many of which were either controlled by Israeli ground forces or “covered” by armed aerial drones, helicopters, and fighter aircraft – into densely populated urban areas. The International Crisis Group quoted an Islamic Jihad fighter as saying, “the most important thing is achieving our military goals,” among which was to continue firing rockets in defiance of the stated Israeli aim to end the rocket attacks. He told the Crisis Group, “We stay away from the houses if we can, but that’s often impossible.”

While fighting in urban areas is not prohibited under the laws of war, parties to a conflict are obligated to adopt measures to minimize the risk to the civilian population. During the recent fighting and at other times, Palestinian armed groups have placed fellow Palestinians at grave risk of Israeli counter-attacks by firing rockets from within or near populated areas. In doing so, they violate the laws of war by failing to take all feasible precautions to avoid placing military targets within or near densely populated areas, to remove civilians under their control from the vicinity of military targets, and to protect civilians from the danger resulting from military operations.

In most of the following cases, Human Rights Watch researchers found that armed groups endangered civilians by firing rockets from populated areas.

In one case, a resident in northern Gaza City told Human Rights Watch that he and others had been on the roof of his building watching Israeli bombing raids on the first day of the Israeli assault. He said that around 5 p.m. “[w]e saw Hamas come and put up rocket launchers and fire. We could tell they were Grads by the sound, which is louder and deeper than that of Qassams.” According to the witness, the rockets were fired in a populated neighborhood near a well-known landmark, the al-Andalus tower. The witness specified, “they fired from between a medium-sized cow shed and some houses. There were maybe 60 meters between the cow shed and the houses.” It is not clear if the houses were inhabited at the time. In any case, ten minutes later, the witness said, “there was a retaliatory strike by an F-16 [fighter-bomber], a really big explosion.”

The witness also said that, in a second incident on January 1, residents of the area shouted at Hamas fighters to prevent them from entering a garden immediately next to the building he lived in, apparently with the intention to use it to fire rockets. “I had already left [the area] but my neighbor, the grocery store owner, was watching and he called me to come back,” the witness said. “The Hamas guys had already cut the wires of the gate to break in. All the people got together and shouted at them to leave, told them the rockets were going to backfire on us. After that we came back every day to the garden for a few hours to prevent them from firing from it.” Hamas did not return to the area, according to the witness.

Human Rights Watch researchers did not find any cases where Hamas or other armed groups forced civilians to remain in areas in close proximity to rocket launching sites.

Human Rights Watch was unable to determine the locations from which militants fired rockets in Tel el-Hawa, or if they fired from locations very close to civilians when other firing positions were available. The lawyer who was badly injured by a Palestinian rocket on December 24 (see above) said he was unsure where fighters fired rockets in his neighborhood: “Not from rooftops, but that doesn’t make much difference when the IDF responds with an F-16 or heavy artillery.” In the months before the Israeli attack, he said, “we heard strange sounds coming just after the dawn prayers. We knew it was rockets being fired, but we never expected this [the rocket that fell on his home]. And this morning [April 10], we heard the same sounds again. We were all talking about it at lunch.” He added, “I do not deny the right of occupied people to resist, but I think that the means should be reevaluated.”

Two residents of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in the southern part of Gaza City separately told Human Rights Watch that they could hear repeated rocket firings from the neighborhood during the Israeli operation, but could not identify the precise location of the launch sites. One said he heard “several” rockets being fired between December 27, when Israel launched its initial air strikes, and January 4, 2009, when he left the area for security reasons. The other resident remained in Tel al-Hawa throughout the period of heavy fighting and said he had heard “many” launches. The second man said neighbors had told him of a case in which fighters reportedly fired a rocket from within the courtyard of a building. Neither knew of rockets being launched from inhabited buildings or areas nearby, or whether Hamas made efforts to remove the buildings’ residents before firing rockets.

The doctor whose home in Shajai’ya had been damaged by a rocket (see above) said that neighbors told him they saw the rocket being launched from an open agricultural area about 250 meters southwest of his home. “It was fired by a timer. Right after that there was a[n IDF] drone over us for 10 minutes – I’m sure it saw the damage to my house.” In another case, the doctor said, militants had fired a rocket much closer to the row of houses along his street. He said that a week before Israel began major military operations, an IDF helicopter fired a missile in response to a rocket firing “just 50 meters from here, inside the compound of the Palestinian power authority.” He indicated a wall directly across the street from his home. The Palestinian fighters “fired from inside the walls of the compound. Then the helicopter fired back,” shooting a missile into the main building in the compound. By using the compound of the power authority for military purposes, the Palestinian forces were making the normally civilian structure a lawful military target and may have been placing the residents of nearby homes at unnecessary risk.

According to the doctor, residents of the area felt endangered and angered by the militants’ use of their area as a launching site. Two weeks before the rocket hit his home, he said, “another rocket fell short, but the people where the rocket landed didn’t know the name of the person responsible, and I think they were too afraid to ask.” He and his neighbors “went to the political leaders in the area and complained, and later they gave me money to repair the windows, though not the damage inside the house.” The authorities made no promises to stop the rocket fire, he added.

As noted, parties to a conflict violate the laws of war when they fail to take all feasible precautions to avoid placing forces, weapons, and ammunition within or near densely populated areas. Deliberately using civilians to deter attacks on military targets amounts to “human shielding,” which is a war crime In the preceding cases, Human Rights Watch either could not determine or the evidence did not indicate that militants launched rockets from areas close to civilians with the intention of deterring Israeli forces from counter-attacking. The International Crisis Group interviewed three Hamas fighters in January who said they “often fired [rockets] in close proximity to homes and from alleys, hoping that nearby civilians would deter Israel from responding” -- indicating the intent to use civilians as shields. The Crisis Group’s report and the staff who conducted the interviews did not provide further details or specific cases of shielding. The Crisis Group reported that after the conflict, some Gaza residents unsuccessfully “urged a government investigation of, and accountability for, fighters who endangered civilians” by firing from populated areas...

https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/08/06/rockets-gaza/harm-civilians-palestinian-armed-groups-rocket-attacks#_ftn6

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Documentation: This is how Hamas fires from schools and mosques - Mako - N12

Hamas, desperately in need of an achievement in front of the population in Gaza, continues to try and convince the residents of the Gaza Strip that Israel was badly hit by the rocket fire during the operation. The organization is releasing a new video that actually incriminates him in Israel's accusations: steep-track shooting - from civilian buildings, schools and mosques. Rockets were also fired from the roofs of houses. This is what the cynical exploitation of Gaza residents looks like.

News | Sep 6, 2009 -

In the war video, the members of the filming unit intended to take pride in the launches of improved Grad missiles made during Operation Cast Lead towards Ashkelon, but the most obvious thing in the video is the environment from which the missiles are launched. The video shows a launch taking place near a school, near a mosque and in a limited open space - which is surrounded by a number of other civilian buildings.

Another launch is documented from an agricultural farm in the Strip. During the operation, it will be recalled that the Palestinians often claimed that the IDF also hit many agricultural crops; another missile was recorded being launched from a high place - apparently the roof of some building; all the launches documented in the video - were taken from civilian buildings.

The terrorist hid in a civilian house

The latest documentary joins another documentary released last month by an IDF spokesman - documenting a Hamas terrorist lurking for IDF infantry during the operation and placing a side charge. Aware of everything going on around them. https://mobile.mako.co.il/news-military/security/Article-d45eee6dc4e8321004.htm

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Stop New Anti-Israel Initiative

October 13, 2009

Failing to document Hamas' publicly stated use of human shields, Judge Goldstone instead accused Israel of targeting civilians.

(Photo: Armed Palestinian terrorists in Gaza rounding up a child to be used as a human shield.

Source: Israel Channel 2)

https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/stop-new-anti-israel.html

2010 Top Ten Anti-Israel Lies

May 8, 2010 | by The Simon Wiesenthal Center

... The (Sep-2009) Goldstone Report on Israel’s defensive war against Hamas-controlled Gaza, from which 8,000 rockets were fired after Israel’s unilateral withdrawal in 2005, is a biased product of the UN’s misnamed Human Rights Council. The UNHRC is obsessed with false anti-Israel resolutions. It refuses to address grievous human rights abuses in Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and beyond.

Faced with similar attacks, every UN member-state including the U.S. and Canada would surely have acted more aggressively than the IDF did in Gaza.

Yet, Richard Goldstone, a South African Jewish jurist, signed a document prepared by investigators whose main qualification was rabid anti-Israel bias. He accepted every anonymous libel against the IDF. But he insisted that hearings in Gaza be televised, guaranteeing that fearful Palestinians would never testify about Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields and their hiding of weapons in mosques and hospitals.

https://www.aish.com/jw/me/92746669.html

Israeli NGO: Hamas 'Used Civilians as Human Shields' in Gaza

Goldstone report showed 'systematic pro-Palestinian bias', says Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

Haaretz Service Jonny Singer

15.03.2010 | 15:10

Hamas used Palestinian civilians as human shields during last year's Gaza war, according to a study published Monday by the Israeli non-governmental orgainzation the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

https://www.haaretz.com/1.5042118

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Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States - Page 311

... launch Sites amongst the Palestinian civilian population, utilizing them as human shields; Whereas intentionally targeting civilian populations and the use of human shields violates international humanitarian and human rights law: Whereas intentionally targeting civilians population and use of human shields.

United States. Congress. House - 2010

https://books.google.com/books?id=bxbnyfRkw9YC&q=palestinian+use+human+shields

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'Hamas used kids as human shields' - The Jerusalem Post

Yaakov Katz - Mar 15 2010 — Exclusive: New research report highlights extensive use of civilians during Gaza op..

https://www.jpost.com/israel/hamas-used-kids-as-human-shields

‘Hamas used kids as human shields’ - By Sderot Media Center - March 16, 2010

Hamas gunmen used Palestinian children as human shields, and established command centers and Qassam launch pads in and near more than 100 mosques and hospitals during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last year, according to a new Israeli report being released on Monday that aims to counter criticism of the IDF

https://sderotmedia.com/hamas-used-kids-as-human-shields/2510/

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Palestine - Page 311 - Jonathan Bloomfield – (AuhtorHouse), 2010

Hamas and Hezbollah go after Israeli citizens and use their own people as human shields. These groups are supported by the government ...

https://books.google.com/books?id=fhd2TSX8XV0C&pg=PA311

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Gil Stein: Hamas ”dead baby strategy” reprehensible

Santa Cruz Sentinel

PUBLISHED: January 10, 2010 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: September 11, 2018 at 12:00 a.m.

[...]

We also saw video from the other side. We saw the destruction in Gaza and we also saw how the Hamas weapon of choice was the human shield. In Israeli cities efforts were made to protect civilians. Israel also made efforts to minimize civilian casualties on the other side by dropping over a million leaflets warning people to vacate areas where Hamas activity was taking place. In Gaza it was the opposite.

https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2010/01/10/gil-stein-hamas-dead-baby-strategy-reprehensible/

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The Encyclopedia of Middle East Wars: The United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq Conflicts [5 volumes]: The United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq Conflicts

Spencer C. Tucker - ABC-CLIO, Aug 8, 2010 - Page 543

There are records of Palestinians wanted by the Israeli government using civilians as a shield to prevent the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from firing at them. This tactic was repeated when leaders of Hamas—an Islamic Palestinian political faction that has controlled the Gaza Strip since June 2007—encouraged the Palestinian civilian population to gather near potential Israeli Air Force targets. Hamas also launched rockets on Israeli towns from civilian centers in Gaza. This practice was also reportedly employed by Hezbollah fighters during their war with Israel in July and August 2006, when they fired Katyusha rockets at Israel from civilian centers and fortified their positions inside villages.

https://books.google.com/books?id=U05OvsOPeKMC&pg=PA543

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Watch: Hamas fires Grad missiles from schools and mosques - Mako - N12

The IDF has repeatedly emphasized in recent weeks that Hamas and the organizations in the Gaza Strip are launching rockets at Israel from residential neighborhoods, making it difficult to fire accurately at the launchers without harming civilians. Documentation coming from Gaza now reveals Watch the launches

Tom Sharon - News | 12.04.11

Shooting behind civilians 'backs: New video footage of Hamas' military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, summarizing Qassam and Grad rocket fire at southern settlements in the latest round of violence, provides conclusive proof that the organization's operatives are firing on Israeli territory - From inhabited areas and near public institutions.

In the video, which was published in the various Hamas media, you can see the massive shooting at Israel in recent days, which took place very close to mosques and schools.

Israel has claimed in the past and in the past week that Hamas and other armed organizations in the Gaza Strip are exploiting the local population and using it as a "human shield" to continue firing on southern settlements and the Gaza Strip, assuming the Air Force aircraft do not thwart the shooting. From the heart of residential neighborhoods. https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/security/Article-23d3dcd29e84f21004.htm

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Watch: The weapons depot attacked in Gaza, near a residence - Walla! news.

12 Dec 2011 - A video released today by the IDF Spokesman illustrates how the population of Gaza has become a "human shield" for the terrorist activities of the various organizations, headed by Hamas..

https://news.walla.co.il/item/1884766

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New Evidence from IDF: Hamas Still Using Palestinian Civilians as Human Shields

Sharona Schwartz - December 14, 2011

The Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit released a video showing an Air Force strike of a Hamas weapons storage site in northern Gaza, saying this provides further evidence Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields:

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2011/12/14/new-evidence-from-idf-hamas-still-using-palestinian-civilians-as-human-shields

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Palestinian Terrorists Using Civilians as Shields in Gaza, IDF Says

by News Editor

March 12, 2012

Hamas terrorist prepares to launch a rocket in the midst of civilians. Photo: IDF.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2012/03/12/palestinian-terrorists-using-civilians-as-shields-in-gaza-idf-says/

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IDF documents Palestinian using human shield

Censored video shows terrorist use woman as human shield while planting explosives. Soldiers irked by 'censorship'; IDF says not all footage taken by military is published

Yoav Zitun|Published: 05.27.12

The IDF imposed an embargo on a video allegedly documenting a Palestinian terrorist using a Palestinian woman as a human shield, Ynet discovered Sunday.

Footage taken by IDF cameras in the area clearly shows the terrorist holding the woman hostage, carrying her as a barrier between himself and IDF forces.

The video documents an incident that took place two weeks ago, near the Gaza border: Seven Palestinians planting explosive devices north of Beit Lahia were intercepted by IDF soldiers. The soldiers opened fire, injuring some of the men.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4234643,00.html

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Hamas has released a video: Rocket fire from a civilian surface.

The terrorist organization shot itself in the foot? Photographs of the military arm show a rocket launch from early morning, inside an area of civilian population

Elior Levy Posted 17:14, 29/10/2012 https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4298566,00.html

How Hamas and Islamic Jihad Use Journalism as a Cover for Terrorism

Nov 29, 2012 — The terrorists thought that hiding in a civilian building and using international journalists as human shields would ensure their safety.

https://www.idf.il/en/articles/palestinian-terror/how-hamas-and-islamic-jihad-use-journalism-as-a-cover-for-terrorism/

Hamas uses human shield to fire rockets on Israeli cities

myisraelHE

Oct 30, 2012

On Oct 29th 2012, 20 rockets were fired from Gaza to Israeli cities by the Hamas.

In this movie, created by Hamas, rockets are being fired from civilian population towards civilian population, against the international law.

The Hamas uses civilians as a live shield and brags about it.

Hamas shows no humanity and no conscious.

It is time to show the world the truth

http://web.archive.org/web/20121109200604/youtube.com/watch?v=k1f-7Tg4QBw

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IDF: Terrorists using human shields - Ynetnews

Dec 3, 2012 — Gaza terrorists firing rockets from densely populated areas, civilians hurt in Israeli strikes as result of Palestinian tactics

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4201948,00.html

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The IDF surgically attacks dozens of terrorist infrastructures in the Gaza Strip | The Carmel and the North Portal

Nov 14, 2012 —

The IDF carried out extensive damage to the long-range launch capabilities (over 40 km) of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad while causing significant damage to the underground launch arrays and weapons warehouses of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip. The aim of the attack is to disrupt the launching capabilities of the terrorist organizations and damage the strengthening of the terrorist organizations.

The Gaza Strip has become a forward Iranian base and it is putting the citizens of the State of Israel under fire from missiles and intolerable terrorism. The IDF will continue to attack targets that are bases for terrorism against the citizens of the State of Israel.

The targets that were attacked were located according to precise intelligence of the Intelligence Division and according to individual planning during the last months. A large part of the weapons storage sites is located in civilian residential buildings. This is further evidence of Hamas' patterns of action and the use of the population in Gaza as a "human shield".

https://www.karmel.co.il/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%A6%D7%94-%D7%9C-%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A7%D7%A3-%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%92%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A2%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%AA%D7%A9%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A8-%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%AA-%D7%A2%D7%96%D7%94

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Hamas: Proud of the "human shield" tactic - Channel 7

Yoni Kempinski

Nov 15, 2012 - Video shows rocket fire from population concentrations. The video, which was uploaded to the Internet by Hamas, proves the IDF's claim regarding the use of "human shields"

https://www.inn.co.il/news/246936

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Hamas Spokesman Urges Palestinian Civilians to Ignore IDF Warnings

This afternoon, the IDF dropped leaflets over the Gaza Strip, warning civilians to stay away from Hamas operatives and infrastructure.

Nov 20, 2012 — ... within our people. The IDF does everything it can do to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

https://www.idf.il/en/articles/hamas/hamas-spokesman-urges-palestinian-civilians-to-ignore-idf-warnings/

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Dealing with Hamas’s human shield tactics

By Yaakov Lappin

November 20, 2012

[IDF real time footage of bomb target 370]

Pilots often ordered to call off air strikes at last moment.

[https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/t_JM_ArticleMainImage/207815]

https://www.jpost.com/defense/dealing-with-hamass-human-shield-tactics

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Brazen faking of images reveals Hamas’ desperation

By Paul Alster | Fox News

Published November 20, 2012

Last Update March 26, 2015

In an attempt to persuade the world that Israel is committing war crimes and to distract attention away from the illegal and immoral use of their own population as human shields, Hamas has resorted to staging a number of fake deaths and scenes of severely injured people right in front of international TV crews.

The BBC recently broadcast a news report showing a man being carried off by four others, seemingly the victim of an Israeli missile strike, only for him to reappear in the same clip a few seconds later wandering around completely unharmed. The same organization’s Jon Donnison yesterday re-tweeted a picture of the dead body of a young girl on a stretcher in Gaza with the headline "Heartbreaking," only for it to transpire that the girl had sadly been killed three weeks earlier in Syria....

"As in Judaism, Islam believes in taking the body and burying it at the first opportunity," he said. "Even Al Jazeera is sensitive to this and has blanked out faces as it is an invasion of privacy. This is a cynical abuse of respect and privacy and is not something that is reconcilable with the norms of the community. There are certain moral and ethical codes that we all behave by. In Egypt and Jordan this stuff doesn’t get published. Hamas are going to suffer for it amongst their own.”

Does the apparent manipulation of pictures, the "photoshopping" of images to suggest scenarios that later prove to be false, suggest a desperation then on the part of the Islamists to persuade the outside world of their opinion, regardless of the truth being told or not told?

"Hamas is using these pictures in order to deliberately incite Arab public opinion because their leadership is disappointed at the relative lack of public pressure throughout the Arab world on Arab governments to support Hamas,” Hirschson argued. “That could be for a number of reasons, but it could very well be because in Syria, in Egypt, or in Bahrain, for example, they have problems of their own. The other factor is that, yes, we have seen a rise in Islamists in the Arab world, but not everyone there is excited at that prospect. It is significant that there has barely been anything from Gaza’s brothers in the Palestinian Authority. The (West Bank) leadership is nauseated with Hamas.”

Some argue that Hamas’ manipulation of images is effectively undermining their own case and risking losing public sympathy as viewers and readers cannot be sure if the suffering being displayed is genuine. Those instances of real tragedy and trauma become lost in a fog of spin and manipulation..

https://www.foxnews.com/world/brazen-faking-of-images-reveals-hamas-desperation

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Hamas: Proud of the "Human Shields" Tactics

A video shows rocket fire from population concentrations. The video, which was uploaded to the Internet by Hamas, proves the IDF's claim regarding the use of "human shields."

Yoni Kempinski - Channel 7, 1. Kislev 5773. 15/11/12

https://www.inn.co.il/news/246936

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Hamas launching rockets near civilian homes - Pillar of Defense #6 ...

Nov 19, 2012 ... Footage showing Hamas firing rockets from among civilian homes demonstrates how once again Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

https://palwatch.org/page/4287

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Hamas to Israelis: We "love death more than you love life" - Pillar of Defense #5

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik | Nov 19, 2012

PMW special report on Operation Pillar of Defense #5

Hamas TV to Israelis:

We "love death more than you love life"

"The price will be high, Sons of Zion...

All of Palestine is ours.

There is nothing here for you but death"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

In an attempt to scare Israelis and boost morale among Palestinians, Hamas and its military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, have created videos with messages for Israelis which are being broadcast on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV.

One such message addressed Israeli soldiers:

"From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionist soldiers: The Al-Qassam Brigades love death more than you love life.

[https://youtu.be/PAOzy2zwyxo]

https://palwatch.org/page/4286

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Laurie R. Blank, Taking Distinction to the Next Level: Accountability for Fighters’ Failure to

Distinguish Themselves from Civilians, 46 VAL. U. L. REV. 765, 794 (2012):

. . .Hamas militants position mobile rocket launchers in schoolyards, mosques, next to residential buildings, and in other civilian locales. The tactical purpose is to protect the fighter jets, rocket launchers, or other military objectives by deterring attacks. The strategic purpose, which is significantly more insidious, is to use resulting civilian deaths as a broader strategic tool to accuse the attacking party of war crimes, diminish support for the war effort in that country, or otherwise change the course of the conflict.

https://paperzz.com/doc/7182256/taking-distinction-to-the-next-level--accountability

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Rocket attack is a warning to all Israel's enemies, with domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet to take action 'when necessary'

By Michael Burleigh for the Daily Mail - 16 Nov 2012

... For sure Hamas carries out good deeds among the Palestinian poor in Gaza, with clinics and soup kitchens, but this is largely an attempt to indoctrinate them in anti-Semitic hatred by a political leadership that gives the armed wing its strategic marching orders.

The core fighters of the military wing number several hundreds of men, trained in Iran and Syria, but there another 10,000 people who facilitate their evil deeds.

Hamas is not some benign conservative religious party. The 2012 list of its regular human rights abuses compiled by the organisation Human Rights Watch runs to 42 pages, and includes beating people with iron bars, 102 cases of torture, and the hanging of anyone suspected of collaborating with the Israelis.

Their fighters employ child suicide bombers and use Palestinian civilians as human shields. This is the organisation to which Jaberi devoted the last decades of his violent life.

Jaberi, for example, is believed to have been involved in the suicide bombing of a No 6 bus in the Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom in 1995 that killed eight and wounded 60 others.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2233724/Gaza-rocket-attack-warning-Israels-enemies.html

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Gathering [intelligence] officer: Hamas’ human bulletproof vest

While the IDF warned the residents of Gaza during the operation against the bombings, Hamas threatened the civilians not to obey these instructions. Also: What will the war on the perimeter fence look like the day after "Pillar of Defense"?

Amir Bohbot, Nov 23, 2012

... Operation Pillar of Cloud has created a new and unprecedented benchmark at the international level for fighting in built-up areas and minimizing environmental damage, including not harming innocent civilians. There were unusual incidents in which 12 innocent civilians were killed in the compound, but after eight days of fighting the numbers speak for themselves. The Air Force carried out 1,500 attacks using 100% accurate armaments. 177 Palestinians were killed, including 120 terrorists and the rest civilians.

Hamas commanders went underground and remained in bunkers, but soon realized that the IDF was looking for a sterile war. Therefore, the finger on the trigger was sometimes loose. Military prosecution officers sat in the attack cells, a "fire canopy," to assist in real-time with the dilemmas that developed on the ground. The clear goal was to strengthen the international legitimacy of the operation.

Although senior Hamas figures sat in bunkers throughout the operation, the organization quickly recognized the Israeli initiative and began threatening its citizens not to obey IDF instructions in order to serve as a human shield for its commanders.

In one incident that was exposed to Israeli intelligence, Hamas government Interior Ministry spokesman Islam Shawan was identified after he appeared on Radio Al Quds this Monday, urging listeners not to comment on messages sent by the "Zionist enemy" to mobile devices.

The broadcaster told the Interior Ministry spokesman that the IDF had managed to infiltrate the home telephone network and send voice messages and text messages to the "Joel" cellular network, while calling on them to leave their homes and move to a safe place. We warn our Palestinian people that the Zionist enemy has begun to infiltrate the Palestinian communications network and call cellular phone numbers ... so we warn not to comment or respond to any number, the origin of which is unknown ... not to respond in order not to spread fear or terror ...

https://news.walla.co.il/item/2589536

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HRW

Gaza: Palestinian Rockets Unlawfully Targeted Israeli Civilians

Residents Describe Deaths, Destruction from Attacks

(Jerusalem) – Palestinian armed groups in Gaza violated the laws of war during the November 2012 fighting by launching hundreds of rockets toward population centers in Israel.

About 1,500 rockets were fired at Israel between November 14 and 21, the Israel Defense Forces reported. At least 800 struck Israel, including 60 that hit populated areas.

The rocket attacks, including the first from Gaza to strike the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas, killed three Israeli civilians, wounded at least 38, several seriously, and destroyed civilian property. Rockets that fell short of their intended targets in Israel apparently killed at least two Palestinians in Gaza and wounded others, Human Rights Watch said.

“Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “There is simply no legal justification for launching rockets at populated areas.”

Under international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, civilians and civilian structures may not be subject to deliberate attacks or attacks that do not discriminate between civilians and military targets. Anyone who commits serious laws-of-war violations intentionally or recklessly is responsible for war crimes.

During and after the November fighting, Human Rights Watch interviewed witnesses, victims, and relatives of people killed and injured by rocket attacks in Israel, as well as Israeli officials from two communities struck by rockets, and a spokesperson for the Israeli emergency medical services.

Human Rights Watch research in Gaza found that armed groups repeatedly fired rockets from densely populated areas, near homes, businesses, and a hotel, unnecessarily placing civilians in the vicinity at grave risk from Israeli counter-fire.

The Palestinian armed groups that are known to have launched rockets at Israel – Hamas' Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Islamic Jihad's Saraya al-Quds Brigades, and the Popular Resistance Committee's Nasser Salahaddin Brigades – at times said that their attacks targeted civilians or they sought to justify the attacks by calling them reprisals for Israeli attacks that killed civilians in Gaza.

On November 18, for example, the al-Qassam Brigades announced that it had launched a Fajr 5 at Tel Aviv “as a response for the ongoing aggression against Palestinian people.” The Nasser Salahaddin Brigades stated on November 10 that it had launched four rockets at Israeli communities close to Gaza as a “revenge invoice” for Israeli shelling that had killed four Palestinian civilians.

The laws of war prohibit reprisal attacks against civilians, regardless of unlawful attacks by the other side, Human Rights Watch said. Statements by armed groups that they deliberately targeted an Israeli city or Israeli civilians are demonstrating their intent to commit war crimes.

Hamas, the ruling authority in Gaza, is obligated to uphold the laws of war and should appropriately punish those responsible for serious violations, Human Rights Watch said.

During the November fighting, Palestinian armed groups launched rockets that reached further into Israel than ever before, with eight rockets reportedly striking or being intercepted in the Tel Aviv area and three near Jerusalem. Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades stated on November 22 that armed groups during the fighting had launched 12 long-range rockets, one toward the city of Herzliya in the Tel Aviv district and three toward Jerusalem.

Israel's Internal Security Agency (ISA) said that about half of the rockets fired into Israel were short range, reaching up to 20 kilometers; slightly less than half were medium range, reaching 20 to 60 kilometers, and less than 1 percent were long range reaching over 60 kilometers.

The Israel Defense Forces said that its “Iron Dome” anti-rocket defense system intercepted more than 400 rockets during the November fighting. Of the rockets that hit Israel, the vast majority landed in open areas, causing no injuries or damage.

In addition to the locally made Qassam rockets and Soviet-designed Grad rockets long used by Palestinian armed groups, the Qassam Brigades announced that it had launched a locally made larger rocket, called the M75, as well as Iranian-produced Fajr 5 rockets. Officials from Hamas and Islamic Jihad said that Iran had supplied Palestinian armed groups with military support.

The Guardian newspaper quoted an Iranian military official's statement to Iranian media that Iran had not supplied rockets but had provided technical information to Palestinian armed groups that enabled them to build their own Fajr 5 rockets. The Fajr 5 has a reported range of 75 kilometers, capable of reaching the Tel Aviv metropolitan area from Gaza, with 90 kilograms of explosives in its warhead.

Supplying weaponry to a party to a conflict knowing that it is likely to be used to commit war crimes constitutes the aiding and abetting of war crimes, as demonstrated in the April conviction of former Liberian president Charles Taylor by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Civilian Victims

The three Israeli civilian deaths came from one rocket that struck an apartment building in Kiryat Malachi near Ashdod around 8 a.m. on November 15, killing Aharon Smadja, 48, Mira Scharf, 25, and Yitzhak Amsalem, 24. Two men and an 8-month-old baby were wounded.

A statement by Hamas's al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for launching five Grad rockets at Kiryat Malachi that day at 7:50 a.m.

The Israeli emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, said that during the November fighting, medics treated thirty-eight civilians wounded by rockets, three of them severely and four of them moderately. The wounded included a 50-year-old man in Ashkelon, whose foot was traumatically amputated by a rocket blast; a man in Ofakim who was severely wounded when a rocket hit the car in which he was riding; and a 43-year-old man in the Zeelim area who suffered severe injuries to his upper body from rocket shrapnel.

Kfir Rosen, a 26-year-old state employee, described a November 20 rocket blast that injured him in the shoulder and leg:

The things in the house flew around, doors were blown out, the whole building shook. A splinter from the rocket flew past and scraped my throat. After the explosion we couldn't see a thing; it was all full of smoke and dust. A [concrete] block from upstairs hit my shoulder, and another hit the back of my hip.

Rockets also destroyed civilian property including homes and schools. On November 20, a rocket tore the roof off a school in Ashkelon.

Some rockets launched by Palestinian armed groups fell short and struck inside Gaza. On November 16, a rocket that appears to have been launched from within Gaza hit a crowded street in the Gazan town of Jabalya, killing a man, 23, and a boy, 4, and wounding five people.

Launching from Residential Neighborhoods

Human Rights Watch interviewed four witnesses to rocket launches from densely populated areas inside Gaza, and heard second-hand reports about many more. Unlike during previous fighting, armed groups seem to have fired many rockets from underground tunnels, opening a hatch to launch the munition.

One rocket was launched on November 20 at around 1:30 p.m. just off Wehda Street in Gaza City, about 100 meters from the Shawa and Housari Building, where various Palestinian and international media have offices. “I saw it [the rocket] go up and heard it, and then smoke was in the office,” a witness said.

One man said he saw a rocket launched from the yard of a house near the Deira Hotel in central Gaza City, though he could not recall the date.

International and Palestinian journalists traveling around Gaza during the fighting told Human Rights Watch that they did not see any Palestinian militants moving in the open, suggesting that Hamas has developed a network of tunnels for personnel and perhaps rockets.

Under the laws of war, parties to an armed conflict are required to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians under their control from the effects of attacks and not to place military targets in or near densely populated areas. Human Rights Watch has not been able to identify any instances in November in which a Palestinian armed group warned civilians to evacuate an area before a rocket launch.

The rockets launched by Palestinian groups cannot be aimed precisely enough to target military objectives in or near civilian areas, Human Rights Watch said. Under the laws of war, such weapons are therefore indiscriminate when used against targets in population centers. The absence of Israeli military forces in the areas where rockets hit, as well as statements by leaders of Palestinian armed groups that population centers were being targeted, indicate that the armed groups deliberately attacked Israeli civilians and civilian objects.

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly condemned indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli population centers, as well as Hamas' failure to hold anyone accountable for those attacks. Human Rights Watch reiterated those condemnations.

The November 14 to 21 hostilities between Israel and Hamas and armed groups in Gaza involved unlawful attacks on civilians by both sides. Four Israeli civilians and at least 103 Palestinian civilians died during the fighting. The fourth Israeli civilian, an Israeli Bedouin named Alayaan Salem al-Nabari, 33, was killed on November 20 in a mortar attack in the Eshkol Regional Council area that reportedly wounded several soldiers. According to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was accompanying his cousin who works for a company that builds tents for the military.

“A limited military arsenal that relies on largely indiscriminate rockets does not justify a failure to respect the laws of war, which apply to all sides in a conflict whatever their capabilities,” Whitson said. “As the ruling authority in Gaza, Hamas has an obligation to stop unlawful attacks and punish those responsible.”

Rocket Attack Cases

Kiryat Malachi

On November 15, at around 8 a.m., a “Grad” type rocket struck the top two floors of a four-story apartment building in Kiryat Malachi, a town of 20,000 people 25 kilometers north of Gaza. The rocket killed Aharon Smadja, 48, Mira Scharf, 25, and Yitzhak Amsalem, 24. The blast wounded Scharf's husband, Shmuel, and the couple's 8-month-old boy. The rocket also wounded Boris Chorona, 52, a deliveryman who had been standing outside the building.

Smadja, a rabbi, lived on the third floor of the building with his wife and their four children, his cousin Rachel Gueta told Human Rights Watch. Gueta, who spoke with residents of the building, said that a warning siren sounded – Israel's “Color Red” system, which alerts residents of incoming rockets – and that Smadja, his wife, and children went downstairs to a designated protected area inside the building. Smadja then heard Amsalem's mother calling her son to come to the protected area, and Smadja went upstairs to get the younger man. The men were reportedly killed while standing next to a window in Amsalem's apartment.

“The rocket hit the fourth floor and penetrated through to the third,” destroying the Smadjas' apartment, Gueta told Human Rights Watch. “The police let [Smadja's wife] go back to the apartment once to get some clothes. Her kids said, ‘You came back with clothes, but not with dad.'”

Gueta said that Smadja's corpse was badly disfigured from the blast. “The funeral was horrible. The nylon that was supposed to cover the body was not closed properly. And two sirens sounded during the funeral. We had to run to [a protected area in] the synagogue.”

Chorona, a furniture deliveryman from Tiberius, was standing outside the apartment building when the rocket hit. Chorona's daughter-in-law, Roxanna, told Human Rights Watch that he was “waiting by the [delivery] truck” when shrapnel from the rocket almost completely severed his hand. Doctors “saved his hand but it doesn't function,” she said. “A splinter from the rocket hit the nerve. He can't work. He needs his wife's help to shower and eat.” The rocket also badly damaged the truck.

A Kiryat Malachi spokesman, Yossi Peretz, told Human Rights Watch that the rocket was the only one that has hit the town.

Rishon LeZion

On November 20 at about 6 p.m., a rocket that Israeli media identified as an Iranian-produced Fajr 5 struck the top two floors of a seven-story apartment building in Rishon LeZion, a city of 220,000 about 60 kilometers northeast of Gaza.

Kobi Mordechai, 31, a gas station attendant, lived with his wife and three young children in an apartment on the sixth floor. The family and a friend were home when the siren sounded, he said:

We ran into the shelter [in the hallway outside the apartment], all six of us. Then we heard a huge explosion. I went out of the shelter but couldn't see a thing. The electricity was gone, and everything was full of smoke and what looked like fire, so we went back in. Only when someone came to get us and we left the building did I understand it had been my apartment. The rocket was in my house – it hit my house directly. The whole place is in ruins; almost nothing is left. We managed to get just a few things out. The kids saw our house on television; they saw their shelter, their toys. They asked their grandmother, “Grandma, will you also not have a house soon?”

Kfir Rosen, a 26-year-old employee of the Rishon LeZion municipality, lived with his parents and brother on the second floor of the building. His parents were not home at the time. Rosen told Human Rights Watch that he heard the “Color Red” early-warning siren and warned his brother to go to their shelter, but his brother said that he wanted to see the rocket intercepted by Israel's “Iron Dome” anti-rocket missile system. He told Human Rights Watch: “I asked myself, ‘What's the chance that the rocket will actually fall on me of all places?' and we stayed on the balcony. The siren stopped, and about 20 seconds later we heard an enormous boom.” He said that pieces of his building struck him in the shoulder and hip.

Rosen said that the rocket “made a big hole in the balcony on the third floor above mine, and then fell down to the neighbors' lawn. Even the apartments in the adjacent building were damaged by the blast.” He said police “only gave us minutes to retrieve a few things” from the building, because “they say the upper floors might fall down, the structure isn't safe.” Rosen and his family are living in a hotel while the building is repaired.

The armed group that fired the rocket apparently packed it with anti-personnel shrapnel. “Lots of tiny balls that were inside the rocket flew out all over the place” when it hit, Rosen said. Small holes that he said were caused by the shrapnel had pockmarked the wall of the building and another building across the street.

Ashdod

On November 17 at around 8 a.m., a rocket struck a private home in Ashdod while five people were there, badly damaging the house and wounding the mother. A daughter, 22, who was not in the house at the time, said her father, mother, 14-year-old sister, brother-in-law, and 2-year-old niece were at home when the rocket struck. The woman said she saw the house a few hours after the explosion:

We don't have a shelter at home, so they were all hiding in my room, which is on the bottom floor and has fewer external walls. We had two floors, and the top floor is what saved my family. An iron beam stopped the rocket; it exploded on the top floor. A brick flew and hit my mother in the head. When I arrived at the house, it was just awful. I didn't know that this is what a rocket does to a house; the news doesn't really show you. My little sister's room doesn't have a ceiling anymore. My niece started to wet her bed. After that, when there were [rocket] sirens, she'd go into the shelter shaking and crying.

Rockets struck Ashdod repeatedly during the fighting, including rockets that hit a residential area on November 16 and a store on November 20.

Sderot

Residents of Sderot, a residential community near the Gaza perimeter that was first struck by rockets from Gaza in 2002, described near-hits from rockets that exploded during the eight-day conflict.

“We couldn't leave our houses for a week; we were constantly in the shelters,” Shirly Seidler, 25, a journalist with Yedioth South who lives in Sderot, told Human Rights Watch. Residents have 10 to 15 seconds after the rocket siren sounds to enter a protected space, she said.

One rocket hit the house across the street from her home in Sderot:

We ran to the shelter when we heard the siren, then heard two really strong blasts that made the house shake. It had hit the house across the street from ours. There were gas balloons where the rockets had fallen, and we thought we'd have to evacuate. We were running around barefoot in our pajamas, and there were a few moments of real panic, with ambulances, police, police sapper units, and bulldozers digging out the rocket.

Many Sderot residents moved away due to fear of rocket strikes. “I know a lot of people with children who got up and left” during the fighting, Seidler said.

Rotem Ochana, 25, an employee at Sapir College, said that a rocket hit the basketball court across the street from his house. He also witnessed several interceptions of rockets by Israel's “Iron Dome” anti-rocket system on November 16, while driving near the Ad Halom junction outside Ashdod. He said:

The sirens began, so I pulled over, and there was a bus and two other private cars that also stopped on the side of the road with me. There were four sirens in a row, and we saw all the interceptions over our head. I saw two kids running from place to place and a hysterical mother trying to grab them. Once the sirens ended, I got back in the car to get to a shelter, and a fragment from the interception fell and broke my windshield on the driver's side. After that, I didn't leave the house again until everything calmed down. It made me realize how bad it must be on the other side [for Gaza residents] where they have no sirens or shelters.

Ashkelon

In response to questions from Human Rights Watch, the Ashkelon municipality spokesperson said that 36 rockets struck the city during the November fighting, and that Israel's “Iron Dome” system intercepted an additional 60 rockets that would otherwise have hit.

Rockets seriously damaged the Mekif Bet and Ronson schools in the central Kiryat Hachinuch area. Shrapnel from the rocket traumatically amputated a man's foot near Zipora House, a building across the street from the Rambam religious school. Shrapnel also penetrated and severely damaged the car he had been driving, the spokesperson said.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/12/24/gaza-palestinian-rockets-unlawfully-targeted-israeli-civilians

Human Rights Watch blasts Hamas for targeting Israeli civilians with rockets

Scathing report by watchdog says indiscriminate fire on Israel is a war crime and calls on Gaza's Islamist government to 'stop unlawful attacks and punish those responsible'

By STUART WINER 24 December 2012

Scathing report by watchdog says indiscriminate fire on Israel is a war crime and calls on Gaza's Islamist government to 'stop unlawful attacks and punish those responsible'

Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel’s civilian population have no lawful justification and are a war crime, Human Rights Watch said in a scathing report published on Monday, assigning Hamas blame for civilian deaths in Israel and Gaza during last month’s Operation Pillar of Defense.

... between November 14 and November 21, during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense against Hamas, which was launched to stem a rising tide of missile attacks on Israel’s south.

At least 800 of the rockets struck Israel, 60 of them in populated areas. Three Israeli civilians were killed and 38 seriously injured during the fighting, HRW said. (Israel has put its death toll at six: four civilians and two soldiers.) A large number of rockets were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile defense system

‘As the ruling authority in Gaza, Hamas has an obligation to stop unlawful attacks and punish those responsible’

Rockets that fell short of their intended targets in Israel apparently killed at least two Palestinians in Gaza and wounded others, HRW said. In one incident on November 16, a rocket that appeared to have been launched from within Gaza hit a crowded street in Jabalya in the coastal enclave, killing a man, 23, and a boy, 4, and wounding five people.

On Monday, HRW also blasted terrorists for putting Gaza residents in the line of fire. The non-government organization’s research in Gaza found that armed groups repeatedly fired rockets from densely populated areas, near homes, businesses and a hotel, unnecessarily placing civilians in the vicinity at grave risk from Israeli counter-fire.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/human-rights-watch-blasts-gaza-for-targeting-civilians-with-rockets/

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From real-time news

23/05/13

You must share this video - this is how the terrorists use the journalists as a 'human shield' • Watch ...

For direct viewing: http://bit.ly/16QXkdj -

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=607198352624871&set=a.243428579001852.70823.221112924566751

Documentation: Terrorists use journalists as human shields

Real Time Online News - May 23, 2013

For all the reports and scoops: http://bit.ly/newsonlinefacebook - Subscribe and get the videos first before everyone else.

In a video now distributed on the Internet, terrorists can be seen using journalists as human shields against IDF soldiers in the territories. The video was uploaded to the page 'ALL the TRUTH about what is happening in ISRAEL'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz_jMj6awT0

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Foreign journalists reveal Hamas' false front

The world didn't believe Israel, but it might believe foreign reporters who were afraid to offer real-time reports but now tell all: A Hamas HQ at Al-Shifa Hospital, launchers near UN facilities, and staged bomb scenes.

Daniel Bettini - Jul 8, 2014

It has been said that when the cannons are heard, the muses are silent. In the case of foreign reporters in the Gaza Strip, their silence stemmed mostly from fear.

A day after Operation Protective Edge ended, a truer picture slowly began emerging: foreign reporters leaving the Gaza Strip revealed what Israel has claimed all along – that Hamas had fired out of population hubs and near UN facilities.

Why didn't they report those facts during the ongoing fighting? According to the reporters, they feared for their lives. "We saw the Hamas men," a Spanish reporter admitted. "But had we dared point the cameras at them, they would have opened fire at us and killed us."

Now that they're out of the Gaza Strip, the reporters are revealing what Hamas tried to prevent the world from seeing. An Indian reporter, for example, documented how Hamas militants launched rockets from a post right outside the window of the hotel where he was staying in the Gaza Strip, shortly before the ceasefire came into effect. The video aired only after the reporter left Gaza. When asked about it, he replied: "There's a conspiracy of silence rooted in fear – no one wants to report in real-time".

Report by Indian journalist showing assembly, firing of rocket in Gaza.

The report by Indian journalist Sreenivasan Jain for Hindi language news channel NDTV went as follows: "It began with a mysterious tent with a blue canopy that bobbed up yesterday (August 4) at 6:30 am in an open patch of land next to our window. We saw three men making a multitude of journeys in and out of the tent, sometimes with wires.

"An hour later, they emerged, dismantled the tent, changed their clothes and walked away."

The journalist stressed that it is "important to report on how Hamas places those very civilians at risk by firing rockets deep from the heart of civilian zones."

FRANCE 24 correspondent Gallagher Fenwick aired a report showing rockets being launched just 50 meters away from the hotel where foreign journalists were staying and 100 meters away from a UN facility.

This France 24 report shows children surrounding a rocket launch site.

“The Israeli army has repeatedly accused the Palestinian militants of shooting from within densely populated civilian areas and that is precisely the type of setup we have here. Rockets set up right next to buildings with a lot of residents in them," he reported after leaving.

Italian journalist Gabriele Barbati also told the truth about Hamas once he left the Strip, no longer under their threat. In a tweet, Barbati said: “Out of #Gaza far from #Hamasretaliation: misfired rocket killed children yday (yesterday) in Shati. Witness: militants rushed and cleared debris.” He added: “@IDFSpokesperson said truth in communique released yesterday about Shati camp massacre. It was not #Israel behind it.”

Another foreign reporter said that it is an open secret that Hamas uses Al-Shifa hospital as its command center, but that reporters in Gaza would not report that out of fear that it would endanger them.

However, not only foreign reporters were afraid of Hamas' potential revenge. Palestinian reporters also suffered threats when they attempted to criticize the terrorist organization and give truthful reports.

Local Palestinian reporter Radjaa Abu Dagga, for example, reported that he was summoned for questioning at Al-Shifa hospital, where armed Hamas militants attempted to determine whether he writes for an Israeli newspaper. Abu Dagga said that his passport was taken from him, and he was prohibited from leaving the Gaza Strip. Later he published an article in French newspaper Libération, but was forced to remove it after receiving threats.

Reporters in Gaza were subject not only to threats but also to Hamas' manipulations. The Washington Post's Sudarsan Raghavan detailed how the organization's men staged the IDF attack scenes: he said that he was taken to photograph a mosque that had been bombed, and discovered that someone had "prepared" the scene and placed a prayer mat and burnt Quran pages.

He later reported that it was obvious that someone had put them there to create empathy for the Palestinian struggle.

The CBN news website said that apart from mosques, Hamas is also using church compounds to launch attacks. In his report, journalist George Thomas said that Gaza's most prominent Christian leader, Archbishop Alexios, "took CBN News to the roof terrace outside his office to show how Islamists used the church compound to launch rockets into Israel."

The Archbishop explained that "Islam is the rule of this place and whatever Hamas says we must obey or face consequences," Thomas added.

A foreign reporter's testimony: Hamas' manipulations

Yedioth Ahronoth exclusive

Hamas' control of the foreign journalists' coverage during the days of fighting in Gaza was not very sophisticated, but very effective.

First, Hamas determined that the organization's spokesmen could be interviewed only in the courtyard of Al-Shifa hospital. As a result, long lines of reporters waiting for an interview were created, and during their wait, they witnessed wounded people who arrived to receive treatment. This created the impression Hamas was seeking to convey: a state of immediate emergency and humanitarian disaster.

Secondly, Hamas has never allowed foreign reporters access to military sites attacked by Israel, whether they are bases, rocket-launching sites or other Hamas targets. The dead and wounded of the organization were not captured on film as well, and hence from a media perspective they didn't even exist. All this served Hamas' purpose in creating an impression that all the victims were civilians.

Thirdly, it was clear that Hamas was launching rockets out of populated civilian areas, but the organization demanded that the press photographers not document the launch sites, so as to not expose their tactic, nor disclose the location of the launchers.

The reporter requested that his name not be used.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4556016,00.html

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Hamas: Do not evacuate homes before the IDF bombs - Roi Kais and Elior Levy

Jul 10, 2014

Gaza Interior Ministry calls not to cooperate with IDF warnings before shelling houses...

https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4541048,00.html

Hamas residents: "Do not cooperate" with the "tap on the roof" procedure

Inconceivable: The IDF operates under the 'roof knocking' procedure - a fireworks display that indicates that the house is about to be bombed, but Hamas demands that the residents not heed the early warnings and serve as life defenders

Eliezer Hayun - 12 Tammuz 5774 / 10.07.2014

https://ch10.co.il/news/49602

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Israel launches ground invasion of Gaza

By William Booth, Sudarsan Raghavan and Ruth Eglash

July 17, 2014

During the lull, a group of men at a mosque in northern Gaza said they had returned to clean up the green glass from windows shattered in the previous day’s bombardment. But they could be seen moving small rockets into the mosque.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/gaza-residents-scramble-to-make-most-of-five-hour-truce/2014/07/17/e5485fce-0d7e-11e4-8341-b8072b1e7348_story.html

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Senior military source: "Terrorists in Gaza travel in ambulances with children" - Ynet

July 18, 2014

https://m.ynet.co.il/Articles/4546006

https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4546006,00.html

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WATCH: IDF targets hospital used as Hamas command center

Video shows gunmen firing from inside Al-Wafa rehabilitation center in Shejaiya

By Stuart Winer - 23 July 2014

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-targets-hospital-hamas-used-as-firing-position

There is no human shield: The IDF attacked the Wafa Hospital in Gaza

Amichai Rubin, Srugim News

23-07-2014 |

The IDF breaks another psychological barrier, and today for the first time hit the Wafa Hospital in Gaza, which was used to operate war rooms and command Hamas terrorist organizations, from which terrorists fired small arms and anti-tank weapons at our fighters.

The 16th day of Operation Protective Edge, and the IDF decided to remove another psychological barrier, and this time it is the Wafa Hospital building.

For the past two weeks, the IDF has refrained from firing at or near hospitals, while today the building was attacked, which, according to the IDF, one of its departments served as Hamas headquarters.

An IDF spokesman said in a statement that the terrorist targets in the hospital compound had been attacked after long days of firing on our forces from inside the hospital compound, between its buildings and by terrorists from the Hamas terrorist organization.

"The firing from the compound at our forces included the firing of an IDF and anti-tank fire. The hospital compound was used to operate war rooms and command the terrorist organizations Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Coordinator of Government Operations in the Occupied Territories has repeatedly sent warnings to international organizations, the Palestinian hospital director directly and other Palestinian entities. The shooting continued to intensify in recent hours, risking our forces. Therefore, the IDF decided to attack active terrorist centers in the hospital compound, "the statement said.

https://www.srugim.co.il/?p=84384

https://www.srugim.co.il/84384-%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%9E%D7%92%D7%9F-%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%99-%D7%A6%D7%94%D7%9C-%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%A3-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%97%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%90

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While Israel held its fire, the militant group Hamas did not.

By William Booth

July 15, 2014

GAZA CITY — It was a brief, one-sided lull.

... Israel halted its air attacks at 9 a.m. Tuesday, heeding an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire.

Temporary shelters in Gaza City began to empty. Many of the tens of thousands who evacuated the northern tier of Gaza began to return home.

But Hamas militants did not agree to the cease-fire. The military wing of the Islamist organization started lobbing mortar rounds at Israel within minutes after Israel’s attacks stopped. During Abu Ali’s visit home, the sound of Hamas rockets passing overhead reverberated through the skies.

It was clear that Hamas’s defiance would be answered, but the few Palestinians who had supported a cease-fire found themselves loudly shouted down.

At the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, crowds gathered to throw shoes and eggs at the Palestinian Authority’s health minister, who represents the crumbling “unity government” in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The minister was turned away before he reached the hospital, which has become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.

From a loudspeaker at a mosque across the street, a protester called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his government “traitors” and “collaborators” for allegedly supporting the cease-fire proposal.

Israel said that more than 140 rockets and mortars were launched at it from Gaza during the day. One of the attacks caused the first fatality on the Israeli side when a man was struck by a mortar shell Tuesday evening. He was a volunteer bringing food to Israeli soldiers stationed near the Erez crossing point.

By midafternoon Tuesday, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had had enough. He ordered a resumption of airstrikes to counter the volleys by Hamas..

Husari lived next door to a Hamas operative, who was the target, neighbors said. Israel telephoned the man, dropped two non-lethal warning rockets on the roof, and then leveled the whole building five minutes later. There were no injuries.

... The Israeli military hit a site this week at Erez because rockets were being fired at Israel from a nearby launchpad.

With the Gaza crossing into Egypt at Rafah closed and crossings into Israel severely limited, the strip had already been mostly sealed off. But the Hamas government took a further step Tuesday by closing its side of the Erez crossing, the only turnstile for people in Gaza to travel to Israel.

At least for now, this means that no one can come and go from Gaza, including patients who rely on the Erez crossing to go to Israel for medical treatments. Because of a partial Israeli military blockade, Gaza has no airport or seaport.

William Booth is The Washington Post’s London bureau chief. He was previously bureau chief in Jerusalem, Mexico City, Los Angeles and Miami.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/while-israel-held-its-fire-the-militant-group-hamas-did-not/2014/07/15/116fd3d7-3c0f-4413-94a9-2ab16af1445d_story.html

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Foreign correspondent: "It's true, Hamas fires rockets from hospitals"

A Finnish journalist covered the fighting from Shifa Hospital in Gaza, when a rocket was launched from a parking lot there. Israel has claimed since the beginning of the operation that the organization is using civilian facilities for military purposes

Walla! news

August 2, 2014

A Finnish TV reporter from the Helsinki Snomat network broadcast one night during Operation Protective Edge on broadcasts from Shifa Hospital in Gaza, when Hamas terrorists suddenly fired a rocket from the hospital at Israel. Following this, the reporter, whose name is not mentioned in a video uploaded to YouTube, confirmed that Hamas had committed a war crime that only a few journalists dare to report on.

Reporting outside the hospital, the reporter says: "A rocket was launched right from the hospital's parking lot at 2:00 p.m." She added: "The noise was very loud," and that "it is true that rockets were fired from the hospital area toward Israel." ...

https://news.walla.co.il/item/2771602

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Hamas admits to rocket fire from residential areas

Terror group says 'mistakes' occurred, accuses Israel of 'disproportionate response'; IDF: 'Hamas's excuses are outrageous, misleading and contrary to the evidence'

By Hamza Hendawi and Josef Federman, 12 September 2014

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Two weeks after the end of the Gaza war, there is growing evidence that Hamas operatives used residential areas as cover for launching rockets at Israel, at least several times. Even Hamas now admits “mistakes” were made.

But Hamas says it had little choice in Gaza’s crowded urban landscape..

Hamad told The Associated Press, offering the first acknowledgment by a Hamas official that, in some cases, operatives fired rockets from, or near, residential areas or civilian facilities.

The questions lie at the heart of a brewing international legal confrontation: Did Hamas deliberately and systematically fire rockets at Israel from homes, hospitals and schools in the hope that Israel would be deterred from retaliating, as Israel claims? Or did Israel use force excessively, resulting in deaths among people not involved in combat operations?...

Images released on August 24, 2014 by the IDF documenting Hamas rocket fire from civilian areas in Gaza. (photo credit: IDF Spokesperson)...

Ahead of a UN investigation, the Israeli military has released reams of evidence, including satellite photos and aerial footage, to support its claims that it acted responsibly and attempted to minimize Palestinian casualties. It asserts that Hamas made no effort to disguise its attempt to maximize Israeli civilian casualties.

Throughout the war, the Israeli Air Force compiled dozens of video clips showing alleged wrongdoing by Hamas, an Islamic terror group sworn to Israel’s destruction.

In footage captured by al-Mayadeen, apparently during the current truce, Hamas Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades fighters are seen preparing rockets to launch against Israel in a tunnel underneath the Gaza Strip. (photo credit: YouTube, screen capture)

These videos, many of them posted on YouTube, appear to show rockets flying out of residential neighborhoods, cemeteries, schoolyards and mosque courtyards. There are also images of weapons caches purportedly uncovered inside mosques, and tunnels allegedly used by operatives to scurry between homes, mosques and buildings.

“Hamas’s excuses are outrageous, misleading and contrary to the evidence supplied by the IDF [the Israel Defense Forces] and the reality documented by international journalists on the ground in Gaza,” said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman.

But a black-and-white satellite image released by the Israeli military illustrates the difficulties in proving the point. The army says the image, taken of the Gaza City neighborhood of Sheikh Radwan, shows four rocket-launching sites sitting next to a cluster of schools and a nearby residential neighborhood.

Such images, it says, are evidence that Hamas used built-up areas for cover” and carelessly exposed civilians to danger in Israeli retaliatory strikes. However, the image itself is grainy and shows no clear signs of rocket activity, though rocket launchers are often hidden underground. The army refused to say how it had come to its conclusions.

A visit to the area this week found three separate military sites,” possibly training grounds,” slightly larger than football fields, located close to the state schools.

The sites are mostly concealed from street view by barriers made of corrugated iron, but one bore the sign of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, while another bore the sign of Islamic Jihad, a terror group allied with Hamas. The bases were deserted. Visible from the outside were human cut-out figures and what appeared to be exercise hurdles.

There were no overt signs of rocket launchers or craters in the ground outside, though dirt appeared to have been disturbed either by some sort of blast or the work of heavy military-type trucks. There were pieces of mangled concrete scattered on the ground. The school buildings appeared untouched.

Hamas tightly restricts access to such facilities, and it was impossible for photographers to enter the sites. Israel confirmed the area was targeted in airstrikes.

Another location identified by the Israeli military as a rocket-launching site is in northern Gaza around the newly built Indonesian hospital. Immediately to the north of the two-story hospital, and across the road to the west, are two Hamas military facilities. Both stand in close proximity to residential homes. The hospital stands intact, while nothing is visible from inside the bases...

During 50 days of fighting, many observers witnessed rocket launches from what appeared to be urban areas. One piece of video footage distributed by the AP, for instance, captured a launch in downtown Gaza City that took place in a lot next to a mosque and an office of the Hamas prime minister. Both buildings were badly damaged in subsequent Israeli airstrikes.

There was other evidence of Hamas having used civilian facilities: Early in the conflict, the UN agency that cares for Palestinian refugees announced that it discovered weapons stored in its schools as they stood empty during the summer.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt urban areas were used to launch rockets from within the Gaza Strip,” said Bill Van Esveld, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. “What needs to be determined is how close to a populated building or a civilian area were those rocket launches.”..

“Yes, Hamas and others may have used civilians as human shields, but was that consistent and widespread?” said Sami Abdel-Shafi, a Palestinian-American who represents the Carter Center in Gaza...

The IDF says Hamas fired almost 4,000 rockets at Israel, including 600 from close to schools, mosques and other civilian facilities, and scores of mortar shells. Israel carried out some 5,000 airstrikes, in addition to using powerful artillery and gunship fire...

Hamas also has been sharply criticized for launching rockets aimed at Israeli cities and towns. Israel says its own civilian death toll would have been much higher had it not been for its rocket defenses.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-admits-to-rocket-fire-from-residential-areas/

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Inside Hamas’s rats’ nest and why the merchants of terror want babies to die

Sunday Comment, 27/07/2014

By Hugh Ash

...the vast majority of coverage is slickly choreographed, as a TV cameraman friend told me in 2012, having covered Operation Pillar of Defence, the previous Israeli incursion into Gaza to root out the Hamas terror-merchants.

‘Your local ‘minder’ – an embedded Hamas PR – tells you where to go, what to film,’ he explained. ‘Since you also need a permit from them to work, don’t get the idea you can roam around freely.

‘So, it’s all carefully contrived and tightly controlled. One day it’s ‘Go to a hospital and film the injured children’; next you’re ‘advised’ where a stack of apartments has been hit, even if the damage is a Hamas ‘own goal’, caused by a misfired rocket.

‘They’ll say ‘Pick out a child’s toy or battered shoe…great colour!’ But don’t – don’t! – show any of the hordes of young men, scurrying around with AK4s, hijacking civilian ambulances or setting up missile-launchers in mosques or next to schools. If you do, your footage will never see the light of day.’

Hamas runs its PR machine with ruthless efficiency.

And its greatest weapon is Gaza’s innocents – the old, the infirm, women, but preferably kids – who are expendable cannon-fodder in the ghastly name of jihad…the ‘dead-baby strategy’, as one commentator labelled it.

Even donkey and dogs are used as suicide bombers and foreign journos human shields, according to a Japanese news crew.

So the higher the body count, the greater the joy expressed by a gang of cynical, Islamo-fascist fanatics, their minds warped by a 7th Century, death-cult credo. As Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, spouts from the safety of his bolt hole in Qatar, ‘We love death more than the Israelis love life.’

Shamefully, the UN’s Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA), is complicit in the bloodbath, because twice within days they’ve been caught red-faced, when stores of rockets were found in UN schools. More shamefully, UNRWA returned them to their rightful owner – Hamas.

https://www.majorcadailybulletin.com/news/local/2014/07/27/38185/inside-hamas-rats-nest-and-why-the-merchants-terror-want-babies-die.html

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Hamas fighters said to cop to human shield use | The Times of Israel - Aug 28, 2014

A number of Hamas members interrogated by the Shin Bet have confessed to effectively using civilians as human shields during military operations in Gaza...

Many of the reported confessions back-up IDF claims that Hamas used mosques, hospitals and playgrounds as hiding places for weapons, cover for tunnels, cover for attacks and hideouts for its leadership.

In some of the more disturbing revelations, Hamas operative Nafez Shaluf told the Shin Bet that Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists would often hide in Rafah’s Al-Hajar Hospital, and one time Shaluf saw them throwing patients out of the hospital and onto the street.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/hamas-fighters-said-to-cop-to-human-shield-use/

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Stephen Harper accuses Hamas of using human shields, urges world leaders to side with Israel

Harper says there is evidence that Hamas, listed by Canada as a terrorist organization, is using human shields in its attempts to stave off the Israeli offensive

Author of the article:

The Canadian Press

Publishing date:

Jul 13, 2014

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/israel-middle-east/stephen-harper-accuses-hamas-of-using-human-shields-urges-world-leaders-to-side-with-israel

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Top Secret Hamas Command Bunker in Gaza Revealed—And Why Reporters Won't Talk About It.

By Staff Notes.

29 Jul 2014 — Hamas obviously has no interest in having a photo-layout of one of its command bunkers beneath Shifa Hospital splashed on the front pages of .

The idea that one of Hamas’ main command bunkers is located beneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City is one of the worst-kept secrets of the Gaza war. So why aren’t reporters in Gaza ferreting it out? The precise location of a large underground bunker equipped with sophisticated communications equipment and housing some part of the leadership of a major terrorist organization beneath a major hospital would seem to qualify as a world-class scoop—the kind that might merit a Pulitzer, or at least a Polk.

So why isn’t the fact that Hamas uses Shifa Hospital as a command post making headlines? In part, it’s because the location is so un-secret that Hamas regularly meets with reporters there. On July 15, for example, William Booth of the Washington Post wrote [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/while-israel-held-its-fire-the-militant-group-hamas-did-not/2014/07/15/116fd3d7-3c0f-4413-94a9-2ab16af1445d_story.html] that the hospital “has become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.” Back in 2006, PBS even aired a documentary showing how gunmen roam the halls of the hospital, intimidate the staff, and deny them access to protected locations within the building—where the camera crew was obviously prohibited from filming [http://web.archive.org/web/20160201222705/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeymPZifhsk]. Yet the confirmation that Hamas is using Gaza City’s biggest hospital as its de facto headquarters was made in the last sentence of the eighth paragraph of Booth’s story—which would appear to be the kind of rookie mistake that is known in journalistic parlance as “burying the lede.”

But Booth is no rookie—he’s an experienced foreign reporter, which means that he buried the lede on purpose. Why? Well, one reason might be that the “security sources” quoted whenever the location of the Hamas command bunker is mentioned—which, as evidenced by this 2009 article [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/world/middleeast/11hamas.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=world&] by the excellent and highly experienced foreign correspondent Steven Erlanger of the New York Times, happens every time there’s a war in Gaza—are obviously Israelis, not members of Hamas. It might be hard to believe the Israelis, the simple logic might run, since they obviously have an investment in arguing that Hamas is using hospitals and schools as human shields.

The Israelis are so sure about the location of the Hamas bunker, however, not because they are trying to score propaganda points, or because it has been repeatedly mentioned in passing by Western reporters—but because they built it. Back in 1983, when Israel still ruled Gaza, they built a secure underground operating room and tunnel network beneath Shifa hospital—which is one among several reasons why Israeli security sources are so sure [http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/sources-hamas-leaders-hiding-in-basement-of-israel-built-hospital-in-gaza-1.267940] that there is a main Hamas command bunker in or around the large cement basement beneath the area of Building 2 of the Hospital, which reporters are obviously prohibited from entering.

Hamas obviously has no interest in having a photo-layout of one of its command bunkers beneath Shifa Hospital splashed on the front pages of newspapers. After all, such pictures would show that the organization uses the sick and wounded of Gaza as human shields while launching missiles against Israeli civilians. What Hamas wants is for reporters to use very different pictures from Shifa—namely, photos of Palestinians killed and wounded by Israelis, which make Palestinians look like innocent victims of wanton Israeli brutality.

To that end, the rules of reporting from Shifa Hospital are easy for any newbie reporter to understand: No pictures of members of Hamas with their weapons inside the hospital, and don’t go anywhere near the bunkers, or the operating rooms where members of Hamas are treated. While reporters can meet with members of Hamas inside the hospital—because it’s obviously convenient for everyone—they are not allowed to take pictures. Reporters inside Gaza who are risking their lives to bring the world whatever news they can should hardly be blamed for obeying Hamas’ media rules, which the organization has helpfully written down in case anyone has doubts about what they are permitted to show.

Reporters who bravely or foolishly violate Hamas’ rules even on their social media accounts can be seen to repent with such alacrity that it’s not difficult to imagine how scared and dependent they are. Nick Casey of the Wall Street Journal, for example, tweeted [http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Btp113fCQAAhuNJ.jpg (https://twitter.com/ThisIsGaZa/status/491962634405543936)] that “You have to wonder w the shelling how patients at Shifa hospital feel as Hamas uses it as a safe place to see media.” Casey then quickly deleted his tweet, which didn’t save him from being put on a list of journalists who “lie/fabricate info for Israel” and “must be sued” – a threat which is surely the least of Casey’s fears. Last week, French-Palestinian journalist Radjaa Abu Dagg was summoned to Shifa by Hamas and interrogated. He wrote [http://web.archive.org/web/20140724195751/http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2014/07/24/tu-dois-quitter-gaza-au-plus-vite-et-arreter-de-travailler_1069701][http://actualite-israel.com/les-menaces-du-hamas-sur-un-journaliste-tu-dois-quitter-gaza-au-p-410595/] about the experience of “attempted intimidation” for Liberation—and then quickly had the paper take down the article.

It can hardly be lost on any sane journalist that tempers in combat zones can be short, and that Hamas has used the kidnapping of foreign journalists like Alan Johnson of the BBC to advance its own agenda. The fact that Hamas has closed [https://twitter.com/Sophia_MJones/statuses/490797544914448385] the border and will not let journalists in or out of Gaza can’t make journalists who being used as de facto human shields by a terrorist organization feel any more eager to offend their hosts.

What Hamas has done, therefore, is to turn Shifa Hospital into a Hollywood sound-stage filled with real, live war victims who are used to score propaganda points, while the terrorists inside the hospital itself are erased from photographs and news accounts through a combination of pressure and threats, in order to produce the stories that Hamas wants. So if reporters aren’t entirely to blame for participating in this sick charade, then who is?

The answer is that reporters write what they can, and some do their job better than others, and some are braver or more foolhardy than their peers. But it’s the job of editors, sitting thousands of miles away, at a very safe remove from the battlefield, to note that dispatches were produced under pressure, or that key information was removed by a government—as nearly all mainstream media outlets do when battlefield dispatches pass through the hands of the IDF censor. A good editor might attach similar notes to dispatches from combat zones controlled by terrorist organizations. He or she might also decide that reporting only the news that Hamas deems fit to print from Shifa Hospital isn’t actually reporting at all: It’s propaganda.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/top-secret-hamas-command-bunker-in-gaza-revealed

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Documentation: Terrorist operatives flee in an ambulance

Hamas terrorists use ambulances in the Gaza Strip to evacuate injured civilians to hospitals - and use them to escape from IDF forces.

News - N12 | Posted 22/07/14

Terrorist operatives in Gaza who fire at soldiers and launch rockets into Israeli territory during the days of Operation Protective Edge, are taking advantage of the ambulance system in the Gaza Strip, which is designed to serve the many civilians injured - all to try and evade IDF forces in the area.

https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/security/Article-ee2ddab186d5741004.htm

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The dead baby strategy: defend terror, not democracy

Tuvia Brodie, 11/08/14

... we see how a terror organization uses a ‘dead baby’ strategy. It uses children as human shields. It seeks more, not less, civilian deaths. It does that to enrage the world against Israel.

It’s a strategy that’s perfectly aligned with how a terror organization thinks. The Daily Telegraph, however, doesn’t understand the difference between a democracy and a terror organization. It doesn’t look at how Hamas deliberately positions civilians, especially women and children, to be killed by attacking Israelis. It doesn’t ask why Hamas won’t let civilians leave targets after Israel notifies those civilians to evacuate because a strike is coming at them. It cares only about one thing: Palestinian children have been killed by Israel-the-democracy...

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/6127

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Hamas terrorists confess to using human shields - Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Aug 27, 2014 — According to terrorists Afif and Ahmed Jarrah, Hamas built an attack tunnel just steps away from a playground in Beit Lahia.

https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Pages/Hamas-terrorists-confess-to-using-human-shields.aspx

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NUS Israel boycott 'rewards Hamas child death strategy', student claims

A University of Cambridge student has accused the NUS of encouraging Hamas to ensure “as many children as possible die” through its Israel boycott

August 8, 2014

Matthew Reisz

Twitter: @MatthewReiszTHE

In a 7 August post, titled “Named & Shamed: Complicity in the Death of Children”, he argues that “Hamas was trying their hardest to get Palestinian innocents killed” during the recent fighting in Gaza.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/nus-israel-boycott-rewards-hamas-child-death-strategy-student-claims/2015061.article

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Moral clarity in Gaza

By Charles Krauthammer

July 17, 2014

Israel accepts an Egyptian-proposed Gaza cease-fire; Hamas keeps firing. Hamas deliberately aims rockets at civilians; Israel painstakingly tries to avoid them, actually telephoning civilians in the area and dropping warning charges, so-called roof knocking.

“Here’s the difference between us,” explains the Israeli prime minister. “We’re using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles.”

Rarely does international politics present a moment of such moral clarity. Yet we routinely hear this Israel-Gaza fighting described as a morally equivalent “cycle of violence.” This is absurd. What possible interest can Israel have in cross-border fighting? Everyone knows Hamas set off this mini-war. And everyone knows the proudly self-declared raison d’etre of Hamas: the eradication of Israel and its Jews.

Apologists for Hamas attribute the blood lust to the Israeli occupation and blockade. Occupation? Does no one remember anything? It was less than 10 years ago that worldwide television showed the Israeli army pulling die-hard settlers off synagogue roofs in Gaza as Israel uprooted its settlements, expelled its citizens, withdrew its military and turned every inch of Gaza over to the Palestinians. There was not a soldier, not a settler, not a single Israeli left in Gaza.

And there was no blockade. On the contrary. Israel wanted this new Palestinian state to succeed. To help the Gaza economy, Israel gave the Palestinians its 3,000 greenhouses that had produced fruit and flowers for export. It opened border crossings and encouraged commerce.

The Israel Defense Forces released a video on Thursday that they claim shows a tunnel that Hamas militants planned to use to attack Israel. (YouTube/The Israel Defense Forces)

The whole idea was to establish the model for two states living peacefully and productively side by side. No one seems to remember that, simultaneous with the Gaza withdrawal, Israel dismantled four smaller settlements in the northern West Bank as a clear signal of Israel’s desire to leave the West Bank as well and thus achieve an amicable two-state solution.

This is not ancient history. This was nine years ago.

And how did the Gaza Palestinians react to being granted by the Israelis what no previous ruler, neither Egyptian, nor British, nor Turkish, had ever given them — an independent territory? First, they demolished the greenhouses. Then they elected Hamas. Then, instead of building a state with its attendant political and economic institutions, they spent the better part of a decade turning Gaza into a massive military base, brimming with terror weapons, to make ceaseless war on Israel.

Where are the roads and rail, the industry and infrastructure of the new Palestinian state? Nowhere. Instead, they built mile upon mile of underground tunnels to hide their weapons and, when the going gets tough, their military commanders. They spent millions importing and producing rockets, launchers, mortars, small arms, even drones. They deliberately placed them in schools, hospitals, mosques and private homes to better expose their own civilians. (Just Thursday, the U.N. announced that it found 20 rockets in a Gaza school.) And from which they fire rockets at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Why? The rockets can’t even inflict serious damage, being almost uniformly intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system. Even West Bank leader Mahmoud Abbas has asked: “What are you trying to achieve by sending rockets?”

It makes no sense. Unless you understand, as Tuesday’s Post editorial explained, that the whole point is to draw Israeli counterfire.

This produces dead Palestinians for international television. Which is why Hamas perversely urges its own people not to seek safety when Israel drops leaflets warning of an imminent attack.

To deliberately wage war so that your own people can be telegenically killed is indeed moral and tactical insanity. But it rests on a very rational premise: Given the Orwellian state of the world’s treatment of Israel (see: the U.N.’s grotesque Human Rights Council), fueled by a mix of classic anti-Semitism, near-total historical ignorance and reflexive sympathy for the ostensible Third World underdog, these eruptions featuring Palestinian casualties ultimately undermine support for Israel’s legitimacy and right to self-defense.

In a world of such Kafkaesque ethical inversions, the depravity of Hamas begins to make sense. This is a world in which the Munich massacre is a movie and the murder of Klinghoffer is an opera — both deeply sympathetic to the killers. This is a world in which the U.N. ignores humanity’s worst war criminals while incessantly condemning Israel, a state warred upon for 66 years that nonetheless goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid harming the very innocents its enemies use as shields.

It’s to the Israelis’ credit that amid all this madness they haven’t lost their moral scruples. Or their nerve. Those outside the region have the minimum obligation, therefore, to expose the madness and speak the truth. Rarely has it been so blindingly clear.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-moral-clarity-in-gaza/2014/07/17/0adabe0c-0de4-11e4-8c9a-923ecc0c7d23_story.html

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UN human rights inquiry on Gaza inherently biased

By Jason Reiskind . Wed., Aug. 20, 2014

If you ask Canadians to name the world’s worst abuser of human rights, they might name China, a country that reportedly harvests the organs of imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners. They might name Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is a capital offence punishable by stoning. They might name Pakistan, where religious freedom is severely restricted and people are sentenced to death for blasphemy. Most Canadians would be shocked to know that these countries are members of the UN Human Rights Council.

Rather than serving as the world’s foremost institution for the protection and promotion of human rights, the council is routinely hijacked to deflect attention from violations perpetrated by member states and their allies. This abuse has most often manifested itself with a disproportionate focus on Israel, the only country singled out for condemnation as a standing agenda item.

The UN Human Rights Council maintains a bizarre focus on passing hostile resolutions against Israel at the expense of addressing the world’s worst human rights violators. Israel, the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, has been the exclusive focus of more than 40 per cent of all special sessions convened to criticize specific countries. That’s more than Iran, North Korea and Syria combined, a fact that calls into question the validity of any findings stemming from council proceedings.

Nothing demonstrates this more than the commission of inquiry created by the human rights council to report on the fighting in Gaza, a decision made at a special session sponsored by Algeria, China, Cuba, Maldives, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iran — hardly champions of human rights. The special session was marked by hateful vitriol, leading the council’s president to reprimand multiple states for their wild allegations of genocide and comparisons of Israel with the Nazis. Without any reference to Hamas, the resolution passed by the council predictably condemned Israel and decided to establish a flawed commission of inquiry.

Any legitimate legal commission would be bound to focus its investigation on Hamas’s glaring violations, including the inherent criminality of bearing arms without accepting the basic rules of warfare, the terrorist status, the intentional targeting of civilians and the use of civilians as human shields. Moreover, Hamas’s blatant act of aggression in initiating this war would be front and centre in setting the parameters for investigation.

Instead, the commission’s mandate presupposes the very facts that it ought to investigate. It is not being sent to determine whether violations of international law were committed, but rather to document “the crimes perpetrated.”

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/08/20/un_human_rights_inquiry_on_gaza_inherently_biased.html

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Sam Harris | “Dead babies are not an argument”

Aug 27, 2014 — Never mind that the government in Gaza is run by Hamas, an avowedly genocidal organization that uses its own civilians as human shields. Nor does it matter that some of this carnage seems to have been caused by Hamas’s own rockets gone astray.

https://www.samharris.org/blog/dead-babies-are-not-an-argument

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Pinsley: ‘Dead baby’ reporting from AP

Staff Writer. MetroWest Daily News

Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and rockets began raining upon the residents of southern Israel – many of them have had to live in bomb shelters since 2007 when the rocket rain was virtually a daily occurrence. Israelis expanded bomb shelters built in the 1950s and their warning systems give citizens 15 to 30 second advance warning of incoming.

Israel even gave a five-minute warning to the residents of the 12-story Zafer Tower in Gaza, according to the AP article by Karin Laub and Peter Enav in the Aug. 24, MetroWest Daily News. Karen and Peter neglected to mention that Hamas has no early warning system for the residents of Gaza, nor are bomb shelters available to any but the Hamas elite.

Question – when will Hamas agree to an honest cease fire? Let me guess – it will be when Hamas has released the very last rocket in its arsenal. That will be the signal for Hezbollah to start again with much better and longer range rocket attacks directed at Israel from Lebanon. Then journalists can regale us with some more "look at the dead baby" infotainment. One can’t call it news, perhaps very transparent propaganda with that titillating thrill of gore added for good measure and more than a hint of Judeophobia, which sells so well with the left these days. There is absolutely no attempt to ascertain fact regarding numbers of fatalities or who they really are or who really did them in.

Don’t get me wrong, dead babies are horrible, but reporting their death without any real attempt to state who, what, where, how, and why fails every measure of journalistic ethics and integrity.

The AP insists on taking casualty figures at face value from Hamas or the UN, which has lost all credibility in this affair. Rockets found under a UN facility, they were given back to Hamas; rockets found under another UN facility, oops they’ve gone missing and so the UN bleat goes on. The BBC, not in past known for its warm and fuzzy feelings towards Israel, has presented a much clearer delineation of Gaza casualty figures - lo and behold more than 50 percent of the casualties are combatants who are clothed as civilians in most cases, which is a violation of the Geneva Convention. There are several media videos depicting Hamas missiles being fired from instillations near a school, hotel, mosque, etc. also violations of the Geneva Convention. Do the AP reporters report thus? I’m afraid not; they are far too busy writing more propaganda that passes for news to those that still feel entranced by "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/opinion/letters/2014/08/30/pinsley-dead-baby-reporting-from/36573928007/

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My Turn: Israel wrongly gets blame for tragic conflict - Pocono Record

Jul 27, 2014 — R. Baruch Binyamin Hakohen Melman

Hamas is supremely guilty of two war crimes (multiplied by the thousands): firing missiles at Israeli population centers and planting their missile launching sites in the heart of civilian populations, to increase the chances of their own civilian casualties, knowing that the Western media will turn it around and blame Israel for the deaths when she retaliates. Indoctrinating their children with raw hatred for Jews is another crime...

In the sick twisted logic of Hamas and their ilk, dead babies on television will do more to turn the world against Israel than any rational argument, for most people sadly are deaf to history, lack critical thinking skills, and are ruled by raw emotion over intellect and analytic skills.

The goal of Hamas is not peace nor the betterment of conditions for the people of Gaza, but the destruction of Israel, whatever it takes. The modern mind struggles to comprehend such absolutist thinking. Aren't all people basically the same? Don't all people want the same things we do? Don't all people just want a better life for themselves and for their children? The simple answer is "no."

https://www.poconorecord.com/story/opinion/letters/2014/07/27/my-turn-israel-wrongly-gets/36332629007/

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Hashalom September 2014

Vol. 19, No. 1.

Sep 9, 2014 —

Prof Antony Arkin...

The main weapon of the propaganda war is the death of Gazan civilians, especially women and children. The intended outcome of this “dead baby strategy” is to invert reality so that Israel is framed as the aggressor responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians while Hamas, the deliberate instigator, is depicted as the victim.

http://www.hashalom.co.za/Hashalom%202014/Hashalom%20September%202014.pdf

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New Palestinian poll reveals waning support for Hamas - The Times of Israel

Sep 30, 2014 — New Palestinian poll reveals waning support for Hamas. But 80% advocate resuming rocket fire if Gaza blockade isn't lifted...

One question, addressing the Israeli talking point of Hamas using civilians in Gaza as “human shields,” revealed interesting answers. Fifty-seven percent of respondents justified rocket launching from within populated areas; but a large discrepancy existed between Gaza — which suffered the brunt of the Israeli attacks — with 48% support, and the West Bank, with 62%.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-palestinian-poll-reveals-waning-support-for-hamas/amp/

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Amanda Berman, Director of Legal Affairs, The Lawfare Project

01 July 2015

"The Truth and UNtruth of the Matter" …

It would be counterproductive for the Palestinian leadership to invest in civilian protection when its stated goal is to increase and leverage the civilian death toll in Gaza to improperly influence the international narrative against Israel. Those who truly value the lives of Palestinian civilians must vociferously condemn the “dead baby strategy”. In continuing to rely on Hamas’s hyper-inflated civilian casualty statistics to castigate Israel – as the UN Commission did – the international community is sanctioning this strategy and is therefore complicit in the deaths of innocents.

From a legal perspective, the often-referenced proportionality argument fails to support the accusation that Israel committed war crimes. It is Hamas, not Israel, which persistently violates the proportionality principle by intentionally waging indiscriminate attacks on civilian population centers.

https://www.sajbd.org/media/the-truth-and-untruth-of-the-matter-amanda-berman-director-of-legal-affairs-the-lawfare-project-writes-for-the-star

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Hamas - Human Shield - NEWS1 https://www.news1.co.il/uploadFiles/842037379741669.ppt

Cast Lead - Minerva Center for the Rule of Law in Extreme Situations

Jan 27, 2015 - Death of an ambulance driver in the home hospital area. Hanun. 25.07.2014.... 08.07.2014. Hamas spokesman called on the citizens of the Gaza Strip to serve as a "human shield" on terrorist operatives. http://minervaextremelaw.haifa.ac.il/images/Protective-Edge-Chronology-March-2015-1.pdf

Hamas encourages civilians to act as human shields

Al-Aqsa TV, Hamas | Jul 8, 2014

Al-Aqsa TV reporter: "Witnesses are talking about a large crowd. The residents are still gathering to reach the Kaware family home in order to prevent the Zionist occupation's fighter planes from striking it."

Al-Aqsa TV host: "People are reverting to a method that was very successful once."

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri: "The people oppose the Israeli fighter planes with their bodies alone... I think this method has proven effective against the occupation. It also reflects the nature of our heroic and brave people, and we, the [Hamas] movement, call on our people to adopt this method in order to protect the Palestinian homes."

https://palwatch.org/page/6552

Hamas belittles those who criticize high civilian death toll

Jul 16, 2014.

Hamas belittles "defeatist" Palestinians

who criticize high civilian death toll

"In 1945, in a single day in Algeria, 45,000 Algerians died.

In a single day. It wasn't described in Algeria's history as forsaking the blood of the Algerians, as some defeatists are describing today the number of Martyrs as ‘trading with Palestinian blood and forsaking Palestinian blood’...

We are not leading our people to execution...

We are leading them to death - I mean, to confrontation."

[Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri]

Hamas and Fatah defend demands

that Palestinians act as human shields:

Hamas:

"[Israel] has been sending tens of thousands of voice messages to citizens' phones... asking them to evacuate their homes by a certain time...

There is no reason to be concerned by them or pay attention to them and by no means should they be heeded."

[Hamas Ministry of Interior spokesman's Facebook page].

Fatah:

"[Fatah] Central Committee member [Amal Hamad] said the occupation has distributed letters to citizens residing near the border area, ordering them to evacuate their homes.

She emphasized that the citizens will not respond to these letters, will not leave their homes"

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 12, 2014].

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

https://palwatch.org/page/6617

IAF Pilot calls off strike on Gaza target after spotting children nearby - Ynetnews

'We are not going to strike this target now’, pilot says in video distributed by IDF upon identifying civilians close by.

Jul 13, 2014 — However, Hamas, that seeks to continue to use civilians as human shields, called on residents of the northern Strip to "immediately return" ...

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4542857,00.html

Avital Leibovich: Reflections on Gaza From an Israeli Mother - WSJ

Jul 14, 2014 — Hamas uses innocent Palestinians as human shields to die for propaganda purposes...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/avital-leibovich-reflections-on-gaza-from-an-israeli-mother-1405364460

Thane Rosenbaum: Hamas's Civilian Death Strategy - WSJ - July 21, 2014

Hamas's Civilian Death Strategy

Gazans shelter terrorists and their weapons in their homes, right beside sofas and dirty diapers.

There are now reports that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are transporting themselves throughout Gaza in ambulances packed with children. Believe it or not, a donkey laden with explosives detonated just the other day.

The asymmetry is complicated even further by the status of these civilians. Under such maddening circumstances, are the adults, in a legal and moral sense, actual civilians? To qualify as a civilian one has to do more than simply look the part. How you came to find yourself in such a vulnerable state matters. After all, when everyone is wearing casual street clothing, civilian status is shared widely.

The people of Gaza overwhelmingly elected Hamas, a terrorist outfit dedicated to the destruction of Israel, as their designated representatives. Almost instantly Hamas began stockpiling weapons and using them against a more powerful foe with a solid track record of retaliation.

What did Gazans think was going to happen? Surely they must have understood on election night that their lives would now be suspended in a state of utter chaos. Life expectancy would be miserably low; children would be without a future. Staying alive would be a challenge, if staying alive even mattered anymore.

To make matters worse, Gazans sheltered terrorists and their weapons in their homes, right beside ottoman sofas and dirty diapers. When Israel warned them of impending attacks, the inhabitants defiantly refused to leave.

On some basic level, you forfeit your right to be called civilians when you freely elect members of a terrorist organization as statesmen, invite them to dinner with blood on their hands and allow them to set up shop in your living room as their base of operations. At that point you begin to look a lot more like conscripted soldiers than innocent civilians. And you have wittingly made yourself targets.

It also calls your parenting skills into serious question. In the U.S. if a parent is found to have locked his or her child in a parked car on a summer day with the windows closed, a social worker takes the children away from the demonstrably unfit parent. In Gaza, parents who place their children in the direct line of fire are rewarded with an interview on MSNBC where they can call Israel a genocidal murderer.

The absurdity of Israel's Gaza campaigns requires an entirely new terminology for the conduct of wars. "Enemy combatants," "theater of war," "innocent civilians," "casualties of war" all have ambiguous meaning in Gaza. There is nothing casual about why so many Gazans die; these deaths are tragically predictable and predetermined. Hamas builds tunnels for terrorists and their rockets; bomb shelters for the people of Gaza never entered the Hamas leaders' minds.

So much innocence is lost in this citizen army, which serves as the armor for demented leaders and their dwindling arsenal of rockets and martyrs. In Gaza the death toll of civilians is an endgame disguised as a tragedy. It is a sideshow—without death, Hamas has nothing to show for its efforts.

Surely there are civilians who have been killed in this conflict who have taken every step to distance themselves from this fast-moving war zone, and children whose parents are not card-carrying Hamas loyalists. These are the true innocents of Gaza. It is they for whom our sympathy should be reserved. The impossibility of identifying them, and saving them, is Israel's deepest moral dilemma.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/thane-rosenbaum-civilian-casualties-in-gaza-1405970362

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Video Shows Gaza Residents Acting as Human Shields - Newsweek

Lucy Westscott

10 Jul 2014 — Another video published on the site shows Sami Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman in Gaza, encouraging people to use their bodies as human shields

https://www.newsweek.com/video-shows-gaza-residents-acting-human-shields-israeli-forces-258223

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Hamas Interior Ministry To Social Media Activists: Always Call The Dead 'Innocent Civilians'; Don't Post Photos Of Rockets Being Fired From Civilian Population Centers

July 17, 2014

Palestine | Special Dispatch No. 5799

https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-interior-ministry-social-media-activists-always-call-dead-innocent-civilians-dont-post

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Mabat - a failed Hamas launch towards Israel from the Shifa hospital complex in Gaza ended today with the deaths of 10 Palestinians.

Attempt to fire a rocket from the Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza ended today with the deaths of at least ten Palestinians, some of them children. Across the Gaza Strip, they tried to celebrate Eid al-Fitr today and Hamas - despite the destruction and suffering - is not ready to contain the fire.

Article by Yuval King.

28 Jul 2014

YouTube · Kan 11 - The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkzf5BKW1N0

A failed launch caused destruction at Shifa Hospital in Gaza

An explosion occurred near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, the explosion occurred following a failed Hamas firing.

Israel Greenfeld - Kol Hazman, 1 Av 5774, 28.07.2014

An explosion occurred a short time ago, in the outpatient clinics located in the Shifa hospital complex in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinians, there are dead and wounded among them, including children who played in a nearby garden. The Palestinians reported that the attack followed an IDF attack, but the IDF announced that it did not attack the hospital area from either the air or the land and that the shooting was not related to the IDF in any way.

The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a police recruiting center at Kisak, killing at least 100 people.

In addition, the Palestinians reported an attack on the Shatti refugee camp with about 50 dead, in which the IDF children also did not confirm that an attack had taken place.

Earlier in the day, five senior Hamas figures were killed in fighting east of Jabalya. One of the dead was a senior Hamas commander.

http://www.kolhazman.co.il/2431

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Hamas Uses Hospitals and Ambulances for Military Purposes - Aish.com

Jul 29, 2014

https://www.aish.com/gaza-war-blog/Hamas-Uses-Hospitals-and-Ambulances-for-Military-Purposes.html

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How to save the children of Gaza

By Salim Khoury

Published: August 5, 2014 23:13

To prevent these outcomes, the world must eliminate Hamas’s incentive to cause civilian casualties. Civilians should not be used as weapons of war...

Hamas exploits the democratic world’s empathy to its tactical advantage; peace-loving people cannot tolerate the sight of dead children. Hamas sees a simple trade-off: it can sacrifice the lives of innocent Gazans in order to subject Israel to backlash. The more innocents die, the more severe the backlash. Hamas wins when the world community flatly recites casualty estimates and instinctively condemns Israel.

When Hamas is rewarded in this way, it has every incentive to continue endangering Gazan civilians by forcing them – often at gunpoint – into the line of fire. And it has. Hamas has turned hospitals into command centers and UNRWA schools into launch pads and armories.

As Israel’s surgical strike capabilities have become more sophisticated, Hamas’s tactics have become more brutal and transparent.

Israel’s attempts to warn civilians in the current conflict are myriad and well-documented.

The Israeli military drops paper leaflets and warning blasts in the vicinity of any building it targets. Israel even sends individual text message and phone call warnings to nearby civilians. These methods are innovative, if imperfect. But no Israeli technology can stop Hamas from ordering Gazan civilians back into a targeted building.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/columnists/how-to-save-the-children-of-gaza-370173

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Why Hamas stores its weapons inside hospitals, mosques and schools

By Terrence McCoy, July 31, 2014

Inside a Gaza Strip mosque in January 2009, nothing at first seemed unusual with the wooden pulpit pushed against the cement wall. Barely taller than a man, it stood beside a microphone stand near an electric fan and some plastic chairs, according to photographs captured by the Israel Defense Forces.

But hidden inside the pulpit, Israel alleged, were a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a bulletproof vest and binoculars. Soldiers soon spread the mosque’s cache on the floor, a haul that included a rifle, grenades and ammunition. Hamas operatives, Israel charged, were to blame.

Editor’s Note: This video contains graphic footage. Several wounded children were brought to a Gaza hospital on Thursday, after an Israeli strike hit a U.N school in which they were sheltering, locals said. (Reuters)

“The many mosques in the Gaza Strip serve not only religious functions, but are also put to military use by Hamas and other terrorist organizations,” the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center said at the time. “They are used to hide terrorist operatives, store weapons, as sites from which rockets and mortar shells are launched.”

To many observers, one of the most troublesome facts of the Gaza Strip conflict — which has killed around 1,340 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and 56 Israeli soldiers — has been Israel’s apparent willingness to strike civilian institutions such as mosques, schools and hospitals. On Wednesday, following a strike on a school while its inhabitants slept, killing 20 people and wounding dozens more, a United Nations official said Israel had violated international law. “I condemn in the strongest possible terms the serious violation of international law by Israel forces, said U.N. official Pierre Krähenbühl. “This is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced.”

Israeli military officials, for their part, say the reality of the strikes is substantially more complicated and claim Hamas’s maintenance of military operations inside civilian institutions precipitate such attacks.

“Hamas chooses to use these protected areas for military purposes in order to shield itself from IDF strikes,” the Israel Defense Forces said this week. “And to draw international condemnation of Israel if the IDF is forced to respond.”

The United Nations has found troves of rockets hidden in three of its schools since the conflict began. “We condemn the group or groups who endangered civilians by placing these munitions in our school,” Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, said in statement published Wednesday by the Times of Israel. “This is yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises. We call on all the warring parties to respect the inviolability of U.N. property.”

Earlier this month, the United Nations also found rockets piled inside one of its vacant schools — near other schools used to accommodate displaced people.

The international organization also found 20 additional rockets at another of its schools during an inspection, calling it one more “flagrant violation of the inviolability” of the premises.

Israeli officials were quick to seize upon the discoveries, according to the Times of Israel, which quoted one official as castigating “Gaza terrorists [who] abuse facilities to carry out their violent activities.”

During one short-lived lull in rocket fire, The Washington Post’s William Booth saw a “group of men” at a mosque in northern Gaza. They said they had returned to clean up glass from shattered windows. “But they could be seen moving small rockets into the mosque,” Booth wrote. He also reported that Shifa Hospital in Gaza City had “become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.”

Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Casey tweeted an image of a Hamas spokesman giving an interview at a Gaza hospital. With the shelling, “You have to wonder … how patients at Shifa hospital feel as Hamas uses it as a safe place to see media.” The tweet was later deleted.

According to longtime Middle East analyst Matthew Levitt, Hamas has long planted weapons in areas inhabited by vulnerable residents. “It happens in schools,” he wrote in Middle East Quarterly. “Hamas has buried caches of arms and explosives under its own kindergarten playgrounds,” referencing a 2001 State Department report that said a Hamas leader was arrested after “additional explosives in a Gaza kindergarten” were discovered.

For years, Hamas has “planned carefully for a major Israeli invasion,” according to a Washington Institute for Near East Policy report. In addition to an elaborate tunnel system, there was the “integral use of civilians and civilian facilities as cover for its military activity; schools, mosques, hospitals, and civilian housing became weapons storage facilities, Hamas headquarters, and fighting positions … IDF imagery and combat intelligence revealed extensive use of civilian facilities.”

Whatever its plan, the outcome of this practice is indisputably devastating — both in Palestinian lives lost and Israel’s standing in the international community. As images of death and tragedy clog news outlets, international condemnation of Israel mounts. Which, according to the Israeli military, is exactly what it predicted would happen.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/31/why-hamas-stores-its-weapons-inside-hospitals-mosques-and-schools/

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Forty questions for the international media in Gaza

By David Bernstein, July 31, 2014

...

3. How do you feel about the Spanish journalist who said Hamas would kill any journalist [https://m.facebook.com/michael.grynszpan/posts/10152140390486065][http://elderofziyon.blogspot.co.il/2014/07/spanish-journalist-off-record-explains.html] if they filmed rocket fire?...

13. When Hamas Health Ministry statistics contradict Hamas’ own propaganda and reveal that mostly men of fighting age have died so far in Gaza [http://time.com/3035937/gaza-israel-hamas-palestinian-casualties/], does it give you pause for thought?...

16. Nick Casey of the Wall Street Journal tweeted: “you have to wonder with the shelling, how patients at Shifa hospital feel as Hamas uses it as a safe place to see media.” Never mind wondering; did you ask any patients how they feel?...

19. How do you feel about Fear’s expulsion from Gaza [http://hurryupharry.org/2014/07/30/hamas-expel-russia-todays-harry-fear-from-gaza-for-tweeting-about-hamas-rocket-fire-from-civilian-area/], for tweeting about the rocket launches from civilian areas? Are you worried that you might also be expelled from Gaza?...

24. Hamas’ command and control bunker is underneath Al Shifa hospital [http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/180730/top-secret-hamas-command-bunker-in-gaza-revealed]. Is this worth reporting? Have you asked to gain access to it, so you can interview Hamas commanders?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/07/31/forty-questions-for-the-international-media-in-gaza/

MAY: Hamas’ rules for reporters control news

Journalists in Gaza should acknowledge the bias they must display

The Washington Times

By Clifford D. May - - Tuesday, August 5, 2014

If you’ve been following the conflict in Gaza, you’ve seen dramatic pictures of heavily armed Israeli soldiers, their tanks and helicopters. You’ve seen pictures of neighborhoods reduced to rubble, with Palestinian men, women and children in desperate circumstances. What you almost certainly have not seen are the combatants Israelis have been fighting. It’s as though they were fighting ghosts.

Also scarce in the major media: stories about Hamas deploying civilians as human shields, storing missiles in mosques and United Nations schools, setting up command posts in hospitals, using ambulances to ferry terrorists to battle, and employing children to dig tunnels — with at least 160 killed in the process. How many stories have you seen about humanitarian supplies flowing from Israel to Gaza in the midst of this bloody conflict and the hundreds of Gazans treated in Israeli hospitals?

The explanation: Hamas restricts what journalists in Gaza may film, photograph and even write about. Hamas threatens and intimidates journalists who do not follow what might be called Hamas rules — rules designed to shape media coverage and influence perceptions around the world.

Let me say this as clearly as I know how: The journalists covering Gaza are brave. I’m not saying they should be braver — much less reckless. I do think they should be honest with their readers and viewers about the conditions under which they are operating; namely, conditions of coercion, manipulation, restriction and censorship.

A few have acknowledged their predicament, mostly on social media. For example, Italian journalist Gabriele Barbati on July 29 tweeted: “Out of #Gaza far from #Hamas retaliation: misfired rocket killed children [today] in Shati.” In other words, having left Gaza, he can now say what he would not dare report while in the territory: It was a Hamas rocket, not an Israeli rocket, that killed 10 people, eight of them children, at the al Shati refugee camp along the northern Gaza seacoast.

Israeli filmmaker Michael Grynszpan wrote on Facebook that he had met with a Spanish journalist who had just left Gaza and asked him why TV viewers are not seeing Hamas fighters in action. Mr. Grynszpan said he was told: “It’s very simple. We did see Hamas people there, launching rockets. They were close to our hotel, but if ever we dared pointing our camera on them, they would simply shoot at us and kill us.”

An op-ed in The Australian noted that after TV reporter Peter Stefanovic tweeted that he had seen rockets fired into Israel from near his hotel, a pro-Hamas tweeter warned: “in WWII, spies got shot.” French-Palestinian journalist Radjaa Abu Dagga was “detained and interrogated by members of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigade at a room in Shifa hospital next to the emergency room.” He published an account of his treatment in the French newspaper Liberation — but that article has since been “unpublished at Dagga’s request.” Why do you suppose?

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/5/may-hamas-rules/

Media Comment: No war reporting in Gaza.

By Yisrael Medad, Eli Pollak, August 6, 2014

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/columnists/media-comment-no-war-reporting-in-gaza-370273

Why Did Hamas Threaten Journalists In Gaza?

Thomas Wictor, October 18, 2014

http://www.thomaswictor.com/why-did-hamas-threaten-journalists-in-gaza/

Truth is the first casualty when Hamas initimidates media - Jewish Ledger

By Morton A. Klein and Dr. Daniel Mandel, Aug 13, 2014

In the ongoing Israeli/Hamas hostilities, a dark and unsavory feature of reportage has clearly emerged – journalists reporting the war from Gaza have often been in no position to tell the true or full story. The evidence that truth has been thus the first casualty is already abundant.

For example, Hamas maintains a major military headquarters in a basement beneath the Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Yet, during this conflict, we saw no footage of Hamas occupying the hospital. We also saw hardly any footage of Hamas terrorists firing rockets or operating in residential areas of Gaza, though this is occurring literally every day. Not one of 37 images from three slideshows published by the New York Times during July showed even a single Hamas gunman.

Why? Intimidation of journalists. Consider the following cases:

Fench-Palestinian journalist Radjaa Abu Dagga wrote that he was forcibly blocked from leaving Gaza, detained and then interrogated by members of Hamas at a room in Shifa hospital next to the emergency room. He wrote an account of his treatment in the French newspaper Liberation – before asking the paper to take it down.

Italian reporter, Gabriele Barbati, disclosed that Israel was telling the truth and Hamas was lying when he confirmed that the deaths of 10 people at the Al-Shati refugee camp on July 28 was not the result of Israeli fire, as had been widely reported (and, in the case of NBC, never corrected), but of a misfired Hamas missile. But when did Barbati disclose this? Only when he was out of Gaza, beyond the reach of Hamas retaliation.

Israeli filmmaker Michael Grynszpan recounted on Facebook the reply of a Spanish journalist who had just left Gaza to his question regarding the absence of footage of Hamas in action: “It’s very simple. We did see Hamas people there, launching rockets. They were close to our hotel, but if ever we dared pointing our camera on them, they would simply shoot at us and kill us.”

After Australian Channel Nine News reporter Peter Stefanovic tweeted that he had seen rockets fired into Israel from near his hotel, a pro-Hamas tweeter issued a scarcely veiled threat: “in WWII, spies got shot.”

The conclusion is obvious: When journalists operate in a terror haven under the close scrutiny of pitiless murderers, we cannot simply rely on terrorist-compliant reports. All too often, the reports we have seen or heard of Israeli strikes on schools or of killing large numbers of Palestinian civilians have proved to have been fabricated by Hamas.

Thus, on August 3, media reports claimed that Israel had targeted and hit a UN school in Rafah, resulting in ten deaths. Israel was widely condemned. Yet, only a few publications, such as the Wall Street Journal disclosed that the Israelis had in fact targeted three Islamic Jihad terrorists on a motorbike outside the UN facility, which is where the missile struck, as the Israelis said all along.

In fact, of three UN schools that Israel was reported to have hit in the last two weeks – and for which it received strong international condemnation – the evidence now shows that the civilian deaths in one case was probably the result of a misfired Hamas rocket, a second was hit by Israel fire while Palestinian terrorists were firing from within it, and a third was simply never struck directly by Israel at all.

The media also shows a propensity to accept Hamas casualty figures and report them as coming from something seemingly respectable, like “the Palestinian Ministry of Health” or the United Nations. The trouble is that the Palestinian Ministry of Health is part of Hamas, which is not only an internationally recognized terrorist organization but has a vested interest in inflating Palestinian casualty figures. The UN normally has made no precise estimates of its own. It generally repeats the figures Hamas gives it – which are then often reported as being “UN figures.”

One example of Hamas inflating figures: as of July 29, the Meir Amit Intelligence Center, staffed by seasoned former Israeli military and intelligence officers, estimated that Israel had killed 335 terrorist operatives, 347 civilians, and 440 as yet unidentified Palestinians. In contrast, Hamas’ claim that 852 civilians had been killed was being regularly reported that day.

More than doubling the figures of Gazan civilian fatalities, has a clear political purpose: it enables Hamas to claim that something like 70% of Gazan casualties are civilians, thus helping to paint Israel as a reckless bully, rather than the most careful army in the world.

The combination of fear, intimidation and willingness on the part of journalists and NGOs to retail Hamas propaganda distorts vital truths about this war. Israel has not developed incisive methods for dealing with this. As Winston Churchill once said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

https://www.jewishledger.com/2014/08/truth-is-the-first-casualty-when-hamas-initimidates-media/

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Gazans Speak Out: Hamas War Crimes

by Mudar Zahran

September 19, 2014

"If Hamas does not like you for any reason all they have to do now is say you are a Mossad agent and kill you." — A., a Fatah member in Gaza.

"Hamas wanted us butchered so it could win the media war against Israel showing our dead children on TV and then get money from Qatar." — T., former Hamas Ministry officer.

"They would fire rockets and then run away quickly, leaving us to face Israeli bombs for what they did." — D., Gazan journalist.

"Hamas imposed a curfew: anyone walking out in the street was shot. That way people had to stay in their homes, even if they were about to get bombed. Hamas held the whole Gazan population as a human shield." — K., graduate student.

"The Israeli army allows supplies to come in and Hamas steals them. It seems even the Israelis care for us more than Hamas." — E., first-aid volunteer.

"We are under Hamas occupation, and if you ask most of us, we would rather be under Israeli occupation… We miss the days when we were able to work inside Israel and make good money. We miss the security and calm Israel provided when it was here." — S., graduate of an American university, former Hamas sympathizer. http://web.archive.org/web/20140921032026/http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4706/gazan-hamas-war-crimes

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WATCH: IAF strikes rocket launchers hidden in Gaza school

Army releases footage of strike on school compound in Shejaiya where terrorists had concealed a rocket launcher.

By JPOST.COM STAFF - 8/26/2014 11:27:01 AM

https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/WATCH-IAF-strikes-rocket-launchers-hidden-in-Gaza-school-372347

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Hamas Spokesman Encourages Gazans to Serve as Human Shields - MEMRI

Hamas Spokesman Encourages Gazans to Serve as Human Shields: It's Been Proven Effective

#4340 | 01:15

Source: Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas/Gaza)

Jul 8, 2014 — Following are excerpts from an interview with Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on July 8, 2014...

https://www.memri.org/tv/hamas-spokesman-encourages-gazans-serve-human-shields-its-been-proven-effective

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Press Availability in Vienna, Austria

Press Availability

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Vienna, Austria, July 15, 2014

With respect to Gaza, let me say a few words. I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets in multiple numbers in the face of a goodwill effort to offer a ceasefire in which Egypt and Israel have joined together, and the international community strongly supports the idea of a ceasefire, the need – the compelling need to have a ceasefire. At the same time, there are great risks in what is happening there and in the potential of an even greater escalation of violence. We don’t want to see that – nobody does – and nor does Israel.

But Israel has a right to defend itself, and it is important for Hamas not to be provoking and purposefully trying to play politics in order to gain greater followers for its opposition, and use the innocent lives of civilians who they hide in buildings and use as shields and put in danger. That is against the laws of war and that’s why they are a terrorist organization. So we need to remember what is at stake here, and we will continue to work for a ceasefire.

http://web.archive.org/web/20140716051627/www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/07/229275.htm

https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/07/229275.htm

Kerry slams Hamas for ignoring cease-fire

Jul 15, 2014

WASHINGTON (JTA) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ripped Hamas for ignoring a cease-fire call and affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself.

“I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets in multiple numbers in the face of a goodwill effort to offer a cease-fire in which Egypt and Israel have joined together,” Kerry said Tuesday in Vienna, where he was attending Iran nuclear talks.

The previous evening, President Obama defended Israel at an annual White House event honoring prominent Muslim Americans.

Israel abided for six hours by the terms of an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire on Tuesday, the eighth day of the Gaza conflict, before resuming airstrikes due to the unabated rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

“Israel has a right to defend itself, and it is important for Hamas not to be provoking and purposefully trying to play politics in order to gain greater followers for its opposition, and use the innocent lives of civilians who they hide in buildings and use as shields and put in danger,” Kerry said.

“That is against the laws of war and that’s why they are a terrorist organization. So we need to remember what is at stake here, and we will continue to work for a cease-fire.”

https://www.jta.org/2014/07/15/united-states/kerry-slams-hamas-for-ignoring-cease-fire

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Human shields are Hamas’s PR

MARGARET WENTE

PUBLISHED JULY 15, 2014

There's another difference between the two sides. Israel doesn't want to shed civilian blood. Hamas needs it – especially from its own civilians. That's one reason why it puts rocket launchers and ammunition dumps in mosques and homes in crowded neighbourhoods. That's why it told people not to leave northern Gaza this weekend after Israel warned it was going to bomb.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/human-shields-are-hamass-pr/article19602451/

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Gaza conflict: Hamas chooses to let children die for its own crazy ends

Yair Lapid

23 July, 2014

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10987095/Gaza-conflict-Hamas-chooses-to-let-children-die-for-its-own-crazy-ends.html

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Obama Slams Hamas Ceasefire Violations, Human Shields

Sunday, August 3, 2014

YERUSHALAYIM (Hamodia Staff) -

President Barack Obama was unsparing in his criticism of Hamas for violations of a 72-hour ceasefire agreement on Friday in which three Israeli soldiers were killed, and backed allegations that the terrorist group’s systematic use of human shields has resulted in numerous civilian casualties.

Speaking at a White House press conference, Obama said that “I think it’s going to be very hard to put a ceasefire back together again if Israelis and the international community can’t feel confident that Hamas can follow through on a cease-fire commitment.” ...

Obama mentioned again his concern over the Palestinian death toll, but he stressed “Israel’s right to defend itself, and it’s got to be able to get at those rockets and those tunnel networks.

“On the other hand, because of the incredibly irresponsible actions on the part of Hamas to oftentimes house these rocket launchers right in the middle of civilian neighborhoods, we end up seeing people who had nothing to do with these rockets ending up being hurt.”

https://hamodia.com/2014/08/03/obama-slams-hamas-ceasefire-violations-human-shields/

Press Conference by the President | whitehouse.gov - Obama ...

Aug 1, 2014 — ... Israel has a right to defend itself and it's got to be able to get at those rockets and those tunnel networks. On the other hand, because of the incredibly irresponsible actions on the part of Hamas to oftentimes house these rocket launchers right in the middle of civilian neighborhoods, we end up seeing people who had nothing to do with these rockets ending up being hurt.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/01/press-conference-president

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4505586/user-clip-country-tolerate-tunnels-us

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Nobel laureate Wiesel: Hamas must stop using children as human shields

Steve Almasy and Josh Levs, CNN

Updated 1:45 PM EDT, Sun August 3, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986

He says Hamas offers a "dark future" for children

The Holocaust survivor writes that both Palestinian and Jewish parents want peace

A Jewish group produced the ad campaign, which appears in some major U.S. papers

CNN —

Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel writes in a new ad campaign that the crisis in Gaza and Israel is a battle between “those who celebrate life and those who champion death.”

Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, begins with a reference to Abraham, who is considered the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Wiesel cites the story of God stopping Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac.

https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/03/world/meast/elie-wiesel-hamas-ad/index.html

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Believe Nothing From The BBC.

Forget news. You are getting stories.

Jack Engelhard, July 21, 2014

Well it’s about time…but why not take the next step and forbid journalists from access altogether? Many are “journalists” in name only. They are enemy combatants.

Instead of guns, they use words. Instead of rockets, they use pictures. They have perfected the “dead baby strategy” to inflame public opinion against Israel.

In particular I am thinking about that British mieskeit who in the midst of Gaza can only find “suffering civilians” but not a single terrorist. The place is crawling with them but this BBC reporter can’t find a single one. The Jews are to blame. That is her story.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15366

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Demilitarizing Gaza – an international responsibility

By Reuven Ben-Shalom, July 24, 2014

The movement’s leaders adhere to no morals or ethics. To them, the end of annihilating Israel justifies every means, including sacrificing their own civilians. They understand that this is first and foremost a battle of narratives, so they operate in a way that maximizes their “dead baby strategy.”

The extensive use of human shields is horrific. They fire rockets from schoolyards, calculating that retaliatory fire will kill children.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/demilitarizing-gaza-an-international-responsibility-368855

UNHRC is empowering terrorism and degrading human rights

By Reuven Ben-Shalom, July 28, 2014

The main reason for civilian deaths during this operation is that Hamas deliberately places them in harm’s way.

It understands the impact this has on the international community, so it maximizes civilian deaths. Rockets are fired from schoolyards, so that retaliatory fire will kill children. People are sent to rooftops after warnings of an imminent attack. Civilians are ordered to stay in war zones despite being urged by the IDF to leave. Entire residential areas such as Shajaia have been turned into terrorist strongholds loaded with weapons and explosives.

It’s heartless and brutal – but it works.

Hamas’s “dead baby strategy” makes the world condemn Israel for killing civilians. We may never know the exact numbers, but it is also important to note that many uninvolved civilians have been killed directly by Hamas. Many of rockets fired by Hamas have fallen within the Gaza Strip. “Accidents” are very common when operating nonstandard weapons, and when weapon caches are deliberately placed in schools and mosques, every mishap costs the lives of innocents. Sometimes small-scale, pinpoint air strikes spark secondary explosions and even set off rockets. People executed by Hamas for collaborating with Israel are also presented as victims of “Israeli aggression.”

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/unhrc-is-empowering-terrorism-and-degrading-human-rights-369197

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Richard Kemp V (@COLRICHARDKEMP) Tweeted (July 22, 2014):

.@shashj Inflammatory comments encourage violence in Europe; validating Hamas dead baby strategy encourages wider use of human shields. https://twitter.com/COLRICHARDKEMP/status/491612158933733377?s=20

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Hamas Dead Baby Strategy. July 22, 2014 . by Robert J. Avrech

Throughout, Israel strives tirelessly to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties. Yet in spite of the hundreds of thousands of leaflets Israel dropped, the countless text messages and personal phone calls it made warning Palestinian civilians to leave targeted areas, tragedies still occur. Israel deeply regrets these losses and continuously hones its operations to make them more surgical still.

In a war with Hamas, though, Israel’s strength and morality can become vulnerability and guilt. By investing nothing in air raid sirens and bomb shelters, by hiding deep beneath neighborhoods and shooting near hospitals and mosques, Hamas ensures that Israel will invariably wound and kill civilians.

IDF soldiers mourn their fallen heroes.

Hamas gunmen carry out attacks disguised as women and old men, fight from UN and Red Cross vehicles, store rockets in schools, and physically prevent Palestinian civilians from fleeing combat zones. This context, though, is rarely mentioned by the media when covering the civilian cost of the fighting.

Unlike Israel, which respects the privacy and dignity of its fallen, Hamas has no difficulty in displaying these casualties to foreign cameras. And the media broadcasts them, obsessively.

http://www.seraphicpress.com/hamas-dead-baby-strategy/

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Netanyahu reveals photo of children playing near Hamas rocket launcher

By Bob Fredericks

September 30, 2014 | 2:24am

[https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/09\/un-assembly_israel.jpg]

https://nypost.com/2014/09/30/netanyahu-reveals-photo-of-children-playing-near-hamas-rocket-launcher/

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IDF Soldier Helps Chained & Starving Palestinian Man In Gaza

By Israel Muse

July 30, 2014

https://www.israellycool.com/2014/07/30/idf-soldier-helps-chained-starving-palestinian-man-in-gaza/

An IDF soldier frees a Palestinian who is chained to a building as a human shield.

01.08.14

https://rotter.net/forum/scoops1/125856.shtml

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Hamas uses human shields 'for a reason' - YouTube

CNN. July 21, 2014

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6bcP6SaYZpk

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Hamas Manual Calls for Hiding Bombs in Civilian Homes

Aug 25, 2014 — Hamas Terrorists Confess to Using Human Shields. Share With. Published on: August 25, 2014. During Operation Protective Edge, IDF soldiers

https://www.idf.il/en/minisites/hamas/hamas-manual-calls-for-hiding-bombs-in-civilian-homes/

Hamas’ disturbing ‘human shields’ manual

By Bob Fredericks

August 5, 2014

They’re putting their own people in the line of fire — and doing it by the book.

The Israeli military said it has captured a Hamas manual on urban warfare — called “Introduction to the City War” — that extols the benefits of civilian deaths and openly admits that Israel tries to avoid them.

The Israel Defense Forces also said the manual — whose cover shows images of militants wielding rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons — crows about the propaganda value of the deaths of innocents.

“The destruction of civilian homes: This increases the hatred of the citizens toward the attackers and increases their gathering around [to support] the city defenders,” the manual said, according to the IDF.

The manual, which came from the Shuja’iya Brigade of Hamas’ military wing, also explained how heavily populated urban areas — called “pockets of resistance” — make operations for the IDF difficult because Israeli soldiers try not to harm civilians.

“The soldiers and [IDF] commanders must limit their use of weapons and tactics that lead to the harm and unnecessary loss of people and [destruction of] civilian facilities,” the manual said, according to the IDF.

“It is difficult for them to get the most use out of their firearms, especially of supporting fire [e.g. artillery].”

Israel has repeatedly charged during the nearly monthlong conflict in Gaza that Hamas exploits civilians as human shields — a claim apparently borne out by the seized manual.

The IDF, while releasing two pages of the booklet, said it was significant that it came from the Shuja’iya Brigade.

“The IDF fought a major battle in the neighborhood of Shuja’iya, which had been turned into a terrorist stronghold. The discovery of this manual suggests that the destruction in Shuja'iya was always part of Hamas’ plan,” the IDF said on its official blog.

https://nypost.com/2014/08/05/hamas-manual-details-civilian-death-plan-israel/

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Fighting terrorists who move around in ambulances - The Jerusalem Post

Jul 20, 2014 — Yaakov Lappin

Hamas is an expert at embedding itself in the midst of the Palestinian civilian population and using it as human shields, to seek immunity from the army... reported spotting Hamas gunmen boarding ambulances in Gaza filled with children…

https://www.jpost.com/operation-protective-edge/analysis-fighting-terrorists-who-move-around-in-ambulances-363498

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Woman used as human shield reacts to Hamas' strategy | Fox News ...

Woman used as human shield reacts to Hamas' strategy. Jul. 31, 2014

https://video.foxnews.com/v/3705593274001/woman-used-as-human-shield-reacts-to-hamas-strategy/?playlist_id=2694949842001

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Video: Hamas Shoots Rockets from School, Cemetery

IDF provides some of the clearest evidence yet of Hamas's lowdown tactics.

[Tags: Human Shields Op. Protective Edge]

Gil Ronen , Jul 27 , 2014 4:35 PM

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183399

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UN admits: We found 20 rockets at a school in Gaza - Ynet

Israel constantly emphasizes that Hamas uses civilians as human shields, the refugee aid agency found the smoking gun: "In a routine check, we first discovered Palestinian weapons buried in an empty school. We condemn it."

Elior Levy Posted 16:52, 17/07/2014

According to UNRWA, "Yesterday during a routine inspection of buildings we discovered about 20 rockets hidden in an empty school in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA strongly condemns the organizations responsible for placing weapons in one of its facilities "....

Israel is known to have blamed Hamas in each of its recent operations in the Gaza Strip and also in the current operation, "Protective Edge", for burying weapons and rockets in educational institutions and residences, using civilians as human shields and assuming that if Israel decides to hit these weapons depots - this will severely harm it from an explanatory [PR] point of view.

https://m.ynet.co.il/Articles/4545333

UNRWA CONDEMNS PLACEMENT OF ROCKETS, FOR A SECOND TIME, IN ONE OF ITS SCHOOLS

22 July 2014

https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/unrwa-condemns-placement-rockets-second-time-one-its-schools

New York, 23 July 2014 - Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on weapons at UNRWA school in Gaza

The Secretary-General is alarmed to hear that rockets were placed in an UNRWA school in Gaza and that subsequently these have gone missing. He expresses his outrage, and regret, at the placing of weapons in a UN-administered school. By doing so, those responsible are turning schools into potential military targets, and endangering the lives of innocent children, UN employees working in such facilities, and anyone using the UN schools as shelter.

The Secretary-General notes that this is inconsistent with UN Security Council Resolution 1860 (2009), which calls for the prevention of arms smuggling. He demands that militants groups, who are responsible must stop such actions and should be held accountable for endangering the lives of civilians in this manner.

The Secretary-General has asked for a full review of such incidents and how the UN responds in such instances. The United Nations is taking concerted action to increase its vigilance in preventing such episodes from happening again. To this end, the Secretary-General has directed the UN Department of Safety and Security (DSS) and the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) to immediately develop and implement an effective security plan for the safe and secure handling of any weapons discovered in UN premises. Further, he has directed UNMAS to immediately deploy personnel with expertise to deal with this situation.

The Secretary-General calls on all of those who have any influence over militant groups to send an unmistakable message that this is unacceptable.

http://web.archive.org/web/20140812093753/http://www.un.org/sg/statements/?nid=7885

Rockets found in UNRWA school, for third time

UN agency spokesperson condemns discovery, says munitions expert hasn’t yet reached Gaza facility

By ILAN BEN ZION , 30 Jul 2014, 1:28 am

https://www.timesofisrael.com/rockets-found-in-unrwa-school-for-third-time/

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John Ging says the UN has forensic evidence that shells used in attack on UN school came from Israeli forces.

Jul 30, 3014

http://web.archive.org/web/20141018221020/http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Politics/Power%2B&%2BPolitics/ID/2479781349

The Art of Peace: Engaging a Complex World

By Juliana Geran Pilon, Rutledge, 2017.

On July 30, 2014, John Ging, head of UNRWA from 2006—2011, when asked if Hamas has been using human shields and using United Nations schools and hospitals to store weapons and as a shelter from which to launch missiles into Israel, stated in an interview: "Yes, the armed groups are firing their armed rockets into Israel from the vicinity of UN facilities and residential areas, absolutely.”

https://books.google.com/books?id=5ioxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT243

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Exclusive: Hamas rocket launch pad lies near Gaza homes

Issued on: 05/08/2014 - 19:45

https://www.france24.com/en/20140805-exclusive-video-hamas-rocket-launching-pad-near-gaza-homes-un-building

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Jerusalem Post

Gaza reporters’ tweets: Hamas using human shields

By Lahav Harkov

Jul 24, 2014

Foreign journalists receive death threats for ‘fabricating information for Israel,’ accused of informing on terrorists.

Several journalists from around the world reported seeing rockets fired from civilian areas in Gaza in recent days, and received threatening tweets in return accusing them of “informing” the IDF.

On Wednesday, Peter Stefanovic of Australia’s Channel Nine News tweeted: “Hamas rockets just launched over our hotel from a site about two hundred metres away. So a missile launch site is basically next door.”

An account called @ThisIsGaza said this was Stefanovic’s fourth time “passing and fabricating information to Israel... from GAZA” and threatened to sue him.

Another account, @longitude0 wrote: “You are a cretin. Are you working for the IDF” and “in WWII spies got shot.”

Financial Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief John Reed reported seeing “two rockets fired toward Israel from near al-Shifa hospital, even as more bombing victims were brought in.”

Shifa, in Gaza City, is the main medical facility in the Strip.

In response, @Saritah_91 tweeted: “We’ll hold you responsible if Israel uses your tweet to bomb the hospital & then justify it.”

Another twitter user, @ Faysal_FreeGaza, said he’s “subtly justifying and encouraging IDF attacks on hospitals,” and @Maysara_ ara wrote: “Get out of Gaza u informant.”

Wall Street Journal correspondent Nick Casey tweeted on Tuesday a photo of a Hamas official using Shifa hospital for media interviews, writing: “You have to wonder w the shelling how patients at Shifa hospital feel as Hamas uses it as a safe place to see interviews.”

By Wednesday, the tweet was deleted, but pro-Palestinian Twitter accounts continued to include him on lists of “journos in Gaza [who] lie/fabricate info for Israel” and “must be sued for crimes.”

On Sunday, Janis Mackey Frayer, a correspondent for Canada’s CTV, tweeted that, while in Gaza City’s Shejaiya’s neighborhood, she “saw several Hamas gunmen.

One passed dressed in a woman’s headscarf... tip of a gun poked out from under cloak.”

She received threats similar to those sent to other reporters.

Harry Fear, a journalist from the UK reporting from Gaza for RT (formerly Russia Today) television, tweeted last week: “Early morning Gaza rockets were fired into Israel. A well-known site in W. Gaza City, near my hotel, was among the origins, confirm locals.”

Fear then took on the critics, tweeting soon after that he rejects “loaded complaints that I ‘informed’ Israel about the specifics of Gaza military sites... These sites are well-known among locals and internationals here.”

“Should a journalist only report the noise and ferocity of Israel’s attacks & not the sounds of Gaza’s rockets? Both terrify people,” he tweeted.

Later that day, Fear tweeted: “Al-Wafa hospital has been hit in the last while; injuries reported – this is the hospital with human shields.”

https://www.jpost.com/operation-protective-edge/gaza-reporters-tweets-hamas-using-human-shields-368689

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Will captured Hamas manual on using human shields help Israel block war crimes trials?

By Yonah Jeremy Bob

August 5, 2014

The manual goes on to explain that the presence of civilians among pockets of resistance causes three major issues for army forces: problems with opening fire, problems in controlling the civilian population, and problems assuring civilian medical care.

Lastly, the manual discusses the benefits for Hamas when civilian homes are destroyed: “This increases the hatred of the citizens toward the attackers [the IDF] and increases their [support] around the city defenders [i.e. Hamas].”

https://www.jpost.com/operation-protective-edge/will-captured-hamas-manual-on-using-human-shields-help-israel-block-war-crimes-trials-370154

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UN report outlines how Hamas used kids as human shields - New York Post

By Post Editorial Board - May 2, 2015

...UN report published Monday — but only part of the story.

The report also confirmed something Israel’s been saying all along: Hamas stored mortars and other weapons in at least three UN schools during last summer’s war and fired rockets at Israel from two of them.

Israel repeatedly made that point during the conflict to explain why it was firing on schools (and mosques and hospitals) where Palestinians had taken refuge.

Because Hamas, desperate to win world sympathy by any means, has always been happy to use Palestinian innocents as human shields — the more casualties, the better... As it happens, the three schools-turned-arsenals were empty at the time Israel struck — but there’s no suggestion Hamas just took advantage of the students’ absence.

And in at least one school where weapons were stored, the report found, Hamas unlocked the gate “to allow children access to the schoolyard.”

In fact, Hamas has long used UN facilities as a staging grounds and observation posts for attacks on Israel. And the United Nations barely raised an objection — unless and until Hamas was caught and called out.

https://nypost.com/2015/05/02/un-report-outlines-how-hamas-used-kids-as-human-shields/

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United Nations › auto-insert-182027

Hamas fires deadly rockets targeting Israeli civilians, using Palestinians as human shields – Letter from Israel

Aug 27, 2014

Over the past 50 days, more than 4,000 rockets have been shot at Israel from the Gaza Strip. Thousands of these rockets were launched from densely populated areas. Hamas is committing a double war crime — first by using Palestinian civilians as human shields and second by intentionally targeting innocent Israeli civilians.

Deadly rockets were fired daily from launch pads located in hospitals, mosques and schools in Gaza only to explode in homes, synagogues and kindergartens in Israel. While Israel has been using missile defence to protect its civilians, Hamas has been using civilians to protect its missiles.

Hamas deliberately embeds its military operations in residential areas with the clear intention of using its own people, including women and children, as protection. One does not have to look any further than Hamas’ own combat manual on urban warfare to see how the terror organization has institutionalized its disregard for human life. Its combat strategy guidelines explicitly instruct terrorists to use civilians as human shields. This is not a new tactic — it has been the modus operandi of Hamas each and every time it has waged hostilities against Israel.

Evidence of this criminal strategy is mounting and the examples are too numerous to count. Hamas has routinely fired from schools, playgrounds and hotels, as described below:

On 8 July, a rocket was fired from within the El’ Azhar Islamic College

On 14 July, an M-75 rocket was launched from a children’s playground located in the neighbourhood of Shuj a’iya

On 1 August, a rocket was fired from within the Al-Shati refugee camp, near the Al Mashtal hotel, where many journalists were staying

And, as if exploiting civilian infrastructure was not horrific enough, Hamas repeatedly called on the civilian population of Gaza to disregard Israeli warnings and threatened them not to evacuate the areas from which Hamas launched its attacks. Such statements were made on 10 July by the Palestinian Ministry of the Interior and on 15 July by the Head of the Hamas refugee department. Hamas also used its official media channels to actively encourage Palestinian civilians to act as human shields, turning Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warnings of impending strikes into opportunities for sacrificing their own civilians.

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-182027/

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Hamas Quietly Admits It Fired Rockets from Civilian Areas

Adam Chandler

Sep 12, 2014 — Throughout the seven- week conflict, Israel frequently charged that Hamas had been using schools, hospitals, and homes to fire .

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/09/hamas-quietly-admits-it-fired-rockets-from-civilian-areas/380149/

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The dead baby strategy: defend terror, not democracy

Tuvia Brodie, Aug 11, 2014

... we see how a terror organization uses a ‘dead baby’ strategy. It uses children as human shields. It seeks more, not less, civilian deaths. It does that to enrage the world against Israel.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/6127

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Hamas members are hiding in multi-population buildings

Mida | 17/07/2014

Israel is aware of the whereabouts of many senior Hamas figures, who are hiding in the heart of the civilian population, but are refraining from eliminating them for "moral and humanitarian" reasons.

Afraid of the IDF, hiding behind children. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib, Flash 90

[https://mida.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/F140529ARK002.jpg]

Edited: Eric Greenstein

Israel knows where many Hamas operatives are located, starting with the highest echelons and continuing down the chain of command, Mida has learned. Certified information that has reached us indicates that the terrorists are hiding in multi-population homes, some of them high-rise buildings, located in all parts of the Gaza Strip - in Beit Lahiya, in the city of Gaza, and further south. The only reason the IDF does not use the Air Force, or other firearms, to eliminate them is defined as a "moral-humanitarian operational problem." The occupants of the houses know that senior Hamas figures and their operatives are in their immediate vicinity. In the meantime, the IDF managed to get about 17,000 people to evacuate within hours, out of a population of about 30,000.

The location of those terrorists in multi-population buildings indicates that ground action may be portrayed as a hollow slogan. There is no advantage to infantry or armored force in harming terrorists, protected by innocent and frightened civilians. If a difficult decision is made, the wording of senior Hamas bombing Salah Shehadeh (2002), in which he was killed along with 14 other civilians, then bombing from the air is far more effective than entangling a force on the ground, which will try to start clearing buildings.

https://mida.org.il/2014/07/17/%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%99-%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%A1-%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%97%D7%91%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%91%D7%99-%D7%90%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%9C/

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Documented: Hamas’ Human Shields and Israel’s Humanitarian Efforts

25/07/2014

Terrorists flee in an ambulance...

https://israeliside.com/2014/07/documented-hamas-human-shields-and-israels-humanitarian-efforts/

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Israel's just war in Gaza

By Fernando Espuelas

July 22, 2014

... So what is the reason, then, for the terrible toll of civilian deaths in Gaza? The answer is as simple as it is tragic: Hamas is using the Palestinian people as shields. Even as Israel warns Palestinian civilians of an impending attack on a military target — sending text messages, making phone calls and dropping leaflets to people in harm's way — the bulk of Hamas's missile sites, command and control installations and communications facilities are located in civilian buildings.

Schools, hospitals and private homes have been commandeered by the terrorists for their offensive operations and equipment. Innocent families are being terrorized by Hamas, forced to live above arsenals, rocket factories and the dormitories of Hamas militants. Some in the American media have insinuated that Israel is flexing its muscle to crush innocents and send a message of military might. One CNN reporter referred to Israelis as "scum" in a tweet, betraying the profound anti-Israel media bias that dominates the coverage of this conflict.

The reality is quite different. While Israel uses rockets to defend its people — such as the defensive Iron Dome missile interceptors — Hamas uses people to defend its offensive rockets.

Palestinian civilians are hostages of Hamas, a shield of vulnerable people forced to protect an army of terrorists.

https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international/212975-israels-just-war-in-gaza

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The Conflict in Israel and the Palestinian Territories

July 31, 2014

[...]

Labor is appalled by the recent shelling of a UN school in a Gaza refugee camp, and attacks on similar facilities.

Labor deplores the abuse of civilian facilities for military purposes, including a Gaza school that was used to hide rockets.

Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel - more than 2600 so far, and Israel must restrain its response, which has cost far too many civilian lives.

https://www.billshorten.com.au/the-conflict-in-israel-and-the-palestinian-territories

[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/politics-news/abbott-backs-israels-right-to-defend-itself-from-hamas-rockets/story-fn59nqld-1227008551567?nk=57a935f58e3b9ae11d6c141bfe7d7b2b]

Abbott backs Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas rockets

By JARED OWENS - JULY 31, 2014

LABOR has called on Israel to “restrain its response” to Hamas rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, as senior Coalition figures backed the country’s right to defend itself against the threat of “extinction”...

“We support Israel’s right to exist, we support Israel’s right to self-defence, we support the Palestinians’ right to a state of their own, but that’s got to go hand-in-hand with the recognition of Israel’s right to exist behind secure borders,” the Prime Minister told Melbourne radio 3AW.

“The problem in the Middle East is that in the end so many people are not prepared to accept Israel’s right to exist.”..

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten urged the Abbott government to pursue a ceasefire at the United Nations.

“Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel - more than 2600 so far, and Israel must restrain its response, which has cost far too many civilian lives,” he said in a joint statement with his deputy, Tanya Plibersek.

“Labor is appalled by the recent shelling of a UN school in a Gaza refugee camp, and attacks on similar facilities.

“Labor deplores the abuse of civilian facilities for military purposes, including a Gaza school that was used to hide rockets.”

Mr Shorten earlier today said: “Every country’s got the right to secure borders but like, I think, most Australians the images we’ve seen today are deeply, deeply disturbing.”

Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull.. warned Israel “risks extinction” and “can barely afford to lose a battle, let alone a war”...

“As long as Hamas is firing rockets into Israel, the Israeli defence force has to defend its own population. I mean that’s what we’d expect the Australian Army to do for us,” Mr Turnbull told ABC Radio.

“Nobody is comfortable with (the disproportionate nature of the conflict). Nobody and, I can I say to you, least of all Jews in Australia.”

Mr Abbott, asked whether anti-semitism had crept into debate about the conflict, said: “Well, that’s right and every other day there are rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/abbott-backs-israels-right-to-defend-itself-from-hamas-rockets/news-story/f81d198bb3f0e2ca947a1a2055dec4f4

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This is a fight Israel did not seek

By Chaim Shacham, July 28, 2014

... It’s called the “dead baby” tactic and here’s how it works: Hamas carries out outrageous attacks against Israel’s civilian population. In turn, Israel must — like any responsible government — protect its citizens by trying to remove the threat. Hamas, in turn, hides behind its civilian population, hoping that these innocent human shields will bear the brunt of Israel’s effort to defend itself. Last, the inevitable civilian casualties would be spun from outrage and sympathy into renewed political power for Hamas.

Recognizing this diabolical Hamas strategy, yet maintaining its moral standards, Israel has endeavored to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza as much as humanly possible — while still effectively countering Hamas attempts to murder Israeli citizens. To this end, Israel has done what no nation has ever done in order to protect civilians — on both sides:

In short, Israel has employed its arsenal to protect civilians, while Hamas has employed its civilians to protect its arsenal.

The population of Gaza is not Israel’s enemy, and it is Israel’s fervent hope that the current efforts to establish a ceasefire will be successful. Moreover, throughout this tragic ordeal, Israel has not lost sight of its ultimate goal, that of living in peace with its neighbors.

Yet, if we ever want to achieve this goal, Hamas must be disarmed, and must be distanced from any leadership role among the Palestinians. To this end, the recent ill-advised PLO-Hamas “Unity” agreement must be relegated to the dustbin of history.

When calm returns, and it comes time to get back to peacemaking, our neighbors will find us both forgiving and morally strong.

https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article1977452.html

Civilian deaths — tragedy for Israel — victory for Hamas

Chaim Shacham, August 11, 2014

It's called the "Dead Baby" tactic. This repugnant Hamas formula is frightfully simple: Manufacture civilian deaths, and blame it on Israel. Thus, Hamas hopes that Israel can be humiliated in the eyes of an impressionable but none too discerning world, weakened in the international arena, and intimidated in its attempts to defend itself.

Understanding that such an abhorrent strategy even exists is so beyond the pale of humanity, and so difficult to grasp in civilized societies, that the Hamas plan indeed works, and Israel is forced to defend itself from the preposterous, and demeaningly repeat what should be obvious. We do not target civilians.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/opinion/fl-jjps-shacham-0813-20140811-story.html

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Another Tack: Some truly hated truths

By Sarah Honig, August 7, 2014

[...]

Woe betide anyone who accuses Arabs of bloodlust, of savagery, of primitive bestiality. Yet these are eminently justified accusations.

How otherwise can we characterize the images of Fatah loyalists elatedly glorying in the blood dripping from their hands after they had butchered two Israeli reservists – Vadim Norzhitz and Yossi Avrahami - on October 12, 2000.

The victims’ sole sin was getting lost, taking the wrong turn and blundering into Ramallah. By the jungle rules of Palestinian society that sufficed to mandate a gruesome death sentence.

Although taken into custody by PA policemen, Norzhitz and Avrahami were beaten to a pulp inside the station and then tossed out the window to the eager cannibalistic mob, which proceeded to rip the two to shreds, mutilate the corpses and burn them.

Entrails and bloodied organs were hoisted triumphantly in feral brutality. The unrecognizable remains were dragged, with the avid help of the cops, to al-Manara Square where a maniacal impromptu celebration broke out.

None of this would have been acknowledged had an Italian film crew (later identified as working for Mediaset) not filmed isolated segments of the slaughter surreptitiously.

British photographer Mark Seager was assaulted when he attempted to snap shots. He afterwards testified that the lynching “was the most horrible thing that I have ever seen and I have reported from Congo, Kosovo, many bad places... I'm a very forgiving person but I'll never forget this. It was murder of the most barbaric kind. When I think about it, I see that man's head, all smashed. I know that I'll have nightmares for the rest of my life.”

An ABC crew that also sought to do its job was intimidated with knives, clubs and actual beatings.

It got way worse. There were outright threats against outlets who dared broadcast Mediaset’s footage. Four days after the murders, Ricardo Cristiano, deputy head of the Jerusalem bureau of Italy's state television channel RAI, publically dissociated himself and his organization from any connection to the visual chronicling of Ramallah’s horror.

In a letter published in the PA’s official daily al-Hayat al-Jadida, Cristiano unhesitatingly threw Mediaset’s team to the dogs and forced it to pull out of all Palestinian areas for fear of deadly revenge attacks. Long live freedom of the press.

The craven capitulation to Arab diktats didn’t end there. Obsequiously, Cristiano pledged that he and all RAI personnel “always respect (and will continue to respect) the journalistic procedures with the Palestinian Authority for journalistic work in Palestine and we are credible in our precise work... We thank you [the Palestinian Authority] for your trust, and you can be sure that this is not our way of acting. We do not (will not) do such a thing" [expose an atrocity].

After this, pardon us headstrong Israelis for our jaundiced view of the impartiality of the foreign media. Nothing that may cast the Arabs in a negative light is likely to be resonated. Yet news purveyors overseas do love bodies and blood – as long as they aren’t Jewish. Arab bodies and suffering that can be blamed on Jews sell newspapers and raise ratings. Nothing must, heaven forefend, impart a smidgen of skepticism about the updated gospel of Jewish villainy.

The cowardice and bias so shamefully laid bare on October 2000 hadn’t diminished. If anything, they mushroomed. They earned acceptance and respectability which rule out casting any doubt on what’s dished out to uninitiated news-consumers in other lands.

Nothing must be shown of Hamas’s exploitation of civilians in Gaza while everything must be done to disseminate what Arabs propagandists want shown. The resultant impression is irredeemably skewed and not unintentionally so.

It’s from this ill-will that contentions of “disproportionality” spring forth. For the Jewish state and for it alone a new standard has been set up: there need be as many dead Jews as there are Arab dead. Not enough dead Jews upset the equanimity of judgmental world opinion.

This proportionality might be achieved in one of two ways:

1. The Jews might ditch their tie-breaking Iron Dome anti-rocket defenses and lock all Israelis out of shelters. This would render Israeli civilians every bit as vulnerable as the Gazan human shields. Thus Hamas rocketers would win a fighting chance to cause fitting carnage throughout Israel’s heartland (which is what UN High Commissioner for Human Right Navi Pillay essentially suggested).

2. Alternatively, Israel should keep its hands off Gazan rocket crews and tunnel-infiltrators. If Israel lets them do their worst, and slay Israelis without any constraints, then proportionality might thereby too be assured (which Pillay also essentially suggested).

Plainly put, Israel is required to cease safeguarding its civilians – either by purely defensive means or by offensive deterrence. Only so, by giving Hamas the upper hand, can we relieve the acute anxiety of pompous pontificators in the White House and State Department, in the EU and UN.

The truth is that the world’s self-professed objective observers and self-promoted seekers of justice aren’t anti-violence. They stood calmly aside for fourteen years during which Gaza rocketed Israeli civilians. It’s only when Israel finally defends its people, that global peace is inconsiderately disrupted.

The truth is that the world favors a one-sided war in which Arabs inflict punishment on Israelis but expect none back. Somehow, those who lob rockets at Israel with the aim of causing massive civilian casualties, shouldn’t expect civilian casualties on their side. Those who tunnel under Israel’s border with the aim of causing massive civilian casualties, shouldn’t expect civilian casualties on their side.

The truth is that Israel’s cardinal sin is not allowing its genocidal enemies a deluxe war. This has earned us wrath in censorious capitals and yet another preposterous summons from the UNHRC’s kangaroo court.

The truth is that none of the moral relativists out there will admit that the only imbalance in our equation is between the morality of an ultra-liberal democracy and the immorality of the primeval fanatics who beleaguer it.

The truth is that Gaza’s piteous plaintiveness must be juxtaposed with the riotous rejoicing over a single Israeli’s “capture.”

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/columnists/another-tack-some-truly-hated-truths-370428

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The Media’s Role in Hamas’ War Strategy

Richard Landes

August 5, 2014

Hamas’ PR strategy can only work if international news media follows the script, whether willingly or under coercion.

[...]

According to its critics, Hamas’ war strategy works like this:

Episodically attack Israel’s civilians in such as way as to provoke a counter-attack.

Hide behind Palestinian civilians (preferably in crowded neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals), while encouraging them, even forcing them, to stay, guaranteeing that the return fire wounds or kills civilians and damages civilian structures.

Encourage the Western news media to play up the civilian suffering, play down Hamas’ role in it, and accuse Israel.

Conjure a firestorm of outrage around the world that eventually pressures Israel into desisting from counteroffensive measures.

Survive to reap the propaganda victory and prepare the next round of hostilities.

Repeat, with each exchange hurting Israel more, and each round of international news coverage further savaging the Jewish State’s international reputation.

No matter what the Israeli response, the Hamas strategy is win-win. If the Israelis abort a strike to avoid civilian casualties (as they often do), then Hamas is spared the blow; if an Israeli strike causes civilian casualties, Hamas has dead babies to parade before the cameras. And eventually, the bloodletting will get so bad, the pictures so damning, that Israel will stop. Hamas’ endgame goals, at least at this stage of its asymmetrical war, are actually threefold: tie Israel down with constraints on its use of power, delegitimize and demonize it in the eyes of the world, and stir an aggressive “Muslim Street” in the West, where genocidal chants can

https://www.the-american-interest.com/2014/08/05/the-medias-role-in-hamas-war-strategy/?utm_content=buffer84617

Oren: Hamas media strategy relies on deaths of civilians - CNN

Jul 22, 2014 — Michael Oren: More than a military strategy, Hamas has a media ... civilian suffering play a central—and potentially decisive—role in the outcome.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/21/opinion/oren-hamas-media-strategy/index.html

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United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa - 2014

Denouncing the Use of Civilians as Human Shields by Hamas and Other Terrorist Organizations in Violation of International Humanitarian Law; and Condemning the Murder of Israeli and Palestinian Children in Israel and the Ongoing and Escalating Violence in that Country: Markup Before the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session on H. Con. Res. 107 and H. Res. 665, July 25, 2014

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa. U.S. Government Printing Office, 2014 - Crimes against humanity (International law) - 24 pages

https://books.google.com/books?id=rVG3xwEACAAJ&dq=palestinian+use+human+shields

https://books.google.com/books?id=rVG3xwEACAAJ&dq=international+law

https://books.google.com/books?id=ariPAzGVot4C&pg=PA9

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Live: Lucy Aharish's punch line in front of a colleague from the Strip [Maariv]

A Gaza journalist, who during an interview was asked about the situation in the Gaza Strip, cracked down on allegations of Israeli policy, accusing her of firing and deliberate bombings aimed at harming civilians. In response, the Arab-Israeli presenter opened with things that have not yet been heard from presenters on Israeli television

12/07/14 | 17:01 | Yossi Melman

Last night (Friday) at nine-thirty in the evening I sat in the beautiful and modern studio in the Jaffa port, of the "Middle East News" (I24news)

... I took a good look at Lucy Aharish, an Arabic-Israeli, and it was clear from her body language that she had a hard time refraining from the baseless accusations made by the journalist. True, more than a hundred people were killed in Gaza, quite a few of them innocent civilians. But there is no deliberate and malicious policy of Israel to kill civilians. The opposite is correct.

Israel is trying to avoid harming the innocent - both because it is immoral and because it knows it will anger the Arab states and the international community, and hurt its plan to achieve the goals of the war - the elimination of Hamas rockets and other terrorist organizations, as well as severe damage to infrastructure Their others - launchers, weapons depots, command bunkers, underground control and communications, and headquarters.

And back to the studio. After deliberation, presenter Lucy Aharish, who is fluent in English, attacked things I had never heard from other presenters on Israeli television stations. She said that Hamas leaders use civilians as "human shields" and hide the rocket depots and launchers in buildings where residents live, so the responsibility for accidentally harming civilians lies not with Israel - but with Hamas.

Then came the punch line: she asked - called the Gazan journalist - and said: why did the residents of the Gaza Strip not go out in demonstrations and protests against the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaderships, and the other small organizations, and demand that they stop hiding and hide their weapons depots among the civilian population; And above all - to demand that they stop firing rockets at Israel. "Once you do that there will be an immediate ceasefire" she added "and there will be an end to suffering on both sides".

http://web.archive.org/web/20140714045455/http://www.thepost.co.il/news/new.aspx?pn6Vq=EE&0r9VQ=FLDEI

https://rotter.net/mobile/viewmobile.php?forum=scoops1&thread=116858

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Operation Protective Edge: Videos of Hamas Human Shield Use

[2014]

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/videos-of-hamas-human-shield-use

Military uses of medical facilities and ambulances by Hamas and other terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip ...

Jul 23, 2014 - IDF Testimonies The ambulance driver's committees are supported by intelligence information held by Israel. A statement by Hamas operatives during Operation Cast Lead shows that ambulances were used.

https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/he/20683

Elie Wiesel: Hamas, stop using children as shields | CNN

Aug 3, 2014 — Nobel laureate Wiesel: Hamas must stop using children as human shields. Steve Almasy and Josh Levs, CNN. Updated 1:45 PM EDT

https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/03/world/meast/elie-wiesel-hamas-ad/index.html

Media death count encourages Hamas to use human shields

By Alan Dershowitz

July 15, 2014 20:35

By emphasizing the comparative body counts without providing the reasons for the disparity, the media plays into the hands of Hamas, and encourages that terrorist organization to continue to pursue its dead baby strategy.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/media-death-count-encourages-hamas-to-use-human-shields-362927

Journalists threatened by Hamas for reporting use of human shields

By Lahav Harkov

July 31, 2014 19:16

Foreign correspondents asked to leave enclave for social media posts on Hamas' utilization of civilian sites to attack Israel.

https://www.jpost.com/operation-protective-edge/journalists-threatened-by-hamas-for-reporting-use-of-human-shields-369619

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News - In the country nrg - ... "Hamas uses human shields and blame - MakorRishon

May 15, 2015 - "Hamas uses human shields and the blame falls on Israel." The phenomenon of human shielding creates a trap. If the military refrains from attacking, the organization's objectives remain protected. In case the army ... https://www.makorrishon.co.il/nrg/online/1/ART2/694/820.html

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Hamas Admits to Using Civilians as Human Shields - by Omri Ceren | 09.15.14 12:11 pm

... Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad was specifically quoted declaring that “Gaza, from Beit Hanoun in the north to Rafah in the south, is one uninterrupted urban chain.” The claim is false. A short study by Alan Dershowitz titled “The empty spaces in Gaza,” published last month by the Gatestone Institute, noted that “there are dense parts of Gaza, especially Gaza City, Beit Hanoun and Khan Younis, but there are far less dense areas in Gaza between these cities.” Dershowitz pointed to population density maps to emphasize that Hamas had embraced a “strategy of using human shields to maximize civilian casualties,” ...

http://www.thetower.org/1067oc-hamas-admits-to-using-civilians-as-human-shields

For second time, rockets found at UN school in Gaza

‘How many more schools will have to be abused by Hamas missile squads before the international community will intervene?’ Foreign Ministry fumes

By RAPHAEL AHREN 22 July 2014, 9:31 pm

https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-second-time-rockets-found-at-un-school-in-gaza/

Letter: Hamas has occupied Gaza - LSJ | 8:47 pm EDT August 4, 2014

[...]

The real occupier is Hamas. Funds given to Palestinians are being used by Hamas, not to improve the Palestinians’ lives, but to amass ammunition, rockets, underground tunnels and commit heinous crimes.

Hamas is using United Nation schools, ambulances, mosques and homes to launch rockets. When you use children as human shields, the result is tragic. Sadly, Hamas wants the human loss, especially of children, to paint a negative picture of Israel in the media. The world must not be silent or blind and loudly condemn these heinous crimes.

https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinion/readers/2014/08/04/letter-hamas-has-occupied-gaza/13603493/

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Evidence growing that Hamas used residential areas - AP News

Sep 11, 2014 — ... of the Gaza war, there is growing evidence that Hamas militants used residential areas as cover for launching rockets at Israel..

https://apnews.com/article/152644963f4249a7a21154446649910a

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Hamas and the Other Terrorist Organizations in the Gaza Strip Use Medical Facilities and Ambulances for Military-Terrorist Purposes

Published: 23/07/2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRmYYSp0-B8

Reuters - Palestinians Terrorists use UN Ambulance - YouTube

Video of Hamas using ambulances to transfer armed militants in Gaza

(Reuters, 2004

https://mfa.gov.il/MFA_Graphics/MFA%20Gallery/2011/Turkel/ambulance.jpg

https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/20683/

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Amnesty says Gaza groups committed war crimes

NGO cites indiscriminate fire and use of civilians for cover during fighting; Israel was charged with crimes in previous report

By AP 26 Mar 2015, 4:59 am

https://www.timesofisrael.com/amnesty-says-gaza-groups-committed-war-crimes-during-war/

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Stein: Cartoon betrays ignorance - Posted Aug 1, 2014

[...]

So it was once again in his recent misguided cartoon picturing an Israeli tank pushing Gaza off a cliff.

Since 2001, Gaza-based terrorists have launched more than 15,000 rockets at civilians in Israel, including well over 2,000 rockets in the last few weeks. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the other terror groups in Gaza deliberately store those rockets in residential areas, including the basements of homes, schools, mosques and hospitals. The largest hospital in Gaza, Shifa Hospital, serves as Hamas' "military" headquarters.

So far, rockets have been found in the basements of three UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) schools; they are undoubtedly stored in countless others. Incredibly, in the first case, UNRWA actually gave the rockets back to Hamas; they've probably already been launched at Israeli civilians! In the second case, UNRWA simply left the school empty until the rockets mysteriously "disappeared."

Israel has gone to extraordinary lengths to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza; this is the exact opposite of what Hamas has been doing. Few people - and apparently Dave Granlund is not among them - realize that far fewer people have been killed during the last few weeks in Gaza than in Syria during the same period, or that the proportion of civilian casualties is actually far less than the norm in urban warfare, even though Gaza is unique in using civilians as human shields to protect rockets.

Most of the blame for the current fighting, and deaths, falls on Hamas and the other terror groups in Gaza, but a considerable amount of blame also falls on those who pressured Israel to prematurely accept flawed ceasefires in 2009 and 2012, and then pressured Israel into transferring building supplies into Gaza, supplies which instead of building homes and schools were used to build tunnels and rockets.

If we are to prevent yet another, more deadly war in another year or two, we must not repeat the mistakes of the past. We must ensure that the rockets are removed and the tunnels and the rest of the terror infrastructure in Gaza are permanently dismantled.

https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20140801/Opinion/140809743?template=ampart

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Why Hamas stores its weapons inside hospitals, mosques and schools

By Terrence McCoy

July 31, 2014 at 3:38 a.m. EDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/31/why-hamas-stores-its-weapons-inside-hospitals-mosques-and-schools/

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What the Media Gets Wrong About Israel

The news tells us less about Israel than about the people writing the news, a former AP reporter says.

MATTI FRIEDMAN - NOVEMBER 30, 2014

... demonstrate the kind of decisions made regularly in the bureaus of the foreign press covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, and to show the way in which the pipeline of information from this place is not just rusty and leaking, which is the usual state of affairs in the media, but intentionally plugged....

alliance consists of activists and international staffers from the UN and the NGOs; the Western diplomatic corps, particularly in East Jerusalem; and foreign reporters. (There is also a local component, consisting of a small number of Israeli human-rights activists who are themselves largely funded by European governments, and Palestinian staffers from the Palestinian Authority, the NGOs, and the UN.) Mingling occurs at places like ..:

'JERUSALEM (AP) _ The prickly relationship between Israel and its critics in human rights organizations has escalated into an unprecedented war of words as the fallout from Israel’s Gaza offensive persists ten months after the fighting ended.' - Editors killed the story....

When Hamas’s leaders surveyed their assets before this summer’s round of fighting, they knew that among those assets was the international press. The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby—and the AP wouldn’t report it, not even in AP articles about Israeli claims that Hamas was launching rockets from residential areas. (This happened.) Hamas fighters would burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff—and the AP wouldn’t report it. (This also happened.) Cameramen waiting outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City would film the arrival of civilian casualties and then, at a signal from an official, turn off their cameras when wounded and dead fighters came in, helping Hamas maintain the illusion that only civilians were dying. (This too happened; the information comes from multiple sources with firsthand knowledge of these incidents.)

Colford, the AP spokesman, confirmed that armed militants entered the AP’s Gaza office in the early days of the war to complain about a photo showing the location of a rocket launch...

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/how-the-media-makes-the-israel-story/383262/

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IDF publishes clip showing Hamas gunmen in ambulance | The Times of Israel

Jul 23, 2014 — The IDF says in a statement that it observed Hamas fighters use an ambulance to flee the scene of combat..

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-publishes-clip-showing-hamas-gunmen-in-ambulance/

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VIDEO: Finnish reporter sees rockets fired from Gaza hospital

Correspondent from Finnish paper Helsingin Sanomat reports from Gaza hospital, claims to have witnessed rocket fire from location minutes earlier, Gazan admits: 'It is true that rockets are launched from here'; reporter writes on Facebook: Don't use me as propaganda.

Ynetnews | Published: 08.02.14 , 15:56

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4553643,00.html

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Gaza archbishop says rockets were fired from church

Clergyman says Greek Orthodox compound, which sheltered hundreds during shelling, used by Hamas as launch site

By TOI STAFF - 7 Aug 2014

http://www.timesofisrael.com/gaza-archbishop-says-rockets-fired-from-church/

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Hamas threatening journalists in Gaza who expose abuse of civilians

Reporters are bullied, have equipment confiscated, barred from sensitive sites… but they don’t report it. ‘They’re too scared,’ says Israeli official, lamenting capitulation to harassment

By TOI STAFF 28 Jul 2014,

http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-threatening-journalists-in-gaza-who-expose-abuse-of-civilians/

"You have to leave Gaza at the quickest speed and stop working"

LIBERATION JULY 24, 2014 At 17:46

This article, which describes the intimidation attempts at the meeting of Palestinian journalist Radjaa Abou Dagga, correspondent of "Ouest France" and former collaborator of "Liberation", was published at his request.

[«Tu dois quitter Gaza au plus vite et arrêter de travailler»

LIBERATION 24 JUILLET 2014 À 17:46

Cet article, qui décrivait les tentatives d'intimidation à l'encontre du journaliste palestinien Radjaa Abou Dagga, correspondant de «Ouest France» et ancien collaborateur de «Libération», a été dépublié à sa demande.]

http://web.archive.org/web/20140724195751/http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2014/07/24/tu-dois-quitter-gaza-au-plus-vite-et-arreter-de-travailler_1069701

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Hamas Caught Using UN as Human Shields for Their Weapons | National ...

GREG POLLOWITZ

Jul 17, 2014 — UN found Hamas weapons hidden in its facility. @UNRWA provides aid/shelter to Palestinians—abhorrent that Hamas wld endanger its https://www.nationalreview.com/the-feed/hamas-caught-using-un-human-shields-their-weapons-greg-pollowitz/

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EU calls on Hamas to disarm, condemns use of civilians as shields

Jerusalem hails European condemnation of Hamas violence; EU condemns rocket fire, calls for renunciation of violence.

By Herb Keinon

July 22, 2014

https://www.jpost.com/operation-protective-edge/eu-calls-on-hamas-to-disarm-condemns-use-of-civilians-as-shields-368509

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STATE OF PALESTINE: UNLAWFUL AND DEADLY: ROCKET AND MORTAR ATTACKS BY PALESTINIAN ARMED GROUPS DURING THE 2014 GAZA/ISRAEL CONFLICT

26 March 2015, Index number: MDE 21/1178/2015

During the Gaza/Israel conflict in July and August 2014, Palestinian armed groups fired thousands of rockets and mortars at Israel, in many cases directed towards Israeli civilians and civilian objects, in violation of international law. The conduct of Palestinian armed groups, including firing from residential areas and using indiscriminate munitions that cannot be accurately directed at a military target, also endangered civilians in Gaza.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde21/1178/2015/en/

Hamas guilty of war crimes - Amnesty International

Apr 19, 2015 12:23pm Eastern Daylight Time by JNEREBEL

In a report detailing evidence certainly to be used against members of Hamas during their future ICC trial, Amnesty International has declared multiple actions taken by the terror group during the recent Gaza war were war crimes.

Amnesty's conclusion: The military wing of Hamas committed war crimes, too, by indiscriminately firing unguided rockets and mortar rounds from civilian areas in Gaza at population centers in Israel.

The 70-page report found that rocket and mortar fire from the Palestinian militants also killed 13 Palestinians and six Israeli civilians.

Amnesty investigators report that a Palestinian projectile landed next to a supermarket in a refugee camp on July 28, killing 13 Palestinian civilians, 11 of them children playing in the street during a cease-fire.

In the immediate aftermath of the explosion at the al-Shati camp, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri blamed Israeli airstrikes. In a text message to journalists, Zuhri called it a “massacre” and vowed that “this crime will not break our will.”

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/1378747

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Trapped in Gaza: How Hamas punishes reporters for the truth

THE AUSTRALIAN - JULY 31, 2014 12:00AM

HAMAS is not just targeting Israeli civilians, threatening Gazans and using them as humans shields.

It has another terror tactic: intimidating foreign journalists.

http://web.archive.org/web/20140731071248/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/trapped-in-gaza-how-hamas-punishes-reporters-for-the-truth/story-e6frg6zo-1227007768903

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The fighters testify: Close cooperation between Hamas and UNRWA in the fighting - Mako

Aug 27, 2014 - Already in the days of Cast Lead, the IDF repeatedly uses the phrase "human shield" in the context of Hamas' activities in the civilian population environment. Now, more evidence is coming, ...

https://www.mako.co.il/pzm-israel-wars/operation-protective-edge/Article-7e0f517399d0841006.htm

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Revealed: The IDF attacked only about one-tenth of the targets identified in Gaza

Amnon Lord. 31/08/2014

Information obtained by Mida confirms the hypothesis that many terrorist centers in Gaza have enjoyed immunity due to the nature of human shielding. Tzuk Eitan [Operation Protective Edge]: Gain and loss report for Israel and Hamas.

Information obtained by Mida confirms hypotheses that many terrorist centers in Gaza enjoyed immunity due to Hamas' use of human shields • Israel knew in advance about 32 tunnels, but only ten of them did penetrate our territory. 50 % Of the Gaza casualties were terrorists • and also - why did Haniyeh almost faint and then be hospitalized? • Tzuk Eitan: gain and loss report for Israel and Hamas.

https://mida.org.il/2014/08/31/%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A7-%D7%90%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%9F-%D7%A6%D7%94%D7%9C-%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%A3-%D7%A8%D7%A7-%D7%A2%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%A2%D7%96%D7%94/

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Reporters Have Finally Found Hamas. What Took So Long?

Oren Kessler - August 11, 2014

Hamas has waged a sophisticated, even brilliant propaganda war. “Anyone killed or martyred is to be called a civilian from Gaza or Palestine,” the group told Gazans in a public-service announcement, “before we talk about his status in jihad or his military rank.” Hamas enjoined civilians to use the phrase “innocent civilians” as much as possible when speaking with journalists.

Hamas launches rockets from the Strip’s most densely populated locales—chiefly Gaza City, Beit Hanoun in the north, and Khan Younis in the south—and tells fighters to fire from sensitive locations like schools [http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Hamas-fired-anti-tank-missile-from-UNRWA-school-yard-was-empty-when-IDF-respond-369116], churches [http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2014/August/Gaza-Bishop-Hamas-Used-Church-to-Fire-Rockets-/], mosques [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/gaza-residents-scramble-to-make-most-of-five-hour-truce/2014/07/17/e5485fce-0d7e-11e4-8341-b8072b1e7348_story.html], UN buildings [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/04/un-dragged-conflict-israel-hamas-gaza] and hospitals [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4548760,00.html]. It’s a win-win strategy: If Israel is deterred, Hamas fighters and infrastructure are preserved; if Israel is not, the attendant civilian casualties will be a propaganda coup.

Hamas’s media strategy is exemplified by its use of Gaza City's Shifa hospital. There, in one of the conflict’s worst-kept secrets, the group’s leadership has prosecuted the war from an underground bunker. Reporters were denied entry to the bunker and instead invited to a media center in the hospital courtyard. There, journalists seeking interviews with Hamas officials were obligated to line up [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4556016,00.html], in prime position to snap photos as wounded civilians and combatants (the latter inevitably plain-clothed) were rushed into the building.

https://newrepublic.com/article/119046/gaza-war-media-coverage-lacked-reporting-hamas-fighters-tactics

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The Media Intifada: Bad Math, Ugly Truths About New York Times In Israel-Hamas War

Richard Behar - Contributing Editor of Investigations, Forbes magazine

Aug 21, 2014, 12:35pm EDT

It’s a “media intifada,” notes Gary Weiss, an old colleague and one of the world’s top business investigative reporters. He is referring of course to the ongoing war in Gaza, where journalists working for American news outlets have, he says, “become part of the Hamas war machine.”

Here is a sampling of what the Times, and the media in general, feel is not fit to print:

*** Proof of the use by Hamas of civilians as human shields has finally been ably exposed by reporters for media outlets in Finland, France, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, and others—but not by news organizations with greater resources at hand such as BBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and numerous others. (A too-brief exception: the Washington Post.) Sadly, the Associated Press has failed dismally. As for Reuters, in 2011, its new editor-in-chief, Stephen Adler, promised to bolster the newswire’s enterprise reporting. In some ways he has, but its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to be weak and riddled with falsities.

*** In late 2012, during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, I examined the Facebook page of Fares Akram—the most important Gaza-based reporter for the New York Times. His profile photo was not of himself, but of PLO leader Arafat. A second photo, still in his album, waxes poetically about Arafat in the context of “heights by great men.” But Arafat, among many things as the longtime leader of the Palestinians (the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre comes to mind), opted for the Second Intifada in 2000, rather than accept a generous peace offer from Israel. Before he died, he said on TV that dead Palestinian children are good for the cause. In 2009, following an Israeli air strike that tragically killed his father and a cousin, Akram wrote that “I am finding it hard to distinguish between what the Israelis call terrorists and the Israeli pilots and tank crews who are invading Gaza.” Akram, a Palestinian resident of Gaza, has also published more than a dozen dispatches for Al Jazeera, parallel to his Times reporting, since the war began last month.

*** Abeer Ayyoub, another Palestinian resident of Gaza and former Times reporter there (until 2013), was boycotting all products made in Israel before and after her Times gig. Her Facebook posts and stories for other publications in 2014 are hostile to Israel.

*** Now more than ever, it is incumbent on our mainstream media community to scrutinize Al Jazeera America, the TV news network that is working hard to gain a foothold in American living rooms. Many big-name U.S. journalists have been lured there—the latest, Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist David Cay Johnston (long at the New York Times)—despite the fact that it’s owned by the dictatorship of Qatar, which funds Hamas and gives shelter today to the terror group’s top leaders. Few major reporters in the U.S. will publicly discuss this Al Jazeera America-Hamas connection. Perhaps some of them want to keep their future job prospects open, given the turmoil and cutbacks in the traditional media world—and the fat paychecks that Al Jazeera America is dispensing.

“Al Jazeera is the long hand of the regime of Qatar that abuses its endless resources in order to support and fund terror organizations all over the globe, including al-Qaeda, says Kobi Michael, who served until recently as Deputy Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs (where he also ran the Palestinian desk.) “They use Al Jazeera in order to destabilize the moderate Arab regimes by encouraging and supporting political Islam.”

*** The arithmetic of civilian casualties in Gaza is one of the principal media crimes in this war. It became obvious weeks ago that major Western journalists routinely swallowed the huge civilian-casualty figures dished out to them by Gaza’s Ministry of Health, a bureaucratic arm of a terrorist group that was shown to have lied about such figures in past wars. In some cases, reporters cite numbers instead from the United Nations, which gets its numbers from—surprise—the Hamas ministry, a dubious source of information, akin to relying on the Reich Health Office for German civilian-casualty statistics during World War II. On many occasions, major American news outlets haven’t bothered to even attribute the numbers to either the ministry or the UN—simply reporting as fact that “most,” or “the majority” or the “vast majority” of casualties in Gaza are civilians.

At the very least, readers or viewers should be told by those reporters (or their editors/producers) to take the figures with some salt. Meanwhile, Israel’s best research institute on the subject, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, is to this day all but ignored by Western media. And yet they are the only independent outfit that takes the time to match the names of the dead with known terrorists. Their results thus far (with 450 deaths analyzed) show that approximately half are civilians. Based on prior wars with Hamas, it’s highly likely that, in the final analysis, the majority of the dead will have been terrorist operatives.

When the first 72-hour ceasefire (broken by Hamas) began on August 5th, the New York Times quickly tried to play catch-up with reality by posting an “analysis” that day about the reliability of casualty figures. (It was also published on the newspaper’s front page on August 6th.) The Meir Amit center was mentioned in passing, not given the depth its numbers deserved, and by then the damage had already been long done by the newspaper, which had doggedly advanced the Hamas narrative in its news and editorial pages.

*** Crossing over to Britain, the reports and dispatches of one of that country’s top newsmen (Jon Snow, known as “the face of Channel 4 News”) is a parody of journalism, and arguably is helping to fuel the tide of Israel- and Jew-hatred that is sweeping Britain and Europe. His Twitter feed is said to be the most popular among UK news hosts.

CIVILIAN SHIELDS? WHAT CIVILIAN SHIELDS?

On July 27th, I spoke at length with a reporter in Gaza who is covering the war for a major, highly respectable U.S. media outlet that has enormous resources. Regrettably, the reporter insisted on not being named, as his company wouldn’t permit it. Our talk took place just as Gaza-based reporters for smaller, non-English-speaking media outlets were beginning to reveal proof that Hamas was using civilian centers (such as schools, hospitals, dense residential neighborhoods—even the main hotel in Gaza City where reporters are staying) as rocket-launching sites.

Q: Israel received severe condemnation from many world leaders after a strike on Al-Shifa, Gaza City’s largest hospital. [Evidence is now showing that it was actually an errant Hamas missile that hit it.] Are Hamas leaders and fighters using it as a base for operations?

A: It’s not the fighters who are there, and they’re not using the hospital to launch rockets from, they’re using it to see media. These are Hamas spokesmen [at the hospital], not leaders. This is also something that has not been understood fully. There are probably a couple of reasons [for holding press conferences there]. It’s a safe place. Israel doesn’t kill spokespeople. Also, it’s a good place to get journalists, as we’re passing through the hospital, since that’s where the bodies are coming in. It’s a place journalists have to go anyway.

This has been a brilliant strategy by Hamas, although any skeptical reporter would have seen through it—and a couple did. Why are press conferences being held in a hospital, as opposed to another location such as the main hotel where they stay? Surely, hotels are also fine places for Hamas to “get journalists” to come to.

Clearly, Hamas wants the reporters to have to see the dead and injured on a regular basis if they want access to spokespeople. It safely gives lazy reporters a constant stream of tragedies to write about. A seasoned reporter would have surmised that this could be the perfect location for Hamas’s leaders to operate from, especially below the first floor. And, in fact, that is what happened.

Moreover, this was nothing new. In 2006, PBS’s Wide Angle aired a documentary showing how gunmen move through the corridors of that hospital, intimidate the staff, and deny them access to protected locations inside the facility—where the camera crew was forbidden from filming.

On the same day I spoke with this reporter, I also reached out to Eado Hecht, an independent defense analyst who has taught military theory and history at the IDF Command and General Staff College. He currently works with the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (Israel’s leading think tank), and sits on the board of The Journal of Military Operations, whose CEO A.E. Stahl tells me, “Regarding military history, and Israeli military affairs in particular, I have yet to meet anyone as knowledgeable as Eado.”

I asked Hecht about what I call “human-shield blindness,” a rare medical condition that afflicts American reporters based in Gaza— from the New York Times to CNN and Reuters. “As to foreign journalists seeing things, I am certain they are seeing the use of supposedly innocent buildings for military purposes, but most are either too scared to report this or ideologically motivated not to,” he said. “Yesterday [Aug 1st], a Finnish reporter did talk shortly about the use of Shifa hospital to launch rockets after seeing it with her own eyes. But who watches Finnish TV except the Finns? The use of fear to influence journalists is not new—it has been happening for decades. The ideological motivation is not new either—many of the camera crews are locals.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t just a Finnish reporter who earned her pay (although she later showed her own biased stripes by tweeting that she didn’t want it used a “tool of propaganda” by people “looking for excuses to Israeli actions in Gaza”). Hamas’ operations at the same hospital were the focus of a report by a French-Palestinian journalist for France’s Libération. He said that Hamas had summoned him to Al-Shifa Hospital, where he was interrogated by a group of young fighters and told to immediately leave Gaza without his papers; he later asked the newspaper to take down the story.

“No Israeli missile hit the [Al-Shifa] hospital,” says military expert Hecht. “It was a Hamas rocket, one of approximately 300 that have malfunctioned and landed inside Gaza instead of in Israel. Apparently there are also cases in which Hamas deliberately bombarded its own residential areas to blame Israel (this was not the case at Shifa)—but the only evidence is not good enough to prove it. Shifa hospital has been identified by the IDF as providing cover to a network of underground rooms and tunnels that serve it; they have simply stated that under Shifa is the most developed and senior Hamas command post and left it at that. There are certainly many Hamas security personnel around the hospital (they can be seen in the background in TV reports) and they have used the hospital as a launch site for rockets.”

To his credit, William Booth of the Washington Post wrote back on July 15th that Shifa “has become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.” Two days later, Booth and colleagues Sudarsan Raghavan and Ruth Eglash reported that a group of men at a mosque in northern Gaza said they had returned “to clean up the green glass from windows shattered in the previous day’s bombardment.” But those men, the Post wrote, “could be seen moving small rockets into the mosque.”

Bottom-line: With the exception of the Washington Post, audiences in America might need to turn to other countries to follow the war, as well as any future wars between Israel and Hamas.

A sampling:

AUSTRALIA: On July 23rd, Peter Stefanovic of Australia’s Channel Nine News tweeted: “Hamas rockets just launched over our hotel, from a site about two hundred metres away. So a missile launch site is basically next door.”

BRITAIN: Financial Times’ Jerusalem correspondent John Reed noted that Hamas fired two rockets from a launch site “near Al-Shifa hospital, even as more bombing victims were brought in.”

CANADA: On July 20th, Patrick Martin of the Globe and Mail reported that he saw a pair of long-range rockets fired from “very near a UN school filled with more than 1,000 people seeking refuge.” He also noted that two gunmen were disguised as women; one of them had his weapon “wrapped in a baby blanket and held on his chest as if it were an infant.” Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) reporter Derek Stoffel says outright what so many of his American colleagues won’t: “Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields.”

FINLAND: Finnish reporter Aishi Zidan confirms that a rocket was launched from a parking lot at Al-Shifa Hospital.

FRANCE: On August 2nd, a rocket was launched close to where a correspondent for France 24, inside Al-Shifa Hospital, was broadcasting. “Rockets were just shot right next to where we are standing, so I’m not going to sit here, stand here very long, because usually there is a [IDF] strike just moments after this occurs,” correspondent Gallagher Fenwick stated. The rocket, was fired from about 160 feet away from a hotel where foreign reporters were staying. “This type of setup is at the heart of the debate,” Fenwick observed. “The Israeli army has repeatedly accused Palestinian militants of shooting from within densely-populated civilian areas and that is precisely the type of setup we have right here. Rockets set up right next to buildings with a lot of residents in them.” (Palestinian kids can be seen playing near the rocket launchers).

INDIA: A reporter for NDTV (New Delhi Television) witnessed a rocket silo under a tent just outside his room in a hotel where he and his team were staying. The reporter, Sreenivasan Jain, then filmed the rocket being fired. The hotel is located in a dense residential neighborhood, close to a UN facility. [See three screenshots below.]

ITALY: On July 29th, Gabriele Barbati, an Italian reporter for Radio Popolare Milano tweeted: “Out of Gaza far from Hamas retaliation: misfired rocket killed children yday [sic] in Shati [a refugee camp]. Witness: militants rushed and cleared debris.” Nine children died. Barbati followed his tweet with another: “IDF Spokesperson said truth in communiqué released yesterday about Shati camp massacre. It was not Israel behind it.”

JAPAN: A correspondent based in Gaza for a Japanese daily wrote that Hamas “tries to use evacuating civilians and journalists by stopping them and turning them into ‘human shields’… strategy is also aimed at foreign journalists.” He recounted how some 20 journalists were blocked by Hamas from going through a checkpoint into Israel, after Hamas staffers falsely told them that the IDF had closed it. In fact, it appeared that the terrorists were plotting to have the reporters stuck there for (and right inside) a pending airstrike.

RUSSIA: RT (formerly Russia Today) correspondent Harry Fear was told to leave Gaza after he tweeted that Hamas fired rockets from near his hotel. In another tweet, Fear called the Al-Wafa rehabilitation hospital in Gaza “the hospital with human shields.”

SPAIN: A Spanish journalist named Fernando Gutiérrez, writing for Diario Melilla Hoy tweeted on August 9th that “Hamas launched a battery of rockets from the press hotel. What was their intent? To provoke Israel to kill us?”

Even Al Jazeera America comes in for some credit, but only fleetingly. On July 31st, its Jerusalem correspondent, Nick Schifrin—he joined the network in February—had to rush away from a live report when an Israeli missile struck a building about 300 feet behind him. “From that field a few days ago we saw rockets launched towards Israel,” he later told viewers. “And that’s what we’ve seen a lot over the last few weeks. These rockets are launched or embedded really within civilian neighborhoods, in residential neighborhoods, and eventually almost every single one is targeted by an Israeli air strike.”

I took a screenshot [see below] of Schifrin just as an Israeli missile was striking the building behind him. But a few days ago I went back to see if I could get a better shot, and couldn’t find the video. Apparently it had been removed by the network.

Some foreign reporters have been so spooked by Hamas that they don’t even have the guts to step forward and talk about it after they leave Gaza. An Israeli filmmaker named Michael Grynszpan told me last week that he was filming on a Tel Aviv street when he and a colleague “met this nice guy. He told us that he was a Spanish journalist and even showed us his press card.” The journalist told the filmmakers that he had just come back from Gaza. They asked why they don’t see TV reporting of Hamas leaders, gunmen, and rocket launches—only civilian casualties.

The Spanish newsman responded that he had, in fact, seen Hamas fighters launching rockets close to his hotel, but that if he’d dared to point his camera at them, “they would simply shoot and kill us.” (Grynszpan’s colleague, Max Wildenhaus, adds: “He said they had snipers and would shoot them.”)

When Grynszpan asked the Spanish reporter if they could film him saying that, “he freaked out” and “almost ran off.”

Fortunately, there are some prominent individuals who live in Gaza who have more courage. Take Archbishop Alexios, the Strip’s most prominent Christian among a population of about 1,500 adherents there. On August 9th, he showed Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN News) a church compound where Hamas had fired rockets from, despite the fact that he had opened the church doors to 2,000 Muslims seeking shelter from the war. “Islam is the rule of this place,” he said, “and whatever Hamas says we must obey or face consequences.”

Curiously, Reuters’ reporter Nidal Al-Mughrabi took the time to interview Archbishop Alexios two weeks earlier (on July 22nd), when the Christian leader complained to him that Israeli aircraft bombed a nearby field, causing shrapnel to land on the church and damaging graves. But Reuters hasn’t yet returned to the scene to report that the church was used as a rocket launch site—by Hamas. Nidal?

In the case of the Wall Street Journal, its correspondent based in Egypt, Tamer El-Ghobashy, tweeted a photo of rubble with the explanation: “An outside wall on the campus of Gaza’s main hospital [Al-Shifa] was hit by a strike. Low level damage suggest [sic] Hamas misfire.” Soon after, he deleted the tweet.

His Gaza-based colleague, Nicholas (Nick) Casey, also tweeted that he wondered how patients at Al-Shifa felt about their hospital being used for press conferences. He even ran a photo of a Hamas spokesman giving a briefing there. He then deleted the tweet, as well...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2014/08/21/the-media-intifada-bad-math-ugly-truths-about-new-york-times-in-israel-hamas-war/?sh=67905f044b15

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PMW responds to UN: Hamas used civilians as human shields in 2014 war

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik | Jun 28, 2015

Hamas used civilians as human shields

during the 2014 Gaza war

Hamas demanded Palestinians stay in their homes

despite Israel’s warnings the houses would be bombed

Hamas glorified Martyrdom for Allah

and presented death in the war as “a privilege”

[...]

"We call on our Palestinian people, particularly the residents of northwest Gaza, not to obey what is written in the pamphlets distributed by the Israeli occupation[sic] army. We call on them to remain in their homes and disregard the demands to leave, however serious the threat may be." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 13, 2014]

https://palwatch.org/page/8330

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Reporter Recounts Hamas' Ruthless Tactics During 2014 Gaza War

On-the-ground dispatch details how Gaza’s military forces deliberately endangered their own civilians by using them as ‘living shields’

BY YAIR ROSENBERG - AUGUST 25, 2015

Last year, Polish foreign correspondent Wojciech Cegielski reported live from amidst the chaos of the 2014 Gaza war. Today in Haaretz, he offers a damning account of how he witnessed Hamas deliberately endanger civilians and journalists during that conflict. “Yes, Israel bombed Palestinian houses in Gaza,” the Polish Radio reporter writes. “But Hamas is also to blame for its cruel and selfish game against its own people.”

While saying that he does not have “hard evidence” beyond his personal experience, Cegielski attests that from “spending a month in the middle of this hell, it was obvious that they [Hamas] were breaking international rules of war and worst of all, were not afraid to use their own citizens as living shields.” Cegielski then proceeds to recount two arresting instances of Hamas placing civilians in harm’s way for which he was personally present:

'The first incident happened late in the evening. I was in the bathroom when [I] heard a loud rocket noise and my Spanish colleague, a journalist who was renting a flat with me near the Gaza beach, started to scream. He wanted to light a cigarette and came to one of the open windows. The moment he was using his lighter, he saw a fireball in front of his eyes and lost his hearing.

From what our neighbors told us later, a man drove up in a pickup to our tiny street. He placed a rocket launcher outside and fired. But the rocket failed to go upwards and flew along the street at ground level for a long time before destroying a building. It was a miracle that nobody was hurt or killed.

When we calmed down, we started to analyze the situation. It became obvious that the man or his supervisor wanted the Israel Defense Forces to destroy civilian houses, which our tiny street was full of. Whoever it was, Hamas, Iz al-Din al-Qassam or others, they knew that the IDF can strike back at the same place from which the rocket was fired. Fortunately for us, the rocket missed its target in Israel.'

The second incident targeted not Gaza’s people, but its foreign journalists:

'I was sitting with other journalists in a cafe outside one of the hotels near the beach. During wartime, these hotels are occupied by foreign press and some NGOs. Every hotel is full and in its cafes many journalists spend their time discussing, writing, editing stories, or just recharging the phones. Suddenly I saw a man firing a rocket from between the hotels. It was obvious that we journalists became a target. If the IDF would strike back, we all would be dead. What would Hamas do? It would not be surprising to hear about the “cruel Zionist regime killing innocent and free press.” '

At a time when the International Criminal Court is investigating whether Israel committed war crimes during the Gaza conflict, testimonies like Cegielski’s are a reminder that Hamas war crimes are also very much on the docket—and not just against Israel’s civilians, but against their own.

Indeed, the fact that this evidence is only emerging over a year after the Gaza war raises the question of what other Hamas crimes went unreported at the time, perhaps out of fear of retribution from the terrorist group.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/reporter-recounts-hamas-ruthless-tactics-during-2014-gaza-war

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The media cultivates hatred towards Israel

May 19, 2015

Richard Kamp, the former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, received an honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University and said: "Hamas used human shields so that Israel could attack and kill as many civilians as possible."

Palestinians Switch Tactics in Rejection of Jews - Col. Richard Kemp (NRG-Hebrew)

Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said Tuesday at Bar-Ilan University:

"The Arab nations came to understand that they will not be able to defeat Israel on the battlefield, and therefore decided to transfer the battlefield to the civilian population. The only change on the Palestinian side was an under-the-radar tactical change, but this change still adheres to their original agenda - total rejection of the Jewish population. Instead of tank battles in distant deserts, the Palestinians transferred their battles to densely populated areas where the civilians serve as human shields."

"Instead of reporting the news, the media creates it. Mass communication is influencing and misleading public opinion. The media warps reality according to its own view and is influenced by a post-colonial culture that presents Palestinians as victims. It cultivates hate for Israel and strengthens the violence against Israelis. We are witnessing a trial-by-media and the effect it has on public opinion."

"As we saw in Gaza last summer, the rockets and tunnels are aimed at civilians and their purpose was not to defeat Israel but rather achieve two goals: The first is to show their own people that they are fighting against Israel, and the second is to drag Israel into reacting....Hamas was counting on the media to strengthen its message and force international organizations and Western governments to pressure Israel."

http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/695/863.html

[https://www.makorrishon.co.il/nrg/online/1/ART2/695/863.html]

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UNHRC Report ignores the implications of the Gaza war

Mark Silverberg, June 24, 2015

What is not addressed in the Report however is the rationale behind Hamas’s use of human shields and civilian infrastructures as an integral part of its war tactics. Hamas made it clear to Gaza’s civilians that those fleeing the fighting would be considered collaborators (which, in Gaza, is the equivalent of a death sentence) if they didn’t stay put. As Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan said in May: “The Arab nations came to understand that they will not be able to defeat Israel on the battlefield, and therefore decided to transfer the battlefield to the civilian population. The only change on the Palestinian side was an under-the-radar tactical change, but this change still adheres to their original agenda – the total rejection of the Jewish state. Instead of tank battles in distant deserts, the Palestinians transferred their battles to densely populated areas where the civilians serve as human shields.”

This tactic is part of what several Middle-East scholars have termed the “dead baby” strategy. A widely circulated cartoon makes this point effectively:

http://gatestoneinstitute.org/pics/large/165.jpg

https://marksilverberg.com/unhrc-report-ignores-the-implications-of-the-gaza-war

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Key Preliminary Findings of the High Level International Military Group on the Gaza Conflict

June 12, 2015

Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

High Level International Military Group, made up of 11 former chiefs of staff, generals, senior officers, political leaders and officials from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Holland, Spain, Italy, Australia and Colombia visited Israel for a fact-finding mission on the 2014 Gaza conflict...

we have viewed international media footage confirming several cases and are aware of senior Hamas officials’ own claims to have used human shields. A recent report by the UN Secretary General confirmed that in some cases Hamas even used UN facilities for storing munitions and launching attacks.

Again, these actions clearly amount to war crimes. The laws of armed conflict not only forbid the use of human shields but also demand that combatant forces ensure their civilians are physically evacuated from combat areas. Hamas made no effort to evacuate civilians; on the contrary, there are documented cases of them compelling civilians to remain in or return to places where they expected Israeli attacks to come.

The Israel Defence Force employed a series of precautionary measures to reduce civilian casualties. Each of our own armies is of course committed to protecting civilian life during combat. But none of us is aware of any army that takes such extensive measures as did the IDF last summer to protect the lives of the civilian population in such circumstances.

https://unwatch.org/key-findings-of-the-high-level-international-military-group-on-the-gaza-conflict/

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Israel: 64% of Fatalities from Op Protective Edge – Terrorists

The Israeli government has issued an official 250-page report on Operation Protective Edge, according to which 36% of Gaza's fatalities are classified as uninvolved civilians. Israel presents the conflict as a moral, defensive, and necessary one

IsraelDefense, June 15, 2015

A Palestinian girl near masked militants of Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, military wing of Hamas, in Shijaiyah in the northern Gaza Strip (Photo: AP)

... Jerusalem has continued with the defense that the Palestinians used human shields, in essence. They did this by basing attacks out of these schools, hospitals, etc. and drawing Israeli rocket fire on defenseless people.

Furthermore, the numbers of casualties, especially civilians, is a point of contention in the reports. The IDF has classified 761 (36% of the total – 2,125) fatalities from the 2014 Gaza Conflict as uninvolved civilians, either because there was no indication that they were involved in the hostilities or because they were assumed to be uninvolved based upon their age and gender. The UNHRC on the other hand, presents a civilian casualty count nearly double that of what Israel’s report claims, a total coming to 1,483. The difference likely stemming from whom each report considered a civilian, and who was seen as a combatant.

https://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/content/israel-64-fatalities-op-protective-edge-%E2%80%93-terrorists

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Reporter Tells Truth About Rocket Fired from Gaza Hospital, Complains When Quoted by Pro-Israel Media

By MOLLY WHARTON, August 4, 2014

A Finnish journalist reported seeing Hamas terrorists launch a rocket at Israel from a Gaza hospital, but later attacked news outlets for using her report as a pro-Israel “propaganda weapon.”

Aishi Zidan, a journalist for the daily newspaper Helsinging Sanomat, described the rocket attack in a report, which was uploaded to YouTube on Friday. The blog Legal Insurrection provided a translation of the Finnish report.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/reporter-tells-truth-about-rocket-fired-gaza-hospital-complains-when-quoted-pro-israel/

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Why Everything Reported from Gaza is Crazy Twisted.

The Tower. Issue 17.

August-2014.

By Mark Lavie

The images coming out of the Gaza Strip are heart-wrenching. They are also part of a deliberate and sophisticated distortion machine.

You're seeing civilians dying and suffering in Gaza. You’re seeing the destruction Israel’s military operation against Hamas has caused.

You’re hearing from Israel that Hamas is firing rockets from crowded neighborhoods, using helpless Gaza civilians as human shields, forcing them to stay in their neighborhoods in defiance of Israeli warnings to leave.

Why aren’t you hearing that from Gaza? Often, it’s because reporters are afraid to tell you.

True, in some cases, it’s anti-Israel bias. In others, it’s bad journalism—covering the story you can easily see above ground, like destruction, misery, death and funerals, instead of digging for the real story: Why this is happening and how the powerful are operating behind the scenes or underground—again, literally. It’s the scourge of 21st century “journalism,” with its instant deadlines, the demands to tweet and blog constantly, the need to get something out there that’s more spectacular than the competition, and check the facts later, if at all. Add to that the cruel cutbacks by news organizations around the world. It all means that fewer and fewer reporters have to file more and more stories, and file partial reports while they’re working. It’s impossible. I allow myself the quotation marks around “journalism” because I’ve been a journalist for half a century (I started young), covering the region since 1972, and I fear my profession is not what it used to be, and not for the better.

http://www.thetower.org/article/why-everything-reported-from-gaza-is-crazy-twisted/

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Stance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Hamas.

The Petition of residents in the Southend West constituency, Declares that the Petitioners believe that the Foreign Office view Hamas as a plausible negotiating partner for creating a peace agreement with Israel; further that the Petitioners believe that such a view is incorrect as Hamas's own political charter clearly states that it seeks nothing less than the destruction of Israel; further that the Petitioners believe that the Foreign Office is unwilling to clearly declare that it deplores the use of civilians and civilian buildings by Hamas as part of Hamas's warfare strategy; Hamas's consequential abuse of civilian properties as places from which to launch attacks on Israel, and its abuse of civilians as human shields resulting in a disproportionate loss of life; further that the Petitioners believe that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and is the only place in the Middle East where Christianity and other faiths can co-exist peacefully and thrive; further that a lack of clarity in support of Israel contributes to anti-Jewish sentiment; further that the Petitioners recognise the need for, and the rights of, the civilians of Gaza and other Arabs who live within and around Israel for a peaceable existence; and further that the Petitioners believe that the lack of demonstrable public clarity by the Foreign Office to support Israel and to deplore Hamas is deeply concerning. The Petitioners therefore urges the House of Commons to request that the Foreign Office explains its actions and views on Israel, and clarifies its view of and position on Hamas. And the Petitioners remain, etc.'”[Presented by Sir David Amess, Official Report, 12 February 2015; Vol. 592, c. 1049.] [P001436] Observations from the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs:

... UK Government policy on Hamas have not changed and is clear: Hamas must renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept previously signed agreements. These conditions remain the benchmark against which Hamas's intentions should be judged. Throughout the hostilities in Gaza of summer 2014, the UK condemned Hamas's illegal and indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israel and stressed the need for Hamas and other militant groups to stop them. We condemned any use of human shields as violations of international humanitarian law, and we called on all sides to ensure that civilians were not put in danger. The UK was also clear that Israel had a right to take action to defend itself but needed to act proportionately and to minimise the risk of civilian casualties. We also made clear our serious concern regarding human rights abuses in Gaza by Hamas. We are deeply concerned by incitement in the Hamas-run media and leadership, which is both anti-Israel and anti-Semitic; we are concerned about the deteriorating freedoms of religion and belief; and we are concerned about the continued use of extrajudicial executions of alleged collaborators. Hamas's military wing (Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades) is proscribed by the UK Government and have been since March 2001. Proscription makes it a criminal offence to invite support for a proscribed organisation which includes, but is not restricted to, the provision of funds. The entirety of Hamas (including its political and military wings) has been listed by the European Union since 2003. The UK enforces the EU asset freeze on Hamas through the Terrorist Asset Freezing Act 2010 which makes it a criminal offence for individuals or entities to supply funding to any part of Hamas. In December 2014, the listing of Hamas was annulled on procedural grounds by the European Court. This does not mean that the EU no longer considers Hamas a terrorist organisation and the European Commission is challenging the European Court's decision. The asset freeze remains in place while the legal challenge is ongoing.

https://hansard.parliament.uk/debates/GetDebateAsText/15061517000022

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Gaza rocket launched during CBC interview

By Derek Stoffel

CBC News, August 8, 2014

'Samer, who knows Gaza very well, thinks militants would have launched it from somewhere in northern Gaza City. This is clearly a residential area. The hotel our crew stayed at during our last few Gaza assignments is in the same neighbourhood, and I've witnessed several rocket launches.

I caught the tail end of one particular launch on July 25, from near the hotel.

Here, two rockets are fired, again from somewhere the residential area near the hotel.

There are several open areas in the vicinity of the hotel, including what some locals said was a weapons storage area for militants. That open area was hit by Israeli strikes on at least two occasions while I was at the hotel.'

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/gaza-rocket-launched-during-cbc-interview-1.2731201

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Israel: The World's Most Moral Army

Published on Dec 7, 2015 - PragerU!

Is the Israeli military a paragon of morality and wartime ethics? Or is it an oppressive force that targets innocent Palestinian civilians and commits war crimes as a matter of policy? Colonel Richard Kemp, who was the commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, was in Israel during its war against Hamas in 2014, and analyzes whether Israel's military is ethical, evil, or somewhere in between.

https://www.prageru.com/video/israel-the-worlds-most-moral-army/

http://l.prageru.com/2ylo1Yt

The most moral in the world: The British colonel who admires the IDF

Colonel Richard Camp who served in Afghanistan was hosted at Walla! News and backed IDF operations in Operation Resilient Cliff. "No army in the world takes so many measures to prevent civilian casualties."

[Tags: Operation Protective Edge, UK, UN Human Rights Council, IDF, Gaza Strip]

Walla! news

Thursday, 24 July 2014, 22:44

[...]

Camp referred to the behavior of Hamas, which uses civilians as a "human shield," and made it clear that they were not the first organization to do so. "When soldiers from my battalion fought against Taliban positions in the Helmond compound and soldiers broke into the room, similar to what IDF soldiers would do in the same situation, they intended to fire an automatic because they thought there were enemy soldiers there," he recalled. There were civilians - men, women and children brought there by the Taliban to be killed. Hamas also hopes that your forces will kill the civilians. "

However, when he tried to explain where Israeli PR falls, he made it clear that "it's unfortunate, but propaganda will always be against you." "These messages can go through when Israel receives a humanitarian ceasefire and Hamas violates it, when the IDF tries to prevent harm to human lives and Hamas does its best to harm civilians," he explained. Picture of a baby lying dead in a drawer in a morgue. It is impossible to overcome it."

https://news.walla.co.il/item/2769050

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B'Tselem's lies: Even in the face of the truth, the organization is voting for Hamas

The report submitted this week on the operation in Gaza is in fact a one-sided incitement, which adopts without examination the position of a terrorist group, and spreads it all over the world. The real facts are just the opposite.

MK Yair Lapid - 23/09/2016 05:56

B'Tselem's report on Operation Eitan Cliff, published this week under the objective headline "Rendering Procedure," is not really a report. Is an incitement article. A biased, one-sided article by a radical left-wing organization that has no problem lying.

The lies hit the reader already in the opening chapter, where the report states without blinking that 63% of the victims of the operation were innocent civilians unrelated to Hamas. The IDF's number, which resulted from a careful investigation, is about half of that - 36%. Even Israel's most serious critics admit that Hamas inflates the numbers to serve its propaganda. If anyone needs proof that the IDF does not fire indiscriminately, it is welcome to review the data published by B'Tselem itself. From the number of women.If the IDF shooting was indeed random, the distribution should have been 50-50, but hey, why let the facts spoil good hate propaganda?

The simple truth is that B'Tselem has no tools or way to know which of the dead was a terrorist and which was not, but instinctively they prefer to adopt Hamas' position. They prefer an Islamic terrorist organization that despises the truth, over the official version of a democratic and law-abiding state that conducts rigorous investigations. B'Tselem did not even bother to point out that there were disagreements on the issue. They simply copied Hamas' position to their report and then - as always - translated this false statement into English and distributed it around the world.

The real facts are just the opposite. As a cabinet member at the time of Tzuk Eitan [Protective Edge], I still remember the frustration felt by some of the cabinet members in the face of the legal restrictions imposed on IDF operations: The videotaped evidence that Hamas fired at our forces from hospitals, kindergartens and schools.

https://www.maariv.co.il/journalists/Article-558217

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What IDF should learn from battle for Mosul

Analysis: The ISIS military modus operandi in Iraq, which consists of offensive tunnels, snipers and special forces designed to take over communities and hinder coalition aerial bombardments, will likely be emulated by Hezbollah and Hamas during their next conflict with Israel.

Ron Ben-Yishai | Oct 26, 2016

... The ISIS activity is divided into “delaying fighting” in the open rural area outside Mosul and preparations for the fighting itself within the city. In both arenas, ISIS is using civilians as a human shield, mainly due to its ability to assimilate into the civil population, to emerge suddenly and to retreat back into hiding among the population. This method of action allows ISIS to escape the US-led aerial coalition’s bombings.

This is exactly what both Hamas and Hezbollah have done and continue to do. They also “disappear” and fade into the civil population, disappear into the tunnels immediately after attacking, in order to avoid the wrath of the IDF’s aerial and artillery fire. ISIS, like Hezbollah and Hamas, seeks to appear for short periods of time allowing it to deal blows to the attacking force before disappearing from one sphere only to reappear in another.

The “delaying fighting” is taking place by way of two channels. The first channel is a surprise attack launched by ISIS fighters, likely activists in sleeper cells that have assimilated into the population and attack outside the arena of the battle for Mosul. Their goal is to force the Iraqis and Kurds to divert forces into their realm, essentially diluting the forces attacking the city.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4869947,00.html

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IDF accuses Palestinians of using ambulance as shield for rock throwing

Dec 10, 2017 — The Israel Defense Forces accused Palestinian protesters of using an ambulance as a human shield during a violent demonstration in

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-accuses-palestinians-of-using-ambulance-as-shield-for-rock-throwing/

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Hamas has a different scale of values than the IDF, and is guilty of war crimes

As long as the UN does not understand how different a war between a sovereign state and a terrorist organization is from a war between sovereign states, we will continue to see condemnation of the actions of the IDF and the state.

Liram Koblenz-Stenzler 12/03/2017 16:58

[Tags: War Crimes / Human Defender]... For years, the State of Israel has suffered from a deep lack of understanding of its war on terrorist organizations. One of the prominent places where this can be seen is the Goldstone report, which was published after Operation Cast Lead and was a moral earthquake for Israel. The report states that Israel has harmed uninvolved civilians as part of an overall policy. Two years later, in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post, Goldstone reiterated this statement and admitted that "if he had known what he knows now, the report would have looked different," but at the same time argued that the laws of war contained in international law should be applied by Non-state organizations like Hamas, to the same extent that they are supposed to be implemented by the armies of a sovereign state. According to him, their lack of application during combat should lead to an investigation by the violating party.

Different scale of values

This argument is even more indicative of the lack of understanding because the terrorist organizations against which the IDF fights, such as Hamas, have a completely different scale of values from that accepted by Israel; they tend not to consider human life - neither the lives of their activists, nor the lives of the population they fight for. The enemy. So even though they are semi-military and similar to a state's regular army - not only do they not fight according to the principles of international law, but they also deliberately violate them. Intentionally disrupting the distinction between them and the citizens first. For example, by launching rockets or mortar shells from civilian installations such as schools, mosques, churches and hospitals. In this way, they seek to force the IDF to fire at the same targets, thus leading to the loss of the IDF's legitimacy for its action and condemnation of it and the State of Israel by the international community.

These actions mean that the responsibility for harming the security of the citizens rests with those organizations and not with the IDF. Nevertheless, during a war, the IDF as a moral army has, without a doubt, the responsibility to preserve the human dignity of the citizens of Israel and its soldiers. On the human dignity of the fighters of the other side and its citizens. So he should try and minimize as much as possible the damage done to the civilian population of the other side. However, until the UN and human rights organizations understand how different a war between a sovereign state and a terrorist organization is from a war between sovereign states, and until the rules of war and the moral justifications for the various actions are changed accordingly, we will continue to see international condemnation of IDF and Israeli actions.

[The author is a doctoral student in military ethics and terrorism at the Department of Political Science at Tel Aviv University. Served as a research fellow at Yale University.] https://www.maariv.co.il/journalists/opinions/Article-577502

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UNRWA uncovers Hamas-dug tunnel under school in Gaza

Palestinian refugee agency condemns Gaza rulers' underground network; Israel's UN envoy: 'Cruelty of Hamas' knows no bounds

By TOI STAFF 9 June 2017, 9:30 pm

https://www.timesofisrael.com/unrwa-uncovers-hamas-dug-tunnel-under-school-in-gaza/

"Gaza children serve as a human shield for Hamas" - Actualic

Jun 10, 2017 - Israel is reacting sharply to the discovery that in recent days the same terrorist tunnel belonging to the military arm of Hamas, under a school belonging to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - UNRWA. https://actualic.co.il/news_flashes/%d7%99%d7%9c%d7%93%d7%99-%d7%a2%d7%96%d7%94-%d7%9e%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%9e%d7%92%d7%9f-%d7%90%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%a9%d7%99-%d7%9c%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%90%d7%a1/

UNRWA unveils a Hamas tunnel under a school in Gaza

The UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees discovered the tunnel about a week and a half ago, and agreed with Hamas that the part that passes under the school will be destroyed and sealed. It is probably not a tunnel intended to be used to infiltrate Israel.

Elior Levy | Updated 00:30, 10/06/2017

https://m.ynet.co.il/articles/4973648

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How Israel Became The Military Superpower That It Is

By Jaideep A Prabhu

March 26, 2017 at 7:36 PM

Some of Israel’s success is due to its rather unique situation – from the moment of independence, the state has constantly been at war.

The nature of Israel’s wars may have changed from state to non-state opponents but the threat still remains.

Katz, Yaakov, Amir Bohbot. The Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower. New York: St Martin’s Press, 2017. 304 pp.

[...]

Katz and Bohbot dedicate further chapters to Israel's development of drones, the adaptive armour of the famed Merkava tanks, the birth of its satellite programme, ballistic missile defence and computer viruses. The Weapon Wizards also discusses targeted assassinations and Israel's practice of winning friends or purchasing diplomatic favours through the sale of arms. Readers would find it eye-opening to learn how much effort the IDF puts into reducing collateral damage during its raids on terrorist cells or assassination missions. Contrary to the general media coverage, the IDF has developed technology and tactics that would limit civilian casualties. It has been the experience of Israeli drone and fighter pilots, however, that civilians volunteers are forced into acting as human shields; in some cases, Israel has had to even call off its strikes.

https://swarajyamag.com/books/how-israel-became-the-military-superpower-that-it-is

Summer/Fall 2017

The Moral Case for High-Tech Weapons.

Has Israeli military innovation made war more just?

Merav Ceren

Spurred by the digital revolution and pressured by Western moral standards about protecting innocent life, advances in battlefield technology have fundamentally changed the way we fight wars. Armies can now use pinpointed weapons to minimize civilian casualties. They can fire missiles at a single apartment in a crowded building, can identify the car of a terror cell leader and monitor it until it passes into an isolated area and be destroyed with a drone, and can use cyber tools to remotely disable weapons systems without ever dropping a bomb.

In short, precision weapons offer a more moral way to target enemies and their military assets, especially when non-state fighters use urban settings and civilians to shield themselves. These weapons, and their wise employment on the battlefield, are developments we should largely praise and sustain, even as important questions remain about how to employ them lawfully and about the true extent of their reduction of civilian casualties...

Militants will continue to engage in asymmetric forms of warfare, forcing militaries to fight in places where children play and ordinary citizens have built their lives. Warfare has changed so that the West can respond to these threats while maintaining our moral standards — that life is sacred and we should minimize the horror of violence.

Militaries still must fulfill their mission to safeguard the lives of citizens back home. But they must also do what they can to protect the civilians whom terrorist organizations callously use as human shields, knowing full well that Western militaries will balk at taking innocent lives.

The principled perspective of Western armies provided the foundation for the weapons described in Katz and Bohbot’s book. Drones that can stay airborne for days, missiles guided by a joystick, and anti-ballistic systems that can shoot incoming rockets out of the sky are examples of machines created to safeguard the lives of both fighters and civilians. Instead of allowing militant groups to take advantage of the ethics of these militaries, Israel and Western countries have developed innovative weapons that allow them to protect the citizens they are sworn to defend without violating their moral codes.

https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-moral-case-for-high-tech-weapons

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Jerusalem Institute of Justice, May, 2017.

Why HAMAS is Bad for Palestinians

1. Societal Abuse

Hamas has forcefully taken over Gaza, and has summarily executed 500+ political opponents by throwing them from

skyscraper rooftops.

Hamas carries out arbitrary arrests, torture and executions, by accusing and convicting suspected anti-Hamas

Palestinians as "collaborators." During July/August 2014 Hamas performed at least 55 executions of civilians.

Hamas has arbitrarily arrested and/or detained at least 2,970 people since seizing control of Gaza. 200+ cases of torture by Hamas have been documented since 2011.

2. Child Abuse

Hamas perpetuates a culture of militarization in which younger children are revered as holier martyrs. Hamas runs summer camps for children as young as 6 years old, which include activities like crawling under barbed wire fences with assault rifles and viewing simulated kidnappings of Israeli soldiers.

160 child laborers allegedly died during

Hamas’ construction of cross-border tunnels between Gaza and Israel.Hamas spokesman: "Human rights education dangerously contravenes Palestinian and Islamic culture" and "brainwashes Palestinian children."

3. Corruption

Hamas raises billions of dollars, pockets most of it, and with what's left, builds tens of millions of dollars' worth of tunnels under homes, schools and hospitals. It diverted an estimated $30-90 million’s worth of building materials from construction projects to build three dozen tunnels into Israel to use for terrorist acts.

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, with personal net worth of $2.6 billion, calls the shots of the military engagement in Gaza while living comfortably at a 5-star hotel in Qatar.

4. Human Rights Abuses

Hamas morality police punish women..

Women in Gaza are unable to initiate divorce.

Only males may press incest charges. Rapists can be set free if they agree to marry their victims. Homosexuality is entirely outlawed by Hamas, with a punishment of up to ten years in jail.

5. Disregard for Life

Hamas camouflages its combatants in civilian clothes, turning all Gazans into potential IDF targets.

Hamas glorifies martyrdom as a high calling, intentionally drawing Palestinian civilians into danger by firing rockets at Israel from civilian population centers. Hamas has been known to physically prevent civilians from evacuating targeted buildings.

Hamas implements a "<b>dead-baby strategy</b>" by strategically trying to have as many as possible Palestinian babies killed, in order to use the photos to raise finances and political collateral.

Hamas declared that all Israelis – including civilian men, women and children – are legitimate targets of missile attacks.

Hamas frequently misfires rockets which land in Gaza, destroying buildings and killing innocent Palestinians.

Hamas booby-traps homes, schools, and hospitals with explosives. "Work accidents" sometimes kill civilians.

Hamas in August 2014 booby-trapped a United Nations clinic in Gaza by hiding 12 barrels containing 80 kg. of explosives each in a wall, and then using a child to lure Israeli soldiers into the building. The explosives detonated and three soldiers died.

HAMAS TERRORIZES the PEOPLE of GAZA.

FREE GAZA END HAMAS' OCCUPATION.

http://www.jij.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/JIJ-Fact-Sheet-1-Hamas-EN-A4-ver-12.pdf

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A Palestinian resident of Hebron concealed a gun on her body while holding her son ... | Hamal -

1 Aug 2017 - A Palestinian resident of Hebron concealed a gun on her body while holding her young son, in order to deceive the Israel Police Border Police officers who arrived with IDF and Judea and Samaria District [police] forces to search for weapons in her home.

https://www.hamal.co.il/post/-KqWZeO1ZzJ32TgUyyPG

"Human Shield"

A Palestinian hid a gun close to her son.

Daniel Hertz - 10 Av, 5777. 02.08.17

A Palestinian resident of Hebron concealed a gun on her body while holding her young son in order to trick the police officers who arrived with IDF and SJ districts to search for weapons in her home (security)

https://www.kikar.co.il/241054.html

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The Red Crescent: When a Rescue Organization Selects Death | Israel Hayom

Lital Semesh - 12 Dec 2017

The day before yesterday, a violent riot broke out in the Ramallah area, one day chasing another day of riots involving rioters throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at IDF forces.

In a video released by the IDF Spokesman, a Red Crescent ambulance was seen assisting in transporting rioters disguised as wounded to the demonstration area.

The ambulance dismantled the masked wounded in the area of the riots, as they wrapped themselves in Palestinian flags and joined their brothers in throwing stones at our soldiers.

All of this celebration took place under the auspices of an organization that is supposed to save lives and help the wounded, and not help the terrorists to vent their anger at IDF soldiers.

This is not the first time the Red Crescent organization has given a hand to violence and terrorism. Exactly two years ago, Yaakov and Netanel Littman were shot dead in their memory in a shooting attack near Othniel. 16-year-old Dvir Littman sat in the front seat of the car and watched helplessly as his father and brother were drenched in their blood as a Red Crescent ambulance passed in front of his eyes and completely ignored the cries for help. The ambulance driver approached the scene of the attack, told them to "call 101," and drove away.

Immediately after the incident, the Prime Minister asked the Foreign Ministry to demand explanations from the Red Crescent about how they abandoned wounded Jews in violation of any human, cultural and humanitarian norm and threatened that Israel would take appropriate action against the Red Crescent organization. Not much has happened since.

The Red Crescent organization is known for its fondness for volunteering ambulances to remove and transport terrorists and means of sabotage for terrorist acts. Palestinian Islamic Jihad has previously published how it used an explosive-laden ambulance to carry out a terrorist attack; In March 2002, an IDF checkpoint stopped an ambulance south of Ramallah, and an explosive belt and explosive devices were found under a stretcher carrying a sick child. Hamas as a smuggler commits suicide in Israel and admitted during his interrogation that he smuggled weapons through ambulances.

And we have not yet begun to talk about the Palestinian lying industry, "Pallywood," in which Palestinians simulate wounded scenes using ambulances and imaginary wounded lying on the ground so that they can use these images to spread lies about Israel around the world. And what does the world think of it? It will be recalled that the World Red Cross, which sponsors MDA and the Red Crescent, has previously opposed MDA operating in Judea and Samaria. This is what global hypocrisy looks like at its best.

Meanwhile, the terrorists continue to make cynical and cruel use of a body that is supposed to save lives, and the Red Crescent in turn gives a windfall to terrorism. Instead of choosing life, he repeatedly chooses death, and the world is silent.

https://www.israelhayom.co.il/opinion/521307

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A Palestinian hid a gun next to her son - kikar haShabat.

Aug 2, 2017 - A Palestinian resident of Hebron cleared a gun on her body while holding her young son in order to trick the police who arrived with IDF and SJ district forces to search for weapons.

...During the search, the father of the family repeatedly claimed that there were no weapons in the house and that all he possessed was very small-weight marijuana, drugs that he handed over to the forces.

With the seizure of the drugs, the forces continued to act, noticing that the mother of the family was carrying one of the children in a suspicious manner. When asked to drop off the child she refused on the grounds that he was ill so she must hold him.

When the suspect realized that the policemen were determined and did not intend to give up, she took out her shirt and under the child who was holding an FN pistol, which she cleared over her body.

In addition, 2 cartridges and over 200 9 mm pistol bullets were found in the children's bedrooms.

The father and mother, Palestinians living in Hebron, were arrested for further Border Police interrogation.

https://www.kikar.co.il/241054.html

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H.R.3542 - Hamas Human Shields Prevention Act115th Congress (2017-2018)

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3542/text

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3542/all-info

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Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories

January 7, 2018

Marwan Abu Rida, an ambulance driver for the Red Crescent, has been using his position to exploit patients seeking medical treatment in Israel for terrorist organizations.

Abu Rida had illegally transferred equipment and funds from the Gaza Strip to various terror groups in Judea and Samaria multiple times over the past year. This was done while risking the lives of patients he was transferring from the Gaza Strip.

Beside the fact that his actions are criminal, they go directly against the Red Crescent’s commitment to neutrality and cynically exploits patients who seek to enter Israel for life-saving treatments. We demand that the Red Crescent fire him from his position immediately.

The State of Israel will continue to support life-saving medical treatment for residents of Gaza, while also protecting its citizens.

[https://scontent-mia3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.18172-8/26678125_1545116692250676_3626337975366847911_o.jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=iApto3pLPsoAX8lBQUy&_nc_ht=scontent-mia3-1.xx&oh=00_AT8_YysbhQ7aZBT_VEA7_h0xSNJp0z2Rb_WfNtvjdIzc_w&oe=6371D550]

https://www.facebook.com/cogatonline/photos/a.757361664359520/1545116692250676/?type=3

COGAT on Twitter: "Marwan Abu Rida, an ambulance driver ...

Jan 7, 2018 — Marwan Abu Rida, an ambulance driver for the Red Crescent, has been using his position to exploit patients seeking medical treatment in #Israel for terrorist organizations...

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS7shFtWAAA4PQS?format=jpg&name=medium]

https://twitter.com/cogat_israel/status/949957099324403712

Shameful abuse of power: Marwan Abu Rida, a Palestinian ambulance driver ...

Jan 7, 2018

[https://scontent-mia3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.18172-8/26232923_10155343817712689_5587012092098826427_o.jpg?stp=cp0_dst-jpg_e15_p720x720_q65&_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_ohc=YknWZo4EvPkAX-oV1PU&_nc_ht=scontent-mia3-1.xx&oh=00_AT_39VqHei6WKxwYK_6Zx5ZvJhr_WuMIv0vJkVtoNEFQhQ&oe=6372251A]

Shameful abuse of power: Marwan Abu Rida, the driver for the Red Crescent, has been using his position to exploit patients seeking medical treatment in Israel for terrorist organizations

COGAT - Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories has called for his immediate dismissal and rightly so.

https://m.facebook.com/StandWithUs/photos/a.350931762688/10155343817712689/?type=3

The coordinator of government operations in the territories, Major General Yoav (Foli) Mordechai, demands the firing of an ambulance driver who exploits Gazan patients for the needs of terrorist organizations: "Hamas continues to cross red lines, residents of Gaza - wake up!"

Jan 4, 2018

https://www.now14.co.il/%D7%94%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%A3-%D7%A0%D7%92%D7%93-%D7%94%D7%A1%D7%94%D7%A8-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%93%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%A9-%D7%9C%D7%A4%D7%98%D7%A8-%D7%A0%D7%94%D7%92-%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%9A/

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Prosecution in The Hague: "Hamas uses children as human shields"

Apr 24, 2018 - It is Hamas leaders who send their children to serve as human shields and as a result to be killed in battle. They are therefore the ones who have to stand up in the International Court of Justice in The Hague and give in.. https://www.israelhayom.co.il/article/551269

This is how Hamas uses children - Yedioth Ahronoth

Apr 23, 2018 - This is how Hamas uses children. With a Barcelona football shirt, slingshots and heavy tires - this is how the children who serve as human shields and are sent to the first line were photographed last Friday

https://m.yediot.co.il/Articles/5238011

IDF: Hamas sending children at us

Following killing of 15-year-old by IDF fire at Gaza border protest, Israeli army says investigation findings will be released within a day, accuses Hamas of using children as human shields; '(the children) throw Molotov cocktails or sabotage the (security) fence, out of an understanding that we will not hurt them,' senior military official says.

Yossi Yehoshua | Published: 04.23.18

Hamas encourages young children, some of them aged no more than 10, to take part in riots on the Gaza border fence—using them as glorified human shields with the knowledge that the IDF will refrain from shooting at them, the Israeli army has said.

In a demonstration last Friday on the Gaza border, four Palestinians were killed, including 15-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim Ayoub, who ran toward the fence and was shot by a sniper. Ayoub's death was captured by a photographer who was at the scene and drew severe condemnation.

In the video, the boy ran between people near the fence, but did not touch it, when he was suddenly shot in the head. The video became viral on social media and caused serious damage to Israel's image, with many accusing the IDF of purposefully killing children.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5238249,00.html

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Hamas military intensification - INSS 2018

The logic of Hamas' power building is similar to that which guides Hezbollah's power building. In Lebanon, which argues for the existence of a military infrastructure in population concentrations; Use of civilians, including children. And boys, as a "human shield" for terrorist operatives; https://www.inss.org.il/he/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/01/GazaCrisis_HEB_5-43-51.pdf

The riots on the fence - the warriors' version

Soldiers recently discharged from the IDF talk about the violent routine in Gaza and describe how Hamas exploits women and children to carry out terrorist attacks. The evidence will help file a lawsuit against the organization's leaders: "A terrorist throws a grenade and holds a child next to him."

Nir Dvori, Mako, 28.11.18

https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/security-q4_2018/Article-7ca99ecaa3c5761004.htm

Israel minimizes casualties, but Hamas uses human shields

May 18, 2018 · The U.N. Human Rights Council convened a special meeting in Geneva Friday to

https://www.israelhayom.com/2018/05/18/israel-minimizes-casualties-but-hamas-uses-human-shields-envoy-says/

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Good Israel vs. evil Hamas’s tactical protest

Nurit Greener, May 18, 2018

Hamas’s tactical protest on the border with Israel is perpetrated in order to exhaust the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), Gazans to be killed for photo-op; in order to deface Israel’s good image and present the Jewish state as a murderer of civilians as well as get world’s attention and funds.

For Hamas, dancing on the brink of chaos is a winning tactic.

As IDF soldiers, protecting the border, sought to prevent demonstrators from breaching the Israeli border fence, it is said that sixty Gazans were killed by IDF fire, with 24 of them Hamas terror operatives. The rest of the demonstrators are fools who have nothing else to do but endanger their lives for deception.

[At the border fence with Israel, not civilized protest, rather a call for terror, murder, and invasion]

On May 14, 1947 Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, declared the Jewish State independence. A day later, on May 15th, and every year since, the Arabs mark what they see as the Nakba, or ‘catastrophe of the establishment of the Jewish state.

While Israelis were jubilee, on Monday, May 14, 2018, to some Gazan family’s life turned tragic, at no fault of Israel's, but Hamas leadership[less] and the fools who follow them.

The hatred instilled in the Arabs by their corrupt, venomous, using Nazi type propaganda leaders is pathetically sad. This hatred is only growing, as life for the ordinary person in Gaza is becoming more unbearable.

What will you do if an enraged mob tries to break your country’s international border fence and flood your country? Will you let them run you over or stop them in any possible mean, including shooting them dead if the out of control stampede cannot be stopped in any other way?

The IDF dropped leaflets in Gaza asking the Gazan population not to listen to their leaders because if they do they put their life on the line and at risk. But thousands of them would not listen. For far too many Gazans, a monetary reward of few hundred dollars, paid by Iran, is stronger than his or her life. The Hamas leaders tell their people, go get shot, you will be remunerated; your life means nothing to us and you get shot – you are wounded or dead - is an inexpensive PR photo-op for us.

Gaza is the example to what will happen if the ‘two-state-solution’ comes to fruition … In this case, there will be no border fence to protect the Israelis from the Arab mob. Just as it happened in 1948, when the Jordan Legions swarmed Jerusalem, which they managed to hold onto at the end of Israel War of Independence.

The Jordanians made sure not one Jew will be dwelling in the city under their rule. Jews, their families lived in the Jerusalem for centuries were murdered or expelled and all Jewish houses of prayer and cemeteries were destroyed and/or desecrated.

There are no Jews living in Gaza; Gaza is Juderien-free of Jews. There is no Israeli occupation there but Hamas occupation. By now this prime property strip, on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, with white sandy beach, should have been an astonishing Middle East Hong Kong. If no ongoing wars, Israel would have seen to it. But the Islamo-Nazi Arabs want nothing else but to kill the Jews and destroy their amazing country.

Who can put the foot on the pedal?

As of this writing, the committee organizing the Gazan’s ongoing protests, the attempts to break through the border fence with Israel, called for a continuation of the weekly demonstrations, now with the next major focus on June 5 — called Nakba Day, meaning "day of the setback", the date when the Arabs mark their defeat in the 1967 Six Day War.

Israel, knowing what Hamas is all about and its warfare routine, figured out that for now Hamas is in no hurry to escalate the situation, to fire rockets at Israel. Apparently, the 2018 Hamas has learned to use a vocabulary that the international media can buy and sell. We see them using “nonviolent resistance,” “popular struggle,” etc., all hit the stomach of the triple standard toward Israel and ignorant media.

As long as ‘nonviolent’ mass gatherings’ of foolish Arab mob, showing willingness to rush toward the border fence and sacrifice their lives, that take place on the border fence with Israel, are under control, it appears that Hams is uninterested in being dragged into all-out war with the IDF. It appears that Hams currently believes that open war may do it more harm than good. In other words, the group does not want to risk losing control of their territory or making its leaders assassination target, as the IDF warned the group already.

It is Hamas that controls the entire show in Gaza that subsequently can, if it wants, restrain not just the demonstrators but also Gaza’s other armed groups.

For now, the chaotic demonstrations, with rather low human toll, since the IDF has been using snipers to control the mob not tanks or war planes, have netted Hamas quite a few achievements:

1/ They were brought to the fore of Arabs’ internal political discourse, while

2/ Refocusing the attention of the international community on Gaza.

3/ And as always, Israel is bearing the brunt of the blame for the deaths. The proverbial United Nations condemnation was already passed in this anti-Israel body hall and the barking Chihuahua media did not stop barking on behalf of Hamas, meaning on behalf of and for terror against Israel. Other than from Washington D.C, there was very little condemnation of Hamas from anyone.

The Gazans are fulfilling Golda Meir’s saying: “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”

In that context, Gazan children and youth are paying the price of Hamas vile hate for Israel. Gazan youths have been rushed, in droves, to the border-fence.

[Gazan youth - instead of learning, incitement and a call to murder Jews]

One may ask: How is it that this mob does not fear for its life? How come so many are willing to die in a futile assault on the security fence Israel erected to separate itself from the Gaza terror enclave and to stop the infiltration by illegals?

The only though that comes to mind, as a reply to the question, is twofold: the desire of young Gazans to be seen as heroes by their society that calls for meaningless martyrdom and the feeling among so many that they have nothing to lose if they die.

Pairing despair and a desire to stand out appears to be a strong motivator for the recruitment of so many Gazans to march and protests. Also, with over 40% unemployment in the Strip, a possible pay for getting hurt at the border fence makes an incentive to march.

Demonstrators’ participation may diminish but escalation to a right out conflict may take place

Still, it is difficult to see how Hamas’s new tactic of controlled rallies can last much longer.

If Hamas does not achieve actual results from these run the border demonstrations, or see a change in the Gaza it rules situation, there should be a natural decline in the motivation of the Gazan populace to risk life at the border. At some point Hamas may even be tempted to revert to its basic warring instincts, firing rockets or even attempting to rile the Palestinian Authority population to carry out attacks in their territory, in Judea and Samaria. This, in a twisted way, would lower the risk of an open conflict in Gaza, while winning points with the Arabs public who is brainwashed to demand revenge and seek the return to where exactly?

After all, what is this all about?

If any Arab has a problem with Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, he or she needs to take up the issue with G-D, Who gave the land to His people, the Israelite-Jews. But it appears that these Arabs have a murderous relationship with their type God; their God is a cruel, evil, likes them to go kill their own and others.

With the USA finally taking the rightful step along which it has recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, it gives Israel the permanency it so badly needed, to continue to grow and thrive. It made Israel invincible.

This spectacle at the border fence with Israel is simply Arab self-inflicting catastrophe.

The riots and anarchy on Israel’s border with Gaza are not because the Gazans are angry Jerusalem received the rightful recognition as the capital of Israel. Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel since King David time, for some 3,500 years. Hamas, the ruler of Gaza’s charter calls for the annihilation of Israel by any mean possible. Using its civilians, children, youths, women and men, to try break through the border fence is just one other mean to try achieve its charter’s goal.

Hamas, using the complicit media, has invented a ‘peacefully’ violent demonstration with guns, knives and child as human shields to advance its agenda..

The problem is that on the two sides of the border fence that separates Gaza from Israel, there are two different type of people: on the Gaza side, [some] people who want to murder and kill and could care less about being killed and on Israel’s side, people who want to live and defend themselves from being killed. It is a war of evil – Hamas and its cronies – against good – Israel…

We, the people who know right from wrong, will not let Hamas’s goal happen. NEVER!

https://www.jpost.com/blogs/think-with-me/good-israel-vs-evil-hamass-tactical-protest-557725

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EU Condemns Hamas For Using Civilians As Human Shields

Apr 20, 2018

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/172755-180420-eu-condemns-hamas-for-using-civilians-as-human-shields

European Parliament condemns Hamas for its acts of terror, use of human shields, its calls for Israel’s destruction and for escalating tensions at the border

By YOSSI LEMPKOWICZ April 20, 2018

The European Parliament in plenary session in Strasbourg. Pro-Israel advocacy groups welcomed the resolution, stressing the unusual fact that a European Union body found strong words of condemnation not only for Israel but also for Hamas.

https://ejpress.org/european-parliament-condemns-hamas-acts-terror-use-human-shields-calls-israels-destruction-escalating-tensions-border/

In first, European Parliament condemns Hamas for terror, use of human shields.

Apr 19, 2018

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-first-european-parliament-condemns-hamas-for-terror-use-of-human-shields/

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Defense Minister: Hamas is a group of cannibals that uses kids as weapons

Col. Richard Kemp: Hamas is responsible for every Palestinian death during the riots.

By Anna Ahronheim, The Jerusalem Post, May 16, 2018

[White House blames Hamas after deadly Gaza clashes, May 14, 2018 (Reuters]

Hamas is a “bunch of cannibals” who use their women and children as weapons, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Wednesday, after riots along the Gaza border fence left dozens of Palestinians dead.

Hamas claims that 62 Gazans died on Monday.

“The Hamas leadership is a bunch of cannibals that treats their children as weapons. They have rockets, sidearms and a different kind of weapon – women and children,” he during a visit to the IDF’s Gaza Division.

“Their goal is to lift Gaza’s blockade but not to build their economy or hold talks about coexistence, but rather to smuggle weapons [into the Strip] to continue to build up their military force and to create a Hezbollah model plus.”

The violence on Monday was condemned by the international community, with Turkey and South Africa recalling their ambassadors and the United States blocking a UN Security Council statement calling for an independent probe.

On Tuesday the IDF issued a statement saying that after a joint investigation with the Shin Bet, at least 24 of the fatalities were members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad and on Wednesday afternoon senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil admitted to Palestinian radio that "in the last round of confrontations 62 people were martyred, 50 of them were Hamas."

I suggest to everyone just to think about what would have happened if they had succeeded in breaking into one of the settlements. We saw what happened at Kerem Shalom, on the Palestinian side. They reached Kerem Shalom, and destroyed the gas pipeline [bringing fuel into Gaza],” Liberman said.

Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas is responsible for every Palestinian death during the riots.

“Hamas has orchestrated the violence and orchestrated with the deliberate intent of trying to force the IDF to use lethal force against their people so that their own people get killed,” Kemp said Tuesday, speaking on the border with the Gaza Strip.

Sending women and children to the border fence is “disgusting,” Kemp said, adding that “very few people would understand why this is happening and would understand why responsible adults would get their children to get into combat zones, or their women or noncombatant men. It is deliberately putting people in danger and it is shameful and disgraceful, and it is their responsibility when it goes very badly wrong like it did.”

While Monday was the bloodiest day in Gaza since Operation Protective Edge in 2014, Tuesday saw a marked decrease in violence, with only 4,000 Palestinians taking part in the demonstrations rather than the 40,000 who participated the day earlier.

According to Kemp, the violence and the number of fatalities likely served as a deterrent to Palestinians to participate in the protests on Tuesday.

But Liberman warned that despite the current relative calm along the border, “there are no illusions here, they did not give up all the disturbances and terrorism.

“But they got a serious blow and that’s what caused them, for the moment, to go back into their kennel,” he said.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/defense-minister-hamas-is-a-group-of-cannibals-that-uses-kids-as-weapons-556598

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UN General Assembly condemns terrorists' use of citizens as 'human shields'

Jun 27, 2018 — The resolution was specifically aimed as Hamas, which has used human shields, including women and children, during its conflicts with Israel.

https://www.jns.org/un-general-assembly-condemns-terrorists-use-of-citizens-as-human-shields/

Israel praises UN condemnation of terrorists’ use of human shields

Envoy Danny Danon calls update to counter-terrorism strategy an 'important step in our activities to change the rules of the game at the UN'

By TOI STAFF and AP

27 June 2018

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-praises-un-condemnation-of-terrorists-use-of-human-shields/

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Hamas rioter: group 'tricks' women, children to enter line of fire - Ynetnews

May 17, 2018 —

"Hamas organized the protests in order for people not to ‘turn’ on them. They (Hamas) say: Instead of them harming us and ‘turning’ on us, we’ll send them to the border fence where they will be hit," he told his investigators.

"They tell women to go forward. They say to a woman: Go ahead, you’re a woman and the army doesn’t shoot women. They tell small children: Go ahead, the army doesn’t shoot small children. They tell a child to go ahead and he goes. It’s a small child. They trick him," the man insisted.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5263044,00.html

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The dead-baby strategy

Jonathan S Tobin

JNS, May 18, 2018

The exploitation of the death of a Palestinian infant shows the depths to which anti-Israel propaganda has sunk and how effective such immoral arguments can be...

But what good are facts if all you’re really after is more propaganda war against Israel? If someone like British shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry (the person who will be Britain’s leading diplomat if a Labour Party that is tainted by anti-Semitism wins the next election in that country) could claim that Israeli snipers were shooting Palestinian children in the back while they ran for their lives, then clearly anything is possible...

Palestinians brought their children to the border as if they were going to a family picnic. As we saw during previous armed conflicts with Israel, Palestinian factions routinely use humans as shield. The presence of civilians protects their fighters, as well as provides a bonus in the form of bad press for Israel if non-combatants are harmed.

While some Jews are ashamed that Israelis are prepared to use lethal force to defend their country, Hamas leaders feel no shame about putting Palestinian children in harm’s way. In their eyes, the goal of destroying the Jewish state is so important that no action is too depraved if it undermines Israel.

Hamas is correct about the effectiveness of these tactics, which are nothing less than acts of human sacrifice. In the face of such calamity, it’s hard for some seemingly fair-minded observers like the Times’ David Brooks to think clearly about Gaza. The situation is so egregious that they assume that no matter what Hamas does, they’ve come to believe it’s somehow Israel’s responsibility prevent the Palestinians from purposing the deaths of these kids. Rather than analyze the conflict dispassionately, he and others simply damn both sides as extremists...

https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-dead-baby-strategy/

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Arafat's Heritage - Yedioth Ahronoth

Shimrit Meir, Nov 18, 2018 -

This is not the first time that one of the leaders of Hamas, who learned from their rabbis in Hezbollah, is giving a full victory speech, rioting and threats after a military round with Israel. But Sinwar's speech on Friday was exaggerated even considering the genre ...

Today, they prefer to embrace them in an attempt to influence them, and along the way also serve as a "human shield" for thousands in Hamas' military wing, including Sinwar himself...

https://www.yediot.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-5407308,00.html

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The inhumanity of Hamas' human shields.

Illustration on Hamas' use of human shields by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times ... By Joe Wilson - - Thursday, May 31, 2018.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/may/31/the-inhumanity-of-hamas-human-shields/

https://joewilson.house.gov/media-center/articles/the-inhumanity-of-hamas-human-shields

Hamas enlists female participation in border riots - watch

By Jerusalem Post Staff

February 18, 2019

New footage released over the weekend shows Hamas using its women as human shields.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/hamas-enlists-female-participation-in-border-riots-watch-580973

Haley blasts Iran over civilian deaths in the Middle East - CNN Politics

Apr 26, 2018 — "Groups that Iran has sponsored or supported have perfected the tactic of using human shields," she told the UN Security Council, ..

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/politics/haley-blasts-iran/index.html

Hamas using 'children as cannon fodder' in Gaza: Haley - France 24

Apr 26, 2018

US Ambassador Nikki Haley lashed out at Hamas Thursday, accusing the Palestinian movement of "using children as cannon fodder," following the deaths of dozens of people during protests in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces have killed 41 Palestinians, including two journalists, since the protests began on March 30 near the Gaza-Israeli border fence.

"Anyone who truly cares about children in Gaza should insist that Hamas immediately stop using children as cannon fodder in its conflict with Israel," Haley told a UN Security Council meeting.

Most of the Palestinians killed by Israel during the ongoing protests were shot by snipers on the border, while a few others were killed by Israeli artillery or air strikes.

The Israeli army says its troops only open fire in self-defense or to stop protesters attempting to breach the barrier separating the territory from Israel.

Haley denounced the use of civilians as human shields throughout the Middle East in her remarks to the council as it met to discuss the situation in the region and the violence in Gaza.

"It's difficult to think of a more cowardly act -- even for a terrorist -- than hiding behind innocent civilians," she said.

https://www.france24.com/en/20180426-hamas-using-children-cannon-fodder-gaza-haley

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This is how Hamas uses children

Yossi Yehoshua - Yediot Achronot

News - 22.04.2018

With a Barcelona football shirt, slingshots and heavy tires - this is how the children who serve as human shields were photographed last Friday and sent to the front line during the violent demonstrations near the fence in Gaza. To authorize firing on children "

In a Chicago Bulls basketball jersey or Barcelona football shirt, jeans and a childish haircut, the Hamas organization sends young children, some no more than 10 years old, to participate in demonstrations on the border fence in the Gaza Strip and serve as human shields.

https://www.yediot.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-5238011,00.html

"We will burn the J..s": New documentation from Gaza reveals the lie of "peace demonstrations"

Gilad Zwick | 09/05/2018 (MIDA)

Using children as human shields, blatant anti-Semitism and sacrificing the lives of protesters for propaganda purposes: this is what the Hamas terror march looks like.

New documentation from the Gaza side of the border fence reveals the murderous and antisemitic nature of the terrorist march in Gaza. In a video by Israeli-French journalist and film director Pierre Rehov (pseudonym), gunmen can be seen dragging a small child into the heart of a combat zone, and a few seconds later an explosion takes place. Other children were taken by their parents to the battle area and some were equipped with masks designed to quell the impact of the gas grenades thrown by IDF forces. "What kind of parents would volunteer to expose their children to such dangers," Rehov wonders in the video, "What propaganda machine did Hamas use to get parents to turn their children into human shields?"

Apart from the use of children, the video documents the violence used by the demonstrators and their explicit desire to murder Jews and destroy the State of Israel. Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip and one of the founders of the organization's military wing, declared to foreign reporters that after they demolished the border fence in Gaza, "we will uproot their (Israelis) hearts from their bodies." Sinwar, who was released in the Shalit deal after 22 years in an Israeli prison, owed his life to the State of Israel when he was operated on about a decade ago in a Israeli hospital in light of the danger to his life. Sinwar does not seem to feel the need to pay homage to the act and incites the brutal murder of Israelis.

A member of Hamas 'political leadership, Mahmoud a-Zahar, made it clear that the protesters' goal was not to end the "occupation" but to wipe Israel off the map: "We will continue the battle until we liberate the entire country," a-Zahar stressed. “There is no such thing as East Jerusalem or West Jerusalem, there is only one Jerusalem that is our capital. We do not accept Palestine within the 48 ′ or 67 ′ borders. There is only one Palestine - and that is all of Palestine! ”

"The J..s the dogs need to be burned"

The demonstrators in the video are not afraid to express clear antisemitic attitudes: "We will roll the tires towards the Jews so that we can burn them," says an elderly woman who participated in the demonstrations. “All unclean J...s are dogs. They need to be burned. Dirty. ” Another demonstrator added that "J..s cannot rob us of the land, even if our bodies are cut to pieces."

https://mida.org.il/2018/05/09/%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A3-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%93-%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9-%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%96%D7%94-%D7%97%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%A3-%D7%90/

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Hamas paying protesters to charge Gaza border, Israel reveals

JNS, May 15, 2018

More than 50 Palestinian demonstrators killed, 2,700 hurt in protests and attempts to infiltrate Israel Monday - Rather than send Hamas operatives to risk their lives at border riots, Hamas urges civilians, families to charge border for little pay.

Palestinians display a flag with a swastika in the middle during Gaza border protests in April 2018...

Instead of risking its own operatives, Hamas has systematically sent teenagers and children to the area.

Palestinians who managed to breach the border were apprehended and interrogated by Israel’s Shin Bet security agency. Their interrogations shed some light on the methods and tools used by Hamas’ military wing to encourage violence and terrorism at the border.

https://www.jns.org/hamas-paying-protesters-to-charge-gaza-border-israel-reveals/

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The Palestinian paramedic who was killed was documented throwing a grenade Maariv News - Yami Roth

7 Jun 2018 - Razan Anjar, who was shot by IDF fire, told Palestinian television that she was serving as a "human shield."

The prime minister's spokesman for the Arab media Said: "Hamas takes advantage of medical people for his terrorist objectives."

https://www.maariv.co.il/news/military/Article-641853

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Hamas Executing Human Shields Who Failed To Keep Its Men From Getting Shot

Al-Zahar declined to specify the number of designated human shield/martyrs slated for execution as a result of the fiasco.

Gaza City, June 5, 2018

– The militant Islamist organization behind much of the rioting over the last several months at the border fence between Israel and this coastal territory has begun implementing the death penalty against unarmed protesters tasked with serving as protection from Israeli sniper fire for the movement’s members, following reports that more than 80% of protesters killed by Israeli gunfire amid the unrest were active members of Hamas.

A spokesman for the organization told reporters that if the human shields could not fulfill expectations by absorbing Israeli fire and thus facilitating a narrative of wanton slaughter of unarmed demonstrators, then they have forfeited their value and the movement will dispose of them.

“We worked for months to ensure a large number of human shields – we thought they were guaranteed to become martyrs, and informed them of same – to serve a dual purpose,” explained Mahmoud al-Zahar. “One purpose was to shield our operatives as the latter approached the fence to breach it and gain access to the enemy’s rear. But the other, perhaps more important, was to be killed to create the picture of the Zionists gunning down unarmed protesters, further delegitimizing their international standing and maintaining the argument that the Zionist Entity has no right to persist.”

“But a significant number of these would-be martyrs failed to complete their mission,” he continued. “So poor was the performance, in fact, that more than four fifths of the fatalities from various Israeli countermeasures came from our core membership. That represents an intolerably high proportion, and way out of line with the expectations generated in previous violent encounters such as the war in 2014.”

Al-Zahar declined to specify the number of designated human shield/martyrs slated for execution as a result of the fiasco. “Investigations are ongoing,” he added. “Some failed martyrs may have convincing explanations for their situation, and we do not have a final figure at this stage.”

Observers note that some confusion has occurred in discerning defendants accused of failing to die as human shields from defendants accused of collaborating with Israel. “There’s a pecking order in the prison cells,” commented analyst Raul Panim. “No one wants to be the guy accused of collaboration, even though a good ninety percent of those charges are leveled by bitter neighbors or parties to ongoing feuds. You end up with more people claiming to be accused of failing to die as human shields than participated in the demonstrations.”

http://www.preoccupiedterritory.com/hamas-executing-human-shields-who-failed-to-keep-its-men-from-getting-shot/

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Gaza Is Not Occupied by Anyone Other than Gazans — The War of Words

On July 16, 2018, by Leonard Grunstein

Gaza is occupied by Gazans. Neither Egypt nor Israel, its territorial neighbors, occupy Gaza, as a matter of fact or law.

Yet, the provocative terms “occupation” and “occupier” are casually used, by many in the news media and others, to describe the relationship between Gaza and Israel. The words project an explosive image of Israel, as a so-called occupier, which is assumed to be oppressing an otherwise innocent and peaceful Gaza. The portrayal is expressed with such certainty, as if the occupation were an obvious truth; but it is nothing more than fake news. Gaza is not occupied by Israel and Gaza’s problems are self-inflicted...

See ‘Don’t Use Me’: Reporter Admits Seeing Rocket Fired from Gaza Hospital, then Blasts Pro-Israel Media for Quoting Her, by Shoshana Schwartz, in the Blaze, on August 3, 2014; Rare Footage Appears to Capture Gaza Rocket Site, by Nick-Robbins Early, dated August 5, 2014; The story Behind NDTV’s rocket launch footage, by Uriel Hellman, JTA, August 7, 2014; Hamas admits it did use schools and hospitals in Gaza Strip as ‘human shields’ to launch rocket attacks on Israel-but claims it was a ‘mistake’, by Mathew Blake, in the Daily Mail, on September 12. 2014; Gaza rocket launched during CBC interview, CBC News, August 8, 2014; and Why Everything Reported from Gaza is Crazy Twisted, by Mark Levine, in the Tower Magazine, Issue 17, August 2014 ...

Hamas chose to wage an offensive war against Israel, shooting many thousands of rockets and mortar shells into Israel, launching explosive and incendiary devices against Israel and attempting armed incursions of Israel. Hamas uses human shields and creates provocations in order to cause incidents, which as Hamas intends, are then dutifully reported by the news media. All this is instead of living in peace with its neighbors and devoting itself to the development of Gaza for the benefit of its people...

https://blogs.yu.edu/revel/2018/07/16/gaza-is-not-occupied-by-anyone-other-than-gazans-the-war-of-words/

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Laws of Armed Conflict in Gaza.

By John Toolan

August 14, 2018

...

Hamas's attacks on Israel’s border were ostensibly peaceful protests declared to be the “Great March of Return.” These demonstrations, organized under the pretext of Palestinians exercising their “right” to return to ancestral homes in Israel, in reality involved Hamas encouraging thousands of Gazans to storm and potentially break through Israel’s border fence en masse. Hamas implanted its military operatives within the onrushing crowds, effectively using civilians as human shields.

These “peaceful” demonstrations are a win-win for Hamas. However infinitesimal the odds, successfully overrunning the border could be portrayed as advancing the terrorist group’s goal – stated in its founding covenant – ultimately to eliminate Israel.

Hamas enjoys far more success, however, when the attacks fail. It can vilify Israel by creating situations where the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) must fire on the attackers, which Hamas portrays as innocent civilians. In fact, many are combatants – after one mass demonstration in May, for example, Hamas admitted that 50 of the 62 dead “unarmed protestors” were members of terrorist groups.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2018/08/14/laws_of_armed_conflict_in_gaza_113719.html

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More Accurate Better Bombs and Sparing Human Shields - WSJ - Aug 10, 2018 - A key reason for civilian casualties other than faulty. intelligence or inaccurate ordnance: The deliberate use of civilians as human shields by terrorist groups. https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-accurate-better-bombs-and-sparing-human-shields-1533938542

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Detained rioter says Hamas uses women, children as arms to stay in power.

Captured rioter who infiltrated Israel through Gaza border tells IDF interrogators Hamas orchestrated border protests so general public in the strip will not 'turn' on them in light of the dismal humanitarian situation there.

Elior Levy and Yoav Zitun | Published: 05.16.18 , 23:16

A rioter who was captured by IDF soldiers after breaching the border fence and infiltrating into Israel on Tuesday said Hamas orchestrated the border demonstrations to stay in power.

"Hamas organized the demonstrations so that people would not 'turn' on them," he affirmed, explaining that the humanitarian situation in the strip has gotten so bad that Hamas planned out the March of Return protests to let people blow off steam, and did so in a way that would help their cause.

Their plan, as well as their propaganda, he said, worked.

"Hamas controls everything in the strip. Hamas sends us messages to our Facebook accounts and to our cellphones. They come to mosques handing leaflet saying to go to the fence. When there's electricity, and televisions can be turned on all you can see is the march. People got worn down and bored, and I'm one of those people," he said.

The detainee also seemed to back Israel's assertion that Hamas uses women and children as human shields in the protests.

"They tell women to go forward. They say to the woman: Go ahead, you are a woman, and the Israeli army does not shoot at women. They tell small children: Go ahead, the army does not shoot at small children. They tell a child to go ahead and he goes, it's a little boy. They deceive him," he laments.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5262718,00.html

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Hamas Leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar: Our People Took Off Their Military Uniforms And Joined The Marches; We Decided To Turn The Bodies Of Our Women And Children Into A Dam Blocking Arab Collapse.

May 16, 2018

#6576 | 08:10

Source: Al-Jazeera Network

https://www.memri.org/tv/hamas-leader-yahya-sinwar-our-people-took-off-their-uniforms-and-joined-the-marces

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WATCH: Videos Show Gaza Rioters Faking Injuries, Using Children as Human Shields.

Deborah Danan, Breitbart, May 6, 2018

TEL AVIV – Footage of Palestinian protesters faking injuries and using children as human shields in border riots was released by the IDF Saturday night.

One clip shows a group of Gazans carrying a supposedly wounded demonstrator on a stretcher (see above), but towards the end of the clip, the demonstrator falls off the stretcher and gets up completely unharmed and walks.

“Throughout Hamas’s activity, fake injuries and the exploitation of women and children are rampant,” the IDF said in a tweet.

“This was all intended to disguise terror activity, including hurling explosives & grenades, attempted infiltrations, & burning Israeli land.”

In another clip, children as young as five and six are seen rolling tires and hurling rocks. They are also shown being taken by the hand by older rioters to be used as cover, or human shields.

During riots on Friday evening, Palestinians broke into the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which is mostly used for bringing humanitarian aid into the Strip, and set fire to a gas pipeline, the army said.

According to IDF officials, Gazans vandalized their own supply infrastructure even though Gaza is already suffering a major energy crisis.

“This is a cynical act that harms the welfare of Gaza residents and the humanitarian efforts carried out by Israel and many other countries,” the army said.

Also over the weekend, Palestinians were caught breaching the border and planting Molotov cocktails near the border fence.

In another video, Gazans are seen affixing kites with petrol bombs and sending them over the border to set Israeli territory alight. Several fires have been started in Israel by the kites.

This is the sixth week of protests at the border with Gaza. Hamas, the terror group that rules the Strip and supports the protests, has said the goal is to eliminate the border and “liberate Palestine.”

According to Hamas health ministry figures that are not independently confirmed, 48 Palestinians have been killed since protests began on March 30 and hundreds of others have been wounded.

Hamas co-founder Mahmoud Zahar has in the past threatened that the terror group would attack “settlements deep inside Israel” if the IDF attacks Gaza….

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2018/05/06/watch-idf-clips-of-gaza-riots-shows-fake-injuries-children-as-human-shields/

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Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) Tweeted:

A 7 year-old girl was sent across the Gaza Strip border by the Hamas terror organization, where IDF troops identified her. Upon realizing she was a child, IDF troops ensured she returned safely to her parents https://twitter.com/IDF/status/979690695324786689?s=20

Mar 30, 2018

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Israel Nitzan (@IsraelNitzan) Tweeted:

Earlier today #Hamas media in #Gaza published photos of senior Hamas leader Fathi Hammad carrying his baby daughter to the border area with Israel, where violent rioters attack Israel's security fence & IDF troops.

Hamas is using children as #HumanShields. https://t.co/nytdfrStp3 https://twitter.com/IsraelNitzan/status/979721030221647872?s=20

Mar 30, 2018

https://twitter.com/IsraelNitzan/status/979721030221647872/photo/1

Ivgeni Zarubinski:

The next time that Israel will be accused of harming the "innocent" Do remember this picture of a senior Hamas member, Who arrived today to Gaza, where there are riots, near the fence with Israel, Holding a little child on his hands, using her as a human shield.

https://t.co/05X3SRbosd

ivgeni zarubinski (@ivgiz)

https://twitter.com/ivgiz/status/979677681473159168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

March 30, 2018

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Gaza Is Not Occupied by Anyone Other than Gazans — The War of Words.

July 16, 2018

by Leonard Grunstein

Gaza is occupied by Gazans. Neither Egypt nor Israel, its territorial neighbors, occupy Gaza, as a matter of fact or law.

...Instead of choosing peace[xxvi], Hamas chose to wage an offensive war against Israel, shooting many thousands of rockets and mortar shells into Israel, launching explosive and incendiary devices against Israel and attempting armed incursions of Israel. Hamas uses human shields and creates provocations in order to cause incidents, which as Hamas intends, are then dutifully reported by the news media. All this is instead of living in peace with its neighbors and devoting itself to the development of Gaza for the benefit of its people. Yet, Hamas remains firmly in control of Gaza and continues, however unwisely, govern it.

https://blogs.yu.edu/revel/2018/07/16/gaza-is-not-occupied-by-anyone-other-than-gazans-the-war-of-words/

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US State Department on Israel, 'Time is not on our side here'.

Mar 14, 2018

Video: Hamas admits it DID use schools and hospitals in Gaza Strip as 'human shields' to launch rocket attacks on Israel - but claims it was 'mistake'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1120519/US-State-Department-Israel-Time-not-here.html

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One zero in favor of Mahmoud Abbas.

Yoni Ben-Menachem, May 1, 2018

The PA chairman recorded points in his favor for actually convening the R&D in his fight against the Hamas movement and the Trump administration. Mahmoud Abbas hopes to gain renewed Palestinian legitimacy in order to fight the Trump administration's political plan and Hamas' attempt to take over the PLO or establish a replacement for it...

In recent days, PA chairman and Hamas leadership have exchanged blows in the media, Mahmoud Abbas has sent his religious adviser, Mahmoud al-Habash, to attack Hamas in the media because it sends children, women and youth to die on the Gaza border, while Hamas has blamed leaders Palestinian General Intelligence in Ramallah because they fabricated the assassination attempt on Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah during a visit to the Gaza Strip two months ago.

https://www.news1.co.il/Archive/003-D-127473-00.html

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Hamas leader Sinwar: ‘We decided to turn our women and children into a dam blocking Arab collapse’.

JNS, May 17, 2018

Al-Sinwar said Hamas member could have “rained thousands of missiles down” on Israeli cities, but instead chose to take off their military uniforms and join the marches...

“the sacrifice of their children as an offering for Jerusalem and the ‘Right of Return.’ ”

“When we decided to embark on these marches,” he said, “we decided to turn that which is most dear to us—the bodies of our women and children—into a dam blocking the collapse in Arab reality.”

https://www.jns.org/hamas-leader-sinwar-we-decided-to-turn-our-women-and-children-into-a-dam-blocking-arab-collapse/

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Hamas tunnel engineer “working on a tunnel underneath his home when it collapsed and killed him”.

Gaza: Ayman Jameel Zidan used his own family as a human shield.

William A. Jacobson, Legal Insurrection,

23 December 2018.

[https://c4.legalinsurrection.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Ayman-Jameel-Zidan-Hamas-Gaza-Tunnel-Engineer-cropped-e1545596713198.jpg]

A “work accident” is a commonly used term to refer to Palestinian terrorists who die by their own hand when explosives or explosive devices they are handling detonate prematurely, or when a tunnel they are constructing collapses.

We have covered many such incidents:

- Senior Hamas terrorist Imad al-Alami accidentally shoots himself in the head

- Hamas explosives chief accidentally blows himself up

- Palestinian rocket commander ‘accidentally’ blows himself up

- Hamas terrorist killed when attack tunnel collapses on him

- Gaza: Two PFLP terrorists killed when rocket they were firing exploded prematurely

- Hamas Bomb Expert Blows Himself Up

- Hamas Commander killed at Gaza border when ‘hand grenade’ exploded prematurely

- Hamas member killed in “accidental explosion during preparation and training”

Joe Truzman at his valuable weekly Ground Brief newsletter (to which you should subscribe) reports on the latest Hamas work accident:

The military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, acknowledged Friday [note – link goes to Hamas website] that one of their tunnel engineers, Ayman Zidan, had died. They were not specific about the cause of his death, only stating it was an “accident.” However, Qassam activists claimed Zidan was working on a tunnel underneath his home when it collapsed and killed him.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/12/hamas-tunnel-engineer-working-on-a-tunnel-underneath-his-home-when-it-collapsed-and-killed-him

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Soldiers' Testimony Report - My Truth.

'Human Shields

The use of children and the civilian population by terrorist organizations.

Soldiers' Testimony Report.

November-2018

... For example, in April 2018, Hamas in Gaza decided to adopt a new tactic. Huge demonstrations on the border fence with Israel aimed at creating the impression among the international community that this is a "non-violent protest." However, already at the first demonstration, it became clear that the many civilians the participants in the demonstrations are nothing but human defenders who allow Hamas terrorists to approach the fence, hit IDF soldiers and try to infiltrate Israeli territory.

These events, along with the wave of popular terror that preceded them and were characterized by many attacks carried out by boys and women, led us to the understanding that exposing the evidence regarding the high scale of values on which IDF soldiers operate is essential, but no less important to present another side - methods Fighting by terrorist organizations based on the same understanding that the IDF is wary of harming innocent people, repeatedly placing IDF fighters in front of a civilian population including children and women, both for offensive combat purposes and as human defenders.

This document combines more than 30 testimonies of soldiers and reservists who served in the IDF and other security services of the State of Israel. The testimonies in this booklet make a sound true, important and valuable of soldiers who have encountered in their military service a blatant violation of human rights on the part of the Palestinian terrorist organizations towards the Palestinians themselves, with an emphasis on the use of human shields and exploitation of a civilian population for combat purposes.

This collection of testimonies was published on the understanding that although this is a blatant violation of international law, in the Palestinian case, the issue is almost completely ignored by the international community and human rights organizations.

The events documented in this booklet represent a broad phenomenon of the use of civilian space and humanitarian for terrorist purposes. Evidence includes cases in which ambulances were used to transport weapons and transport terrorists, launching rockets from kindergartens, firing from schools and mosques, planning attacks on prominent civilian spaces and Israeli communities, using children and women as human shields, violations of humanitarian ceasefires and much more. Describing first-hand the cynical use that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority make of the Palestinian civilian population. https://mytruth.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/eduyot_heb_pages.pdf

This is what the photographed testimonies of the combatants look like. Watch.

The riots on the fence - the combatants' version

Nir Dvori - News | Posted 28.11.18

Violent events on the Gaza border fence are being photographed: Fighters discharged from the IDF reveal how Hamas members cynically exploit women and children to approach and sabotage the fence. , Grenades, terrorists in the fence, invading Israeli territory, setting fire to sniper positions and damaging engineering equipment.

In front of the tens of thousands of demonstrators are IDF fighters, who prevent Palestinians from reaching the surrounding settlements, and cross every Friday between the rioters and the Israeli residents in nearby settlements. Now, without coordination with the IDF, the organization "My Truth" Who were recently released from the army, and the intention is to use them to expose Hamas' methods of operation and to sue the heads of the terrorist organization in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

"Throwing grenades and explosives under the auspices of the children"

One of the fighters is Lior Nahum, who was discharged from combat service in the Givati Brigade a week ago. In front of the cameras he explains what the violence looked like from his side. "What you see is not exactly the same thing, it's much more violent," he said. "I remember a situation where a terrorist throws a grenade and actually holds a child next to him so that he will not be shot."

"Every soldier deployed on the Gaza Strip border is in insane danger, he finds himself in danger of death at least several times a week," Nahum added. "Dozens of explosives were thrown, I can not count the amount thrown at me. Throw grenades and explosives under the auspices of the children. I mean when they are with a child next to them and they know they will not even try to shoot in their direction."

Ben, who also served in the Purple Brigade, recounted how terrorists use protesters to disguise terrorist attacks. "Under the auspices of the children who approached, a charge was thrown at my lieutenant colonel. There was a crazy explosion. I did not understand what it is. It could have killed him, and me if I had gone out. It's out of children, what can be done? "

An elderly Palestinian with a walking stick - and two Molotov cocktails

Givati warriors are not alone. R.I., a sniper in the army who served in a special unit, repeated in his testimony similar things: "Snipers are the main solution that the Israeli army has to find out the terrorists who come to these marches. "When they cross the border - and everyone knows not to cross the line - the snipers have permission to shoot a ball at their feet, deter them and make them retreat."

"The real shock I really could not believe at the sight of my eyes was when I saw an old man with a walking stick walking with a plastic bag," R.I. added. "Inside the bag he had two bottles full of fuel, which they intended to set on fire and then throw at the Israeli soldiers."

Avichai Shorshan, CEO of My Truth: "This is a reality that needs to be changed and we, through this project in collaboration with legal organizations living the international legal world, we really intend to bring this evidence to the criminal court in The Hague to come and understand that the Palestinians use these methods and they have to pay the price for it. "

https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/security-q4_2018/Article-7ca99ecaa3c5761004.htm?referrer=

Former IDF combat officer gives testimony to U.N. Human Rights Council

By ANNA AHRONHEIM

MARCH 24, 2019

Ravid Elfassi, who served in the Golani brigade's reconnaissance unit, spoke less than a day before UNHCR adopted report accusing Israel of war crimes.

Less than a day before the United Nations Human Rights council voted to adopt a report accusing Israel of human rights violations, a former IDF combat officer testified to the council about human rights violations by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“The hardest lesson that I learned during my military career was that while we put our lives on the line to protect our families and children, Hamas and other terror organizations use their own children as human shields and cannon fodder,” said Ravid Elfassi at the council in Geneva. “This is not an isolated event. It’s their standard operating procedure.”

Elfassi, served as an officer in the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit and spoke as part of My Truth, an organization established following Operation Protective Edge in 2014 by Avihai Shorshan.

My Truth collects signed testimonies and photographs from combat operations between 2004-2018 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that attest to the use of human shields and other human rights violations by Hamas and other terror groups.

Elfassi only had 90 seconds to present his testimony to the council, but in the short amount of time he was given, he told the council of salaries paid to Palestinian terrorists sitting in Israeli jails by the Palestinian Authority and the murder of the Fogel family, who were killed by a Palestinian terrorist in their home in 2011.

“It has been said that terrorism in the eyes of one person is a freedom fighter in the eyes of another, but how can you consider yourself a freedom fighter, for stabbing a three-month-old baby, Hadas Fogel, in front of her parents? How can someone call himself a Jihadi, a “holy” warrior, for taking the life of a child? These are the fanatics who we as IDF soldiers are fighting against on a daily basis,” he said.

Elfassi, who continues to serve as a combat officer in his reserve duty, also spoke of the use of women and children as human shields by Hamas – a tactic the group continues to use to this day during the weekly, violent Great March of Return.

“In 2007, I was sent on a mission in Gaza to seek out a Hamas squad which was launching rockets at Israeli cities. With my own eyes, I witnessed as Hamas sent out six- and seven-year-old children to search for me and my men. When these children found us, Hamas opened heavy fire using AK-47s and RPGs, while the children were still between us and them,” Elfassi said of an incident he witnessed during his IDF service.

“If the United Nations truly wishes to investigate terrorism and human rights, I implore you to look at the My Truth report, which details the use of human shields by terror organizations,” he said. “If so, you might better understand the reality that we as IDF soldiers confront – and which is too often neglected by this forum.”

My Truth, which days earlier spoke at a panel at the United Nations along UN Watch and NGO Monitor, has documented dozens of testimonies from former combat soldiers, including several who just recently finished their military service and were posted along the Gaza border fence during the Great Return Marches.

On Friday the UNHCR voted to adopt a report accusing Israel of human rights violations, including war crimes, for its response to violent riots and attacks as part of the weekly Great March of Return along the Gaza border fence.

The Council’s 40th session voted by a margin of 23 to 8, with 15 abstentions and one absence to adopt the 252-page report conducted by the Commission of Inquiry which claims that 183 Palestinians, including 35 children, have been killed in the clashes, and that the majority were unarmed.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/former-idf-combat-officer-gives-testimony-to-un-human-rights-council-584309

'My Truth' at the Human Rights Council. (2019)

https://youtu.be/E3Dq3AsKvKs

Efrat Foesher (@efrat_forsher) Tweeted (March 18, 2019):

Exhibition of "Human Defenders" by my truth organization, in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva, in a demonstration against the Human Rights Council @Haemet_Sheli @UNWatch . https://t.co/nGe3LInQVs https://twitter.com/efrat_forsher/status/1107619987336900608?s=20

IDF reservists combat BDS at British parliament.

The Human Shields Special Testimonies Project organized the London event where IDF reservists spoke about their experience dealing with Palestinian terrorism and human rights violations committed in the West Bank

Itamar Eichner|Published: 06.12.19

The Human Shields Special Testimonies Project organized an event at the British Parliament in London where IDF reservists spoke about their experience dealing with Palestinian terrorism and routine disturbances as well as the human rights violations committed daily in the West Bank. Some 20 MPs and about 50 others were in attendance.

The speakers from the HaEmet Sheli (My Truth) organization described the cynical exploitation of the Palestinian civilian population by terror organizations in order to harm soldiers and Israeli civilians. The organization's goal is to present the Israeli version of events before international bodies.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5524439,00.html

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How Hamas exploits the people of Gaza: Protests clarify their cynical tactics.

By DENNIS ROSS, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Apr 23, 2018

Hamas has never put the people of Gaza first. Hamas rejects Israel's existence and treats all of the land as an Islamic trust. The Palestinian people are instruments in the struggle to reclaim it.

For the struggle, for the cause, the people can be sacrificed.

Why else would Hamas build tunnels to protect its weapons and its fighters but not its people during conflict with Israel? Why else, when Gazans desperately needed reconstruction, would its leaders divert short supplies of cement, electric wiring and iron away from badly needed housing construction to build the tunnels?

Why else would it store, deploy and fire its rockets in or next to schools, mosques and hospitals? In conflicts with Israel, Hamas seeks to maximize Palestinian civilian casualties — preferably women and children. That brings international opprobrium on Israel and makes it harder to engage in its self-defense.

Recent mass marches on the border fence with Israel are a case in point. The Hamas leadership in Gaza announced that starting March 30 and continuing every Friday until what they call Nakba (catastrophe) day, demonstrations at the Israel border fence would take place. The symbolism was lined up perfectly for mobilizing public passions.

But, of course, that was not the real story. Life in Gaza is terrible, and Israel is not to blame: There are four hours a day of electricity, insufficient to power sewage treatment plants. Roughly 96% of the water is undrinkable. Unemployment runs close to 50%, medicines in the hospitals are consistently in short supply and people cannot leave and feel imprisoned. With little money to pay for anything, trucks from Israel carrying material goods and humanitarian supplies are down from 1,000 a day to less than 200.

True, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, has deepened the economic deprivation by no longer paying Israel to provide electricity to Gaza and cutting payments to former PA employees there. His purpose was to pressure Hamas, and he did — so much so that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader in Gaza — sought to hand governing responsibility back to the PA.

While reconciliation talks resumed, Abbas saw them as a trap because Hamas refused to disband its Qassam brigades or disarm its fighters — and with the recent assassination attempt on the PA's prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, he is threatening further economic sanctions on Hamas.

For the Hamas leadership, with popular dissatisfaction growing, the only thing to be done was divert attention to Israel and, thereby, pressure Abbas who cannot appear indifferent to Palestinians being killed by Israelis. As one European diplomat told me, Hamas leaders acknowledge privately that Abbas is the source of their current difficulties, but shifting the focus to Israel is a proven, if cynical, tactic.

Hamas knows that the world will see Palestinian casualties and tie them to the wretched conditions in Gaza — conditions that are blamed on Israel's blockade of the Strip.

Of course, it is Israel and Egypt that control what can go into and out of Gaza. Unlike Israel, Egypt keeps its border closed to the movement of people and goods into and out of Gaza except on rare occasions...

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/hamas-exploits-people-gaza-article-1.3949773

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Simon Wiesenthal Center to Media: Reject Images of Palestinian Children Dressed as Concentration Camp Victims.

June 7, 2018

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish Human Rights NGO devoted to the memory of the six million Jewish victims murdered in the Nazi Holocaust, denounced Hamas’ intention to dress up Friday’s Gaza border-riot participants as concentration camp victims.

“We urge major international media outlets to reject this macabre and hideous ploy to defame the memory of the victims murdered in the Nazi genocide,” said Rabbis Marvin Hier, founder and dean and Abraham Cooper, associate dean and global social action head.

“The European Union, led by Germany, should vehemently protest this latest serial abuse of Palestinian children by Hamas terrorists attempting to attract attention to their weekly riot,” Hier and Cooper added.

“As for Hamas, by dressing up kids as Nazi victims, proves the only god this terrorist organization worships is Moloch, the pagan god of child sacrifice, for whom children’s lives are worthless.

When will NGOs and U.N. agencies devoted to protecting children finally raise their voices in protests against Hamas’ barbaric tactics, including the use of civilians, children nonetheless, as human shields and cannon fodder for their endless terrorist campaigns? When will the nations like Japan, who supplied beautiful kites for Palestinian children, protest the use of these kites to set fires in Israeli nature preserves and fields?” Hier and Cooper concluded.

https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/simon-wiesenthal-center-to-10.html

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UN General Assembly condemns terrorists’ use of citizens as ‘human shields’.

The resolution was specifically aimed as Hamas, which has used human shields, including women and children, during its conflicts with Israel.

(June 27, 2018 / JNS) The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday voted to condemn the use of civilians as human shields by terror groups as part of its update of its counter-terrorism strategy.

https://www.jns.org/un-general-assembly-condemns-terrorists-use-of-citizens-as-human-shields/

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Hamas enlists female participation in border riots - watch - The Jerusalem Post

Feb 18, 2019 — New footage released over the weekend shows Hamas using its women as human shields.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/hamas-enlists-female-participation-in-border-riots-watch-580973

Terra Nullius: The Rebirth of a Land Without Peace.

Noor Dahri · [VIJ Books (India) PVT Limited], 2019

[Chapte 2, IDF & the Operation Protective Edge]

[...]

It's not only the financial damage to the people of Gaza investing millions of dollars to make a tunnel by Hamas, but it's a disservice to humans and new generations lost. Many young Palestinian kids die digging these tunnels and the loss of Palestinian's lives of children can never be replaced by money.

According to an Institute for Palestinians study, which published a detailed report on Gaza tunnels in the summer of 2012: "At least 160 children have been killed in the tunnels, regarding to Hamas officials"? This is typical to what Hamas does. Hamas strategy is to use civilians, including children and women as a human shield, whether in a war against Israel or in digging the terror tunnels.

The world must condemn these inhuman actions which come under crimes against Humanity. Hamas always achieves their political goals through sacrificing their own children, which counter terrorism pundits named it, "Hamas dead baby strategy". The author, Nicolas Pelham, explains that: "Hamas uses child labourers to build their terror tunnels because much as in Victorian coal mines, they are prized for their nimble bodies."

https://books.google.com/books?id=j3LOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT15

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Daphne Richmond-Barak Barak wrote a book about tunnels - and I'm sure we should be concerned - The Marker.

Rotem Starkman

01/19/2019

Dr. Daphne Richmond-Barak, Lecturer at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy and Senior Researcher at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism Policy at IDC Herzliya. Her book Underground Warfare was published by Oxford University Press. 40 years old, married + 4

Dr. Dafna Richmond-Barak, This week the sixth tunnel on the Lebanese border was discovered and destroyed, and the IDF announced the end of Operation Northern Shield ...

The purpose of the tunnel is to threaten Israeli citizens, but it equally endangers the digging side.

I mean, it's two-way.

Yes, and there are few threats that manage to do that, endangering both sides. The New York Times interviewed Palestinians, showing how afraid they are of the tunnels like the Israelis. They described how life-threatening the Hamas tunnels in Gaza were and how much it affected their daily lives.

What are they afraid of?

The soil is weaker, there are collapses all the time, explosives pass under their houses. And keep in mind, the diggers are not engineers, they do not know if and how it affects the foundations of the building. There is also an impact on agriculture. The whole city above the earth is a human shield on a scale we have not seen. In addition, it is clear that the citizens are afraid of Israel's action, because they know that someday Israel will want to take care of it. In short, psychologically, the impact of the tunnels is noticeable on both sides.

https://www.themarker.com/markerweek/.premium-1.6850386

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Hybrid Threats: Hamas’ use of human shields in Gaza

By: James Pamment Vladimir Sazonov Francesca Granelli Sean Aday Māris Andžāns Una Bērziņa-Čerenkova John-Paul Gravelines Mils Hills Irene Martinez-Sanchez Mariita Mattiisen Holger Molder Yeganeh Morakabati Aurel Sari Gregory Simons Jonathan Terra.

Related topics:

Hybrid Warfare

Publication details

ISBN: 978-9934-564-33-8

Year: 2019

This is one of the Case Studies from the report "Hybrid Threats. A Strategic Communications Perspective".

Executive Summary

Hamas, an Islamist militant group and the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip, has been using human shields in conflicts with Israel since 2007. According to the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the war crime of using human shields encompasses “utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas, or military forces immune from military operations.” Hamas has launched rockets, positioned military-related infrastructure-hubs and routes, and engaged the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from, or in proximity to, residential and commercial areas.

The strategic logic of human shields has two components. It is based on an awareness of Israel’s desire to minimise collateral damage, and of Western public opinion’s sensitivity towards civilian casualties. If the IDF uses lethal force and causes an increase in civilian casualties, Hamas can utilise that as a lawfare tool: it can accuse Israel of committing war crimes, which could result in the imposition of a wide array of sanctions. Alternatively, if the IDF limits its use of military force in Gaza to avoid collateral damage, Hamas will be less susceptible to Israeli attacks, and thereby able to protect its assets while continuing to fight. Moreover, despite the Israeli public’s high level of support for the Israeli political and military leadership during operations, civilian casualties are one of the friction points between Israeli left-wing and right-wing supporters, with the former questioning the outcomes of the operation.

https://stratcomcoe.org/publications/hybrid-threats-hamas-use-of-human-shields-in-gaza/87

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Critics slam UN for pointing fingers at Israel in new report while not also condemning Hamas' use of human shields.

By Hollie McKay | Fox News

March 19, 2019

“The U.N. report validates the illegal tactics used by Hamas against Israel, and sets a precedent encouraging not only Hamas, but similar groups like Hezbollah, to continue placing civilians in harm’s way,” Natonski said.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/critics-slam-un-for-pointing-fingers-at-israel-in-new-report-while-not-also-condemning-hamas-use-of-human-shields

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Ilhan Omar's ignorance and bigotry on Gaza rockets - The Jerusalem Post

May 10, 2019 — Many of these were terrorists, but some were civilians who were put in ... Hamas and Islamic Jihad deliberately use “Palestinian civilians..

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/ilhan-omars-ignorance-and-bigotry-on-gaza-rockets-589307

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Canadian Media Fall for Palestinian Dead Baby Strategy.

By Mike Fegelman - May 9, 2019

Israel’s enemies are adept at exploiting the deaths of Palestinian infants and innocent civilians alike to slander the Jewish state.

This crude and morally depraved anti-Israel propaganda was on full display on May 4 when Palestinians, specifically Gaza’s Health Ministry (run by the Hamas terror group) claimed that an Israeli airstrike killed a 14-month-old Palestinian baby girl and her pregnant aunt. In truth, the Islamic Jihad terror group reportedly admitted that one of its rockets had misfired and killed both Palestinian innocents. On May 5, Israel strenuously denied any responsibility for their deaths.

https://honestreporting.ca/canadian-media-fall-for-palestinian-dead-baby-strategy/

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Step by step: this is how the senior jihadist was eliminated.

The decision on the targeted elimination of Baha' Abu al-Ata ("there was no choice"), and the precise hit ("excellent intelligence capability") - The steps that led to the escalation

Lilach Shoval, Nov 12, 2019

Abu al-Ata was in the IDF's crosshairs for a long time. The Northern Gaza Brigade, which was responsible for most of the recent attacks, including the bombardment of the Gaza Strip about two weeks ago, the shooting during Netanyahu's speech at the political event in Ashdod and the shooting on Memorial Day. The IDF announced this morning that in recent months they tried in every way to stop him from his hostile activities. "We tried in every possible way," they clarified. Abu al-Ata, for his part, made sure to use human shields, including children, in order to prevent his elimination.

Last week, it was exceptionally approved to carry out the targeted elimination. With the exception of the assassination of a senior Hamas official in charge of finances, which was carried out last May, there have been no targeted assassinations in recent years. At the initiative of Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi and in full coordination with the General Security Service, the operation was approved in an orderly procedure in the cabinet about a week ago, after which the IDF waited for the appropriate opportunity, with the understanding that Abu Elata planned in the coming days to fire rockets into the surrounding area, launch drones and sniper fire. "The Chief of Staff pushed for the implementation of the operation because he felt there was no other choice," emphasized the IDF spokesman. He also added that: "We understand that Baa was an unbridled factor who acted most of the times on his own accord in a way that was contrary to regional interests."

At 4:00 the long-awaited opportunity arrived. Abu al-Ata was in his home, unusually without a human shield except for his wife and the IDF jets set off. "The operation was very surgical," the IDF said after the incident. A precision missile hit the room where the senior jihadist was staying and caused it to collapse. "We didn't collapse the entire house, but the room he was in," Silberman said of the surgical operation and revealed a touch of the IDF's operational technological capability. "We took advantage of an opportunity to hit him with minimal casualties," he said. Excellent of both bodies. Very close coordination with the Shin Bet and that's what led us to hit the specific room."

https://www.israelhayom.co.il/article/706357

Gaza's agent of chaos

- He was never arrested and surrounded himself with innocents to act as a human shield - Whenever Hamas sought calm, Abu al-Ata tried to create an escalation.

Israel Hayom, November 13, 2019

Bahaa Abu al-Ata has kept Israel's security elite very busy in the past year. The terrorist who emerged from the bottom, from the ranks of the Islamic Jihad, and rose to the military top of the organization, systematically challenged Israel and the appeasement against Hamas...

https://www.pressreader.com/israel/israel-hayom/20191113/281590947388463

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PA: “We are prepared to sacrifice… We will sacrifice our children”.‎

Itamar Marcus | Oct 15, 2020

PA threatens “bloodshed and chaos,” “escalation of the resistance,” and ‎‎“national rebellion” - PA’s response to Arab states making peace with Israel

https://palwatch.org/page/18288

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Hamas Views Application of Sovereignty as a Potential Opportunity - By Yaakov Lappin July 9, 2020

...the possibility of a simultaneous escalation in both the West Bank and Gaza remains real. Hamas has assembled a well-armed terror army in Gaza, equipped with tens of thousands of rockets, anti-tank guided missile launchers, mortar launchers, and other weapons. A network of tunnels runs under the Gaza Strip for the movement of Hamas terrorists, and residential buildings double as military command centers and rocket launch sites. Hamas continues to prioritize its force buildup program over the wellbeing of the Gazan people.

Hamas copied its warfare doctrine, which is based on the principle of operating from within the civilian population and thereby exploiting that population as human shields, from Hezbollah, adapting it to Gazan conditions. The two organizations cooperate on a number of levels.

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/israel-hamas-sovereignty/

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This is how the top Hamas engineers were eliminated in the "Guardian of the Walls": "They were buried".

During the operation, the IDF launched the "Goliath City" plan, the details of which are revealed for the first time, in which a huge branch branched off in tunnels under civilian buildings in Gaza City."

Amir Bohbot, Walla!, 07/05/2022

[https://images.wcdn.co.il/f_auto,q_auto,w_400,t_53/1/7/6/3/1763591-46.jpg

Hamas operatives inside a terrorist tunnel - Gaza Strip, August 2014 (Photo: Reuters)]

Operation Guardian of the Walls began on May 10, 2021, Monday, with a significant air force attack that included 130 terrorist targets. Hamas understood that the IDF was facing an extensive operation and not a one-off response....

That evening, the chief of staff approved the "Goliath city" attack plan...

In a bunker, Hamas' research, development and production of weapons were hidden inside a ramified system of top tunnels. The challenge of attacking the bunker was enormous, as it was built (not by chance) under buildings containing civilians.

Researchers who analyzed the engineering infrastructure that helped build the huge bunker found that the "city" also has tunnels that lead to the heart of the bunker from nearby buildings.

After countless planning, training, exercises and technique development processes, the Air Force under the direct command of Amikam Nurkin prepared to attack the bunker.

At around 05:20 on Thursday morning, the Air Force attacked in more than four minutes more than 10 shafts that led to the bunker.

"We told ourselves that it was better not to attack the heart of the bunker, due to the fear of harming civilians, so we attacked the openings and so they were buried," said a source who was exposed to the operational plan before the execution.

"The results were impressive and accurate. If they had missed one shaft they would have managed to escape from the bunker."

According to IDF estimates, apart from senior Hamas figures who were killed, 50% of the rocket's production capacity and 75% of the Islamic Jihad's production capacity were damaged in the operation.

Beyond that, in the internal discussions in the defense establishment, the insight arose that after Operation Goliath, it will be difficult for Hamas to rebuild its military force.

The question then arose about the attack on the "metro", a ramified system of tunnels that Hamas had built for more than 15 years under Gaza City and by which escaped unmanned aerial vehicles....

"They invested everything in it, and the IDF destroyed it in the 'Guardian of the Walls.' Does that mean there will be no tunnels in Gaza?" Saar continued. "There will be tunnels in Gaza.

They have no choice - they have no air force, they have no navy, they can not deal with us, but the tunnels in a completely different event.

Now they already understand that they can die in the tunnels, now they understand that they can not move everything to the tunnels. Now they understand that we have a huge advantage over them and they need a different systemic idea."

https://news.walla.co.il/item/3504460

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Watch: Bennett joins CNN interviewer: "We will not be bound by terror" - ICE

May 13, 2021 - ... First to CNN Since the election, the former defense minister was asked about the Israeli bombings in Gaza and replied: "Hamas itself kills the children of the Gaza Strip when it uses them as a human shield".. https://www.ice.co.il/media/news/article/820076

Ganz appeals to Gaza residents: "Hamas is sacrificing you because of their personal needs"

Defense Minister Bnei Gantz addressed a message translated into Arabic to Gaza residents: "Because of Hamas, you will not celebrate Eid al-Fitr. Hamas started the campaign because of political motives - and not because of the freedom of the Temple Mount."

He added that "Hamas leaders are responsible for the fact that instead of preparing for the holiday you are buried in houses. Unfortunately, they operate from civilian space and therefore the damage will be great and powerful. They sacrifice you because of their personal needs. If Israel sleeps in protected areas - Gaza will burn. There is no other equation."

Anna Bersky 12/05/2021 | 19:49 https://www.maariv.co.il/breaking-news/Article-840184

Terry Glavin: By using human shields, Hamas doubles down on its war crimes

There is no equivalence between Israel's defensive targeting of Hamas launch sites in Gaza and the rockets targeting Israeli civilians

Author of the article: Terry Glavin

Publishing date: May 12, 2021

... This is very much the case in contrasting and evaluating the Israel Defense Forces’ targeted bombing of Hamas operatives and infrastructure in Gaza against the war crimes committed with each and every one of the roughly 1,500 rockets Hamas and Islamic Jihad have launched in indiscriminate attacks on Israeli civilians since last weekend...

The problem is that no amount of Israeli "restraint" would have saved the life of Soumya Santhosh, a 31-year-old housemaid from Kerala, India, who was killed when one of the indiscriminately-fired Hamas rockets landed on a house in Ashkelon on Tuesday evening. At the moment of her death, Santhosh was talking with her husband back in India, in a video call..

Trudeau was referring to what is widely described as the spark that ignited the conflagration, an affair the Israeli government has unhelpfully called a mere real-estate dispute in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem. .. Hamas seized on the confrontation as a propaganda opportunity — the police action was a vile Jewish desecration of one of Islam’s holiest sites — and everything took off from there...

All those rockets are Haniyeh’s way of establishing Hamas as the champion of Al Aqsa and the defender of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Islamic state and a holy cause of the world’s Muslims. Israel considers Jerusalem the eternal capital of the Jewish people and the Israeli state. But this is where it becomes impossible to draw moral equivalences, and why appeals to “both sides” fall flat on their face.

There is no equivalence between the IDF’s defensive targeting of the Hamas and its Qassam Brigades launch sites in Gaza and the Qassam rockets targeting Israeli civilians, but the more important thing to keep your eye on is the way Hamas embeds itself among Gaza’s civilians, effectively using the people it claims to represent as human shields.

It’s on this point that countries like Canada might make some use of themselves, at least in clarifying the incoherence that so routinely bubbles out of the public affairs departments of the liberal democracies’ foreign ministries. In a 52-page analysis and legislative proposal set to be released this week, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Canadian Coalition Against Terror are proposing a Canadian law to respond to NATO’s appeals to give statutory force and effect to international prohibitions against using civilians as human shields.

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-glavin-by-using-human-shields-hamas-doubles-down-on-its-war-crimes

Hamas is firing rockets from among civilians, targeting civilians

Israel's Foreign Affairs Min.

Published on May 11, 2021

Hamas is firing rockets from civilian areas in #Gaza, deliberately targeting Israeli civilians. Israel is defending itself from Hamas' double war crime. The international community must condemn Hamas for its actions.

https://youtu.be/9o0FFVHc3B4

Magellan fighters attacked a Hamas anti-tank launcher located in a residential building.

Fragmentation of anti-tank launchers continues: Magellan fighters attacked an anti-tank launcher of the Hamas terrorist organization located in a high-rise residential building in the southern Gaza Strip. The IDF notes that the terrorist organization Hamas is deliberately placing its military assets in the heart of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.

Date: 13/05/2021 | Updated: 13/05/2021 https://m.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-440521-00.html?AfterBan=1

A message to the residents of the Gaza Strip: "Hamas has arranged a holiday for you without electricity and water".

Uri Marom, Mivzak Live, 14 May 2021.

General Rassan Aliyan told the residents of the Gaza Strip: "Residents of Gaza, in recent days and especially tonight, you have witnessed the IDF resolutely protecting the citizens of Israel, while Hamas continues to bring destruction and destruction upon you. The terrorist organization continues to launch rockets from civilian structures and uses you as a human shield - in your children, in your women, in innocent people who have been killed and injured...

https://www.mivzaklive.co.il/archives/436045

Watch: The IDF attacked a tunnel inside a school in Gaza - Kikar haShabbat

2 Sivan 5781 - 13.05.21 - Among the targets, a Hamas terrorist tunnel was attacked, which is part of the Hamas terrorist organization's tunnel project and is located under a school and near other civilian buildings.

https://www.kikar.co.il/391872.html

A tunnel under a school, and senior houses in Hamas: targets bombed in the Gaza Strip

As part of Operation Wall Guard, hundreds of Hamas terrorist targets were attacked, including terrorist tunnels placed under schools in the Gaza Strip that were near civilian buildings. In addition, several branches of the central bank used by the organization's activists were attacked, as well as several buildings of the Homeland Security Headquarters.

Amir Bohbot, Walla, May 13, 2021

https://news.walla.co.il/item/3435316

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TEICH: Hamas' use of human shields is a war crime

May 14, 2021 https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/teich-hamas-use-of-human-shields-is-a-war-crime

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Moshe Hogeg: "Israeli Arabs can not sit on the fence"

The owners of 'Betar Jerusalem' launched a major attack on the networks following the security situation: "It is heartbreaking to see so many Jews in the United States, and unfortunately there are also some in Israel, going out against our country in this war."

'Sports Hayom'

12/5/2021, 15:14, updated 12/5/2021

The owner of Betar Jerusalem is known as one who is not afraid to express his opinion. In parallel with .. the fight against racism ... today (Wednesday) he took time to address the sensitive security situation in Israel...

"It's also annoying to see our failure when it comes to global propaganda, how the hell our enemies manage to win the war on consciousness when they are the ones firing the missiles, trying to harm our citizens, using their own citizens as human shields and more succeeding in exposing themselves as poor Israelis. Just crazy...

Israeli Arabs can not sit on the fence with all due respect, if you support Hamas, say it so we can allow you to cross the border to your friends or alternatively arrest you for treason, if you are against harming civilians then grow already some b..ls and denounce these terrorists...

https://www.israelhayom.co.il/sport/israeli-soccer/article/879572

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Stop Spreading Hamas's Lies | Opinion

By Aaron Klein

13 May 2021 — Hamas is outrageously using false claims to instigate a terror war ... targeting Israelis and using their own civilians as human shields

https://www.newsweek.com/stop-spreading-hamass-lies-opinion-1590956

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Netanyahu adviser: Condemn Hamas’ use of journalists as human shields

By Aaron Klein

May 16, 2021 | 12:46pm

The al-Jalaa building was believed to house Hamas operations but also contained offices for multiple news agencies.

https://nypost.com/2021/05/16/netanyahu-adviser-hamas-using-journalists-as-human-shields/

Aurora Intel @AuroraIntel:

Several locations within #Gaza City caught on satellite Imagery, showing impact craters targeting suspected launch positions, a launch position and Al-Jalaa Tower, Satellite Imagery courtesy of @planet. May 17, 2021.

https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1394373519182602241?s=20

"Biden pressured to respond to Mideast violence."

Ed O'Keefe reports. May 17, 2021.

"Well, today the State Department walked that back, saying, that while the secretary haden't personally seen the intelligence, others in US government have."

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/biden-pressured-to-respond-to-escalating-mideast-violence/#x

Kylie Atwood @kylieatwood:

Sec State Blinken says the US has received some further info through intelligence channels from Israel regarding their strike on a building in Gaza over the wknd that housed journalist outlets, and which Israel said Hamas was using. He says he cannot comment on the intelligence.

8:27 AM · May 18, 2021·

https://twitter.com/kylieatwood/status/1394630815544446987?s=20

Blinken: Israel provided US secret justification for flattening AP building in Gaza

By Steven Nelson

May 18, 2021 | 5:07pm

Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Tuesday said that Israel privately gave the US a justification for flattening a 13-story building in Gaza that housed the offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken said the US did reach out to Israel to ask for justification on the building’s destruction.

... Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council under former President Barack Obama, said that the building was long known as an operational center for the Islamic fundamentalist group.

"I'm sure Hamas offices were in that building [and] that they purposely co-locate operations with civilians" Vietor wrote on Twitter. He added that "I talked to people who worked in the building."

https://nypost.com/2021/05/18/blinken-israel-gave-us-secret-justification-for-flattening-ap-building-in-gaza/

Israel, Hamas, Iran and Biden

The U.S. needs to give Israel time to degrade the rocket threat.

By The Editorial Board - May 16, 2021

[...]

But who's really endangering the journalists? Israel’s government says the multistory building was also used by Hamas for intelligence purposes. AP says it had no knowledge of this, but this wasn’t the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Using civilians and journalists as shields is a common Hamas tactic, and Hamas isn’t likely to have shared its plans with Western journalists.

Israel also warned the journalists and others in the building to clear out an hour before the attack. They did and there are no reports of casualties. This also let Hamas's militants escape, but it shows how far Israel has gone in this conflict to avoid killing civilians. Inevitably there will be mistakes in war, and civilians will die, but it's remarkable how discriminating Israel’s targeting has been.

The truth to keep in mind is that this conflict was started by Hamas and another radical outfit, Islamic Jihad. They are attempting to kill Israeli civilians with rockets supplied by Iran, or manufactured in Gaza with parts supplied by Iran. Hamas’s rocket arsenal is larger and more sophisticated than ever, and the Israel Defense Forces said that as of Sunday the Islamists had fired some 3,000 rockets into Israel. The miracle is that more Israelis haven’t died, and that’s due in large part to Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-hamas-iran-and-biden-11621195618

IDF: Gaza tower housed Hamas 'military assets,' terror group used press as ‘human shields’

May 15, 2021 — The IDF accuses Hamas of “hiding behind” the offices of the press outlets in the Al Jalaa tower and “using them as human shields.” “The Hamas ..

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-gaza-tower-housed-hamas-military-assets-terror-group-used-press-as-human-shields/

Associated Press, Hamas Propagandists

By DAVID HARSANYI

May 17, 2021 5:49 PM

... Typically, it’s only when the Jewish state begins defending itself that the story gets any real traction.

And, needless to say, the focus got intense after Israel destroyed a twelve-story high-rise building in Gaza that housed foreign press outlets, including the Associated Press. Israel claims that al-Jalaa Tower was home to Hamas military-intelligence assets. It called ahead to warn those inside, so, fortunately, no journalist was killed.

AP CEO Gary Pruitt said that his organization “had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building,” adding, “This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.”

This is nonsense. Pruitt knowingly puts journalists at risk every day he sends them to places such as Gaza, where the ruling regime wages war behind civilians it uses as shields. But how did Pruitt “actively” check? Did he ask Hamas? Did he call the landlord? Did he ring everyone’s bell? And how could we trust that a media outlet that is unable to track down a single Hamas militant shooting Qassam rockets — from dense civilian areas right near its offices — would be able to figure out who was in their building, anyway?

It is, of course, highly probable that Hamas was using journalists as human shields. This is what it does. During the last major outbreak of violence, in 2014, Gaza’s Shifa hospital became “a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders,” who could “be seen in the hallways and offices,” according to the Washington Post — but not the Associated Press, which had around 40 journalists working on the Israeli–Palestinian story, including a number of them filing stories from inside that very hospital.

It is also highly probable that the Associated Press knew about Hamas and covered it up. That is what it does. In a 2014 Atlantic piece — this, before Jeff Goldberg’s Salon-ization of that once-prestigious magazine — former Associated Press reporter Matti Friedman recounted:

The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby — and the AP wouldn’t report it, not even in AP articles about Israeli claims that Hamas was launching rockets from residential areas. (This happened.) Hamas fighters would burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff — and the AP wouldn’t report it. (This also happened.) Cameramen waiting outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City would film the arrival of civilian casualties and then, at a signal from an official, turn off their cameras when wounded and dead fighters came in, helping Hamas maintain the illusion that only civilians were dying. (This too happened; the information comes from multiple sources with firsthand knowledge of these incidents.)

Did Pruitt, who became CEO in 2013, investigate Friedman’s claims? The company never really responded to the piece, so it seems unlikely.

Of course, Hamas regularly threatens those who expose the theocratic regime’s murder and abuse of civilians. It demands obedience in exchange for coverage. So we shouldn’t diminish the danger that journalists find themselves in. “You have to wonder [with] the shelling how patients at Shifa hospital feel as Hamas uses it as a safe place to see media,” Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Casey wrote in a tweet in 2014 that was soon deleted. When the hospital was allegedly hit by Israeli missiles, the Journal’s Tamer El-Ghobashy took a picture of Mushir Al Masri, a Hamas media spokesman, and captioned it: “An outside wall on the campus of Gaza’s main hospital was hit by a strike. Low level damage suggest Hamas misfire.” This, too, was deleted. One can make an educated guess as to why.

In a 2018 New York Times op-ed, Friedman tells the story of being blackmailed by Hamas into using fake casualty numbers from an AP report...

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/associated-press-hamas-propagandists/

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"There are children here, we will not go for it": the shelling that the IDF canceled | Documentation

Shirel Laloom | 5 Sivan 5781 (May 16, 2021)

The IDF released documentation of an attack that was canceled at the last minute due to the presence of children at the scene.

An amazing video released by the IDF today shows a planned attack in Gaza being stopped by soldiers noticing Gazan children.

https://www.20il.co.il/%D7%99%D7%A9-%D7%A4%D7%94-%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9C%D7%90-%D7%A0%D7%9C%D7%9A-%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%96%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%92%D7%96%D7%94-%D7%A9%D7%A6%D7%94%D7%9C-%D7%91%D7%99%D7%98/

"This Is morality"

"Check, maybe there are children": This is how the IDF refrained from operating in Gaza. Watch.

In a new documentation revealed by the Air Force, the soldiers in the "control room" are seen considering attacking a terrorist target in Gaza, but refraining - for fear that children will be harmed; Defense Minister Ganz praised them - Watch (Defense).

B. Nissani | 5 Sivan 5781, 16.05.21

https://www.kikar.co.il/392065.html

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Experts Call on Canada to Sanction Military Exploits of ‘Human Shields’

May 17, 2021 19:21, Last Updated: May 17, 2021 19:21

By Andrew Chen

Experts are calling on Canada lawmakers to pass laws aimed at sanctioning the use of “human shields,” amid reports of terrorist group Hamas is using civilians as a cover for military assets in its recent crossfire with Israel.

https://m.theepochtimes.com/experts-call-on-canada-to-sanction-military-exploits-of-human-shields_3819158.html

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Opinion: You should be concerned about Hamas’ attacks on Israel

Monday, May 17, 2021 at 12:49 PM

By Anat Sultan-Dadon

Over the last 5 days, Hamas terrorists have been constantly firing rockets at the state of Israel from the Gaza strip, targeting our civilian populations. They are not only deliberately targeting civilians; they are doing so intentionally from within their own civilian populations, using them as human shields, which constitutes a double war crime.

https://www.ajc.com/opinion/opinion-you-should-be-concerned-about-hamas-attacks-on-israel/M7GO7M6TNZCW5CKVQF4WDTNTGU/

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Thousands of Palestinians fled their homes so as not to serve as human shields for terrorist operatives | Hamal

Dr. Amir Bohbot

May 17, 2021

- Thousands of Palestinians fled their homes so as not to serve as human shields for terrorist operatives.

In one case Palestinian children were killed and Hamas claimed it was an attack by the Air Force while the defense establishment claimed that a human rights organization report said it was a rocket fall.

https://www.hamal.co.il/post/-M_uim8tFYC0MgD04LRQ

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Thousands of targets built by Hamas and Islamic Jihad were dug under mosques, schools, kindergartens, community centers and more to prevent the IDF from attacking them.

Amazing how sensitive sitemap overlaps destination map | Dr. Amir Bohbot, May 18, 2021.

https://www.hamal.co.il/post/-Ma0HViXtMA_g_e8aCvD

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'Shocking' Phone Call Between IDF and Gazan Reveals 'Entire Conflict in a Nutshell'

Leah Barkoukis | @LeahBarkoukis | May 19, 2021

A short but “shocking” phone call between the Israeli Defense Forces and a Palestinian in Gaza reveals "the entire conflict in a nutshell.."

In the recording, the IDF is attempting to warn about an impending strike, pleading for the man to evacuate the building before the bombing because civilians are present.

“I can’t get all of the people out I need at least two hours to get them out,” the Palestinian says.

“Listen, we are going to bomb the building,” the member of the IDF replies.

“You want to bomb? Bomb whatever you want,” the man responds.

“No, brother, we need to do everything we can so you don’t die,” the IDF member says.

“We want to die,” the Palestinian answers.

“But you have a responsibility for children’s lives,” the Israeli pushes back.

“If the children need to die then they’ll die,” the Palestinian counters.

“God forbid, God forbid, what do you want, to die?!” the soldier asks.

“This is how we reveal your cruelty,” the man responds...

https://townhall.com/tipsheet//leahbarkoukis/2021/05/19/shocking-phone-call-between-idf-and-gazan-reveals-entire-conflict-in-a-nutshell-n2589676

Shock Video: IDF Warns Gazan Man To Evacuate Children Before Bombing. He Responds: ‘If The Children Need To Die Then They’ll Die’

By Hank Berrien - May 19, 2021 . DailyWire.com

Before strikes on buildings in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces call residents of those buildings to give them a chance to evacuate and preserve their lives. A new video shows the IDF pleading with a Gazan man on the other end of the line to evacuate a targeted building, saying he had a responsibility for children’s lives. The man responded, “If the children need to die then they’ll die.”

In the video, aired by Sky News (below), the Gazan man initially tries to stall for time, saying, “I can’t get all of the people out; I need at least two hours to get them out.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/shock-video-idf-warns-gazan-man-to-evacuate-children-before-bombing-he-responds-if-the-children-need-to-die-then-theyll-die

Yoseph Haddad (@YosephHaddad) Tweeted:

Through a 30 second conversation between the IDF and a Palestinian in #Gaza you can understand who is choosing life and who is choosing death.

A shocking phone call, must watch: https://t.co/4soDBV2AVE https://twitter.com/YosephHaddad/status/1394900465498869762?s=20 [May 19, 2021]

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Burchett on House floor: Some elected officials, media excusing terrorism against Israel

May 18, 2021.

... These terror groups are more than willing to use their own people as human shields for the sake of vilifying Israel. And unfortunately, the most radical members of Congress and the American mainstream media have bought this narrative hook, line, and sinker...

https://burchett.house.gov/media/press-releases/burchett-house-floor-some-elected-officials-media-excusing-terrorism-against

Rep. Tim Burchett @RepTimBurchett: Hamas and PIJ use Palestinians as human shields for the sake of vilifying Israel. The members of Congress and media blaming Israel alone for the recent violence are being nothing more than useful idiots and publicity tools for two terrorist organizations.

https://twitter.com/RepTimBurchett/status/1394686846085570568

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Bennett slams John Oliver, Trevor Noah, Bella Hadid on Israel criticism

By AARON REICH, ZACHARY KEYSER

MAY 20, 2021 21:13

... Israel just wants to live in peace with its neighbors, "but what we won't do is commit suicide so you can make your snarky comedy bits."

.... Many of these criticisms stemmed from the idea that there is a significant disparity in casualties, with Hamas suffering far more casualties than Israel, due in part to the Iron Dome defense system.

But Bennett sought to set the record straight for who he sarcastically called "The 'great philosophers' of our age."

Bennett... gave numerous examples of important Gazan facilities such as Shifa hospital and the Ayyobiya Boys School, both of which are also Hamas facilities that are used to help plan attacks on Israel or store weapons.

.... the example of the al-Jalaa building, where several media outlets like Al Jazeera and the Associated Press had offices. ...also housed a Hamas military ...

"So Bella, John and Noah, help me out here," he said. "If a terror organization like Hamas called to murder your families and launched thousands of missiles at your children while they're hiding inside hospitals, schools and media offices, what would you do?"

... two options. Do nothing and die, or respond.

"I don't know about you all, but we're gonna go with number two," Bennett explained.

... If celebrities like Noah, Oliver and Hadid want to help end this war, then they should be using their platforms to demand Hamas stop hiding behind innocent civilians, he said.

"Maybe you should ask Hamas operator, Fathi Hamad, to stop bragging that 'Palestinian women and children make the best human shields,"

....

On May 16, the Israel Twitter account responded to Hadid, who along with her sister Gigi Hadid had shared multiple pro-Palestinian messages on social media, many of which were controversial.

"When celebrities like @BellaHadid advocate for throwing Jews into the sea, they are advocating for the elimination of the Jewish State," the Israel Twitter account wrote.

"This shouldn't be an Israeli-Palestinian issue. This should be a human issue. Shame on you."...

Responding to Oliver, Renana, a 10-year-old girl from Kfar Azza, a Gaza border community where rocket sirens have been ringing day and night for the past week and a half, recorded a video ...

"Every siren makes me cry and feel sad," Renana said, speaking well beyond her years. "Just so you know, my army is strong. However, this does not protect me from being afraid."

https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/bennett-slams-john-oliver-trevor-noah-bella-hadid-on-israel-criticism-668672

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With Your Own Eyes:

Hamas Turned a Civilian Structure in Gaza Into a Rocket Launch Site Ready to Fire Rockets at Israel

Under international law, a civilian structure used for military purposes is a legitimate military target. We gave civilians time to evacuate, and then neutralized the target

19.5.2021

Under international law, a civilian structure is a legitimate military target when used for military purposes. The Hamas terrorist organization chooses to use civilian structures for its military purposes and often launches rockets from densely populated civilian areas in Gaza. On May 18, 2021, the ninth day of Operation Guardian of the Walls, we operated to strike a concealed rocket launcher in a civilian structure in Gaza. Out of concern for the safety of non-combatants, we warned civilians in the building and in surrounding buildings about the strike, giving them enough time to evacuate before we struck the rocket launcher.

https://www.idf.il/en/minisites/operation-guardian-of-the-walls/hamas-turned-a-civilian-structure-in-gaza-into-a-rocket-launch-site/

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What is Hamas? Who supports Hamas? What you need to know.

May 15, 2021

Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, repeatedly attacking Israel. It has a number of foreign allies. But where does the terror group get the money and supplies to do it?

Hamas and the Israeli military have had major confrontations in 2008/09, 2012, 2014 and again in 2021

In the past, many German media outlets have referred to Hamas as a radical Islamist organization. Most recently, however, as Israel-Gaza fighting flares up again, media have referred to Hamas as an Islamist terror group. A majority of Western governments, including the European Union and the United States, have classified it as a terror organization.

...

Hamas often fires rockets at Israel from within residential areas and operates command posts in apartment blocks. The practice effectively uses civilians as human shields. Hamas has been secretly digging underground tunnels to smuggle arms into the enclave, chiefly from Egypt. The Egyptian government, however, has been clamping down on this activity.

https://www.dw.com/en/who-is-hamas/a-57537872

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Hamas civilian casualties ‘perversely’ strengthen Hamas ‘propaganda arm’

Sky News Australia.

May 16, 2021

EXCLUSIVE: The former Australian ambassador to Israel says Hamas is the only party which can end the Gaza conflict and Israeli airstrikes are broadly a defensive measure. In an exclusive with Sky News Liberal MP Dave Sharma has discussed his firsthand experiences in Israel where he was stationed as ambassador from 2013 to 2017 during the last major conflict with Hamas. Mr Sharma said the goals set by Hamas were not “conventional” and civilian deaths strengthened the propaganda arm of the military organisation.

“They don’t really care about their own civilian population and in fact and perversely civilian casualties on the Gaza side kind of strengthen arm in the propaganda and information war,” he said.

“There’s command posts under hospitals. There’s rocket launches under schools. There’s Hamas intelligence posts in civilian hotels. “It’s very difficult for the IDF and Israel to operate because Hamas is embedded in civilian infrastructure in Gaza.” Mr Sharma said Hamas would likely end the violence when they achieved a sufficient “propaganda victory” to secure their hold on power or they ran out of firepower. “When does Hamas stop? Either when they think they’ve given themselves enough of a propaganda victory ... or if their leadership and military infrastructure and arsenal becomes so degraded because of Israeli counterstrikes,” he said.

“The only reason this conflict is underway is because Hamas was firing rockets – dozens, tens, hundreds overnight at Israeli civilian populations. “No government is going to accept that or tolerate it or just absorb it. Israel is only striking back because Hamas keeps firing the rockets.”

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6KtXrvOF0Rw

Hamas civilian casualties ‘perversely’ strengthen Hamas ‘propaganda arm’

May 17, 2021

https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/hamas-perversely-use-civilian-casualties-to-strengthen-propaganda-arm/video/9bccda62748c090562b4ace3c8e5d8d3

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"Call for peace": Eran Zahavi took advantage of the attention

One, Editorial

May 19, 2021.

The striker, whose Instagram account was flooded with about 100,000 pro-Palestinian comments, responded: "It's time to explain the situation, you do not know where Gaza and Jerusalem are on the map"...

"None of you know the roots of the conflict and Eli is not even aware of the location of Gaza or Jerusalem on the map," Zahavi explained and continued: "It is better that you take advantage of your activities on social networks to call for peace on both sides and then everything will be simpler." He then added informational videos about Hamas' activities and its use of Gaza citizens as a "human shield."

https://www.one.co.il/Article/384345.html

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The IDF informs 2 UNRWA schools to evacuate in preparation for the bombing

17.05.21

The IDF sent a message to UNRWA institutions evacuating al-Burak and al-Aqsa schools

Towards the near bombing.

In Gaza, this is called a crime because they have become shelters.

https://rotter.net/forum/scoops1/698778.shtml

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Qualification of Hamas as a Terrorist Organization by the OAS General Secretariat

May 17, 2021

The recent attacks launched by Hamas against the Israeli civilian population undoubtedly constitute attacks of a terrorist nature. Their violence and the objectives they pursue clearly have this characteristic.

Hamas's terrorist aggression is unlimited and always seeks civilian victims, seeks to escalate conflict dynamics and armed actions, as well as sowing terror among innocent populations, be they Israeli or Palestinian.

The immoral and unworthy use of children and women as human shields, as well as the militarization of residential areas, constitute in themselves acts that deserve the most absolute repudiation and condemnation.

The initiation of attacks of this nature against a country with a clear terrorist objective of its civilian population makes the invocation of the principle of legitimate defense by Israel essential.

The Hamas attacks constitute an attack against the peace and security of Israel and the region and make it imperative to categorize Hamas as a terrorist organization for the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS).

https://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-051/21

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The need for a Marshall Plan in the Gaza Strip

By Bradley Martin and Dr. Liram Koblentz-Stenzler - Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Hamas has established an orderly paramilitary framework with brigades, battalions, companies, and platoons as well as dedicated units, including intelligence, commando and cyber units. Its arsenal includes thousands of rockets and missiles at their disposal, as well as dozens of kilometers of tunnels often built underneath highly-sensitive areas in the Gaza Strip such as hospitals. Rockets have even been found underneath UNRWA schools...

Moral and legal justifications that were developed after World War II for declaring and waging wars (specifically the Hague and Geneva Convention) were meant for sovereign states. They are not appropriate for waging wars fought against terrorist organizations like Hamas. This puts Israel at a significant disadvantage to effectively defend itself and its citizens.

In the current campaign between Israel and Hamas, the front and home front are blurred together. Hamas forces civilians in the Gaza Strip and Israel to be on the front lines. Hamas deliberately uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, since the terrorists are launching rockets and missiles from heavily-populated areas towards Israeli cities. Israel on the other hand, is trying to save innocent lives by always notifying Palestinian civilians in the building that is going to be targeted. The IDF does this by sending leaflets, making phone calls, using “knock on the roof” tactics and more.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/may/18/need-marshall-plan-gaza-strip/

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There is only one honest answer to this Israel-Palestinian conflict: Condemning Hamas terrorism

Alan Dershowitz, May 19, 2021

This Hamas approach has aptly been called the CNN strategy (which is to say nothing against CNN, simply that the strategy is designed to exploit the 24-hour news cycle). Others call it the “dead baby strategy.” It is based on the recognition that the media loves to show dead children, and that Hamas always parades its dead and wounded in front of TV cameras. They know that “If it bleeds, it leads.” They also know there will inevitably be some civilian casualties among the human shields they deliberately deploy. They could easily fire their rockets from the many unpopulated areas of the Gaza Strip, but they deliberately choose to fire them from mosques, schools, hospitals and other locations that are densely populated with civilians.

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-hamas-israel-terrorism-20210520-qtkumugtpzfnxlzx7y5446gfoe-story.html

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Biden's pressure on Bibi contradicts his own words — and endangers Israel

By Post Editorial Board

May 20, 2021

And many, quite possibly most, Palestinian civilian deaths were the result of Hamas’ own rockets landing in Gaza and its use of its own civilians as human shields (which, by the way, is a war crime — unlike Israel’s self-defense). Even so, Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit casualties, even issuing evacuation warnings before strikes.

https://nypost.com/2021/05/20/bidens-pressure-on-bibi-contradicts-his-own-words-and-endangers-israel/

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Arabs: Hamas Does Not Care About Palestinian Suffering

by Khaled Abu Toameh

May 20, 2021

These Arabs evidently understand what the anti-Israel activists around the world fail to see -- that Hamas has brought nothing but disaster and despair to the two million Palestinians living under its rule in the Gaza Strip.... [They] also seem to understand that Israel is not waging war on the Palestinians, but against an Islamist terrorist group.....

These Arabs can also see that if one cares about the Palestinians, why would one want them ruled by terrorists who place weapons caches near hospitals and schools, and use children as human shields?

Criticism of Hamas does not make you anti-Palestinian; on the contrary, holding Hamas responsible for the violence and bloodletting actually serves the interests of the Palestinians.

The Hamas terrorist group "Was well prepared for this war by building trenches in which its members can take shelter, while innocent Palestinians were being killed. Hamas likes to play the role of victim and kill Palestinians to win Arab, Islamic and international sympathy." — Abdulah Bin Binjad Al Otaibi, Saudi writer and researcher, Al-Ittihad, May 17, 2021.

"Hamas did not use the children of Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Mashaal or Ali Khamenei as human shields. Hamas used the Palestinian people [as human shields]." — Ahdeya Ahmed Al Sayed, President of the Bahrain Journalists Association, Twitter, May 16, 2021.

The criticism shows that a growing number of Arabs are fed up with the continuous efforts of Iran to destabilize the Arab countries with the help of the mullahs' proxies in the Middle East, including Hamas.

Inexplicably, these Arab voices are generally ignored by the international community and the mainstream media in the West. Those who are demonstrating against Israel and Jews in the US, Canada and Europe might want to tune in to what Arabs themselves are saying about Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups. If they bothered to listen, they would understand that as far as many Arabs are concerned, the real threat to the future of Arab and Muslim children is coming from Iran and Islamic terrorist groups, and not from Israel.

Prominent Arab writers and political analysts hold the Iranian-backed Hamas responsible for the violence and bloodshed in the Gaza Strip over the past week. These Arabs can also see that if one cares about the Palestinians, why would one want them ruled by terrorists who place weapons caches near hospitals and schools, and use children as human shields? Pictured: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (center) at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on January 9, 2018 (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)

While many in the West denounced Israel for its military strikes in the Gaza Strip over the past week, prominent Arab writers and political analysts held the Iranian-backed Hamas responsible for the violence and bloodshed.

These Arabs also seem to understand that Israel is not waging war on the Palestinians, but against an Islamist terrorist group whose charter openly calls for jihad (holy war) and the elimination of Israel.

These Arabs can also see that if one cares about the Palestinians, why would one want them ruled by terrorists who place weapons caches near hospitals and schools, and use children as human shields?

Those who are condemning Israel for defending itself against the rocket and missile attacks need to see what article 15 of the Hamas charter says:

"The day the enemies usurp part of Muslim land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Muslim. In the face of the Jews' usurpation, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised."

The message that the Arab writers and political analysts are trying to send to those Westerners who consider themselves "pro-Palestinian" is: Hamas serves as a pawn in the hands of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood in the fight against Israel and the West.

There is another message that the Arabs are seeking to send to those in the West who are demonstrating against Israel: Criticism of Hamas does not make you anti-Palestinian; on the contrary, holding Hamas responsible for the violence and bloodletting actually serves the interests of the Palestinians.

How ironic that Arab Muslims are lashing out at Hamas while Israel-haters around the world see no evil in its actions, including the indiscriminate firing of thousands of rockets and missiles into Israel.

"Real sympathy with the Palestinian people means searching for solutions for an actual and practical peace that guarantees their safety, security, and development," commented Saudi writer and researcher Abdulah Bin Binjad Al Otaibi. "The solutions should also stop those [Hamas] who are ready to burn Palestine and its people."

The Hamas terrorist group, he said, "was well prepared for this war by building trenches in which its members can take shelter, while innocent Palestinians were being killed. Hamas likes to play the role of victim and kill Palestinians to win Arab, Islamic and international sympathy."

Denouncing Hamas for persecuting the Palestinians, Al Otaibi noted that the terrorist group carried out a bloody coup in 2007 against the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip.

"Some ask, is this the right time to present the crimes of Hamas," he added.

"This is precisely the best time to do so. The reader can conduct a quick search on the Internet to learn about the crimes that Hamas has committed against the Palestinians. Hamas has the right to destroy its homes with its own hands, but it has no right to destroy the homes of Palestinians and underestimate their blood and the blood of their children."

Saudi writer Abdullah Nasser Al Otaibi called on Arab countries to help the Palestinians get new leaders.

"Hamas and its Muslim Brotherhood patrons do not care about the suffering or interests of the Palestinians," Al Otaibi wrote. "They only care about demonizing those who stand against them. Hamas is saying: Let the Palestinians die for the sake of a Muslim Brotherhood victory."

Another Saudi writer, Mishary Dhayidi, warned that Hamas was aligned with Iran and the enemies of the Arabs.

Dhayidi pointed out that Hamas has been associated with the Houthi militia in Yemen, Hezbollah, Egyptian terrorists and Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force who was killed last year in a US targeted drone attack near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq.

Emirati writer Al-Sheikh Wuldalsalek accused both Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas of "trafficking" in the Palestinian issue.

"Abbas wants to cover up for this decision to postpone the Palestinian elections so that he can continue to sit on the presidential chair at the expense of Palestinian blood," Wuldalsalek remarked. "Hamas aspires to increase its popularity and drain the pockets of those who see it as a resistance movement by launching futile missiles that harm it more than doing any good."

He accused Iran and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of "exploiting Palestinian blood without any shame or conscience."

"A few months ago, we were very happy with the signing of the Abraham Peace Accords [with Israel], which the people rely on to create peace that benefits everyone politically, economically and socially," Wuldalsalek wrote. "But the extremists are working to kill this dream. It is sad that some are working hard for peace, while others are working hard for the sake of war and the continuation of the conflict."

Egyptian writer Khaled al-Berry advised that "criticism of Hamas is in the interest of the Palestinians, now and tomorrow."

Criticism of Hamas, he said, "Is a message of awareness, caution, and a warning about the consequences of its organizational and regional ties."

Former Jordanian Minister of Information Saleh Al-Gholab said that Hamas should choose between being a Palestinian group or "a Muslim Brotherhood movement belonging to Iran." Al-Gholab pointed out that in 2007 Hamas launched a bloody coup against the Palestinian Authority and threw members of its rivals in Fatah from rooftops.

Ahdeya Ahmed Al Sayed, President of the Bahrain Journalists Association, wrote on Twitter:

"Those who support the terrorist militias [Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Houthis, and the Iranian regime] are considered terrorists. The Palestinian issue does not need terrorists and traffickers. The Palestinian issue does not need traitors."

In another tweet, Al Sayed commented:

"Hamas did not use the children of Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Mashaal or Ali Khamenei as human shields. Hamas used the Palestinian people [as human shields]. Shame on you to defend Hamas. This is a major betrayal!"

Such critiques of Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups are relatively new in the Arab world. The criticism shows that a growing number of Arabs are fed up with the continuous efforts of Iran to destabilize the Arab countries with the help of the mullahs' proxies in the Middle East, including Hamas.

Inexplicably, these Arab voices are generally ignored by the international community and the mainstream media in the West. Those who are demonstrating against Israel and Jews in the US, Canada and some European countries might want to tune in to what Arabs themselves are saying about Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups. If they bothered to listen, they would understand that as far as many Arabs are concerned, the real threat to the future of Arab and Muslim children is coming from Iran and Islamic terrorist groups, and not from Israel.

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17390/hamas-palestinians-suffering

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Over, for now: Even with a ceasefire, Israel and Hamas will not stop fighting each other

May 20, 2021

...By the end Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, had fired some 4,000 rockets at Israel.

... Hamas's policies make it more like a shooting range. The group sometimes shows little interest in actually governing. Its schools and hospitals can be used for storing weapons. The idea is that Israel won't attack such sites or, if it does, Hamas can use it for propaganda. The militants were surprised by how hard Israel hit back after they launched their first barrage on May 10th. Still, even as the death toll mounted, they did not stop.

https://www.economist.com/taxonomy/term/17/0?page=119

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/05/20/even-with-a-ceasefire-israel-and-hamas-will-not-stop-fighting-each-other

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Amir Bohbot @amirbohbot:

I wonder who dug tunnels in the Gaza Strip under schools and thought of extracting terrorist acts from them? Really interesting.

May 23, 2021.

https://twitter.com/amirbohbot/status/1396487543793852421

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How Hamas built an underground terror network in the heart of Gaza

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

May 21, 2021 — New illustrations show exactly how Hamas terrorists have managed to build elaborate infrastructure within the heart of the densely crowded civilian neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip

Over the last decade, Hamas has invested millions of dollars into digging extensive tunnel infrastructure below the surface of the Gaza Strip, according to the IDF Spokesperson.

The tunnels are used by Hamas to ambush the enemy and carry out counter-offensive operations as displayed in Hamas' live footage of the network below, all with the aim of causing as much harm to civilians as possible.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/how-hamas-built-an-underground-terror-network-in-the-heart-of-gaza-668605

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The asymmetrical conflict with Hamas will continue - opinion

By Susan Hattis Rolef - May 24, 2021

In the meantime, the futile argument concerning the symmetry or asymmetry between attacks by Arabs against Jews and by Jews against Arabs inside Israel, continues.

The current round of military operations between Israel and Hamas appears to be at its end – at least temporarily. Like all previous operations of its kind, it has been a totally asymmetric battle.

While Hamas and Islamic Jihad shot more than 4,500 missiles and rockets in the general direction of Israeli residential areas (only around 240 actually hit buildings – the rest were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, fell in open spaces, or within the Gaza Strip), and made unsuccessful attempts to penetrate Israel and target military installations Israel intercepted Hamas missiles and rockets, and attacked – mostly by means of air strikes – 6,500 strategic targets designed to destroy Hamas and Islamic Jihad military infrastructures and capabilities, including 100 kilometers of strategic underground tunnels (the so-called “Metro”).

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/the-asymmetrical-conflict-with-hamas-will-continue-opinion-668928

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Israel versus Hamas: Proportionality, Perfidy and the Law of War

Louis Rene Beres

May 20, 2021 05:52:22 PM

Edited by: Khushali Mahajan | Rajiv Gandhi National U. of Law, IN

...“Justice,” we learn originally from Plato’s Republic, means “a contract neither to do nor to suffer wrong.” Unless there should be substantially greater understanding that perfidious or perfidious-type behavior by insurgents places direct legal responsibility for correlative harms on that insurgency, and not on the victimized state, sub-state foes could sometime decide to dangerously escalate hostilities. For Israel, such terrorist escalations could eventually embrace mega-assaults, up to and including an actual use of destructive nuclear technologies.

To best manage and inhibit such consequential enemy escalations, Jerusalem will have to choose between creating a more-or-less seamless web of national deterrence (ranging from narrowly conventional to broadly nuclear) or allowing certain enemy forces to proceed directly toward WMD terrorist capacities before threatening them with reciprocally massive kinds of retaliation.

For now, such Israeli judgments will have to be made without any “benefit” of relevant historical experience. In scientific terms, there can never be any authentic assessments of probability in the absence of pertinent past events. The persuasiveness of Israeli deterrent threats will always require Israel’s time-relevant foe to believe that Jerusalem is willing to launch appropriate military retaliations and capable of inflicting “unacceptable damage.”

Included in the core requirement of perceived capability would be the capacity to adequately penetrate enemy active defenses.

This means, in turn, that Israel’s offensive military forces must always stay at least “one step ahead” of any determined enemy’s missile defense systems. If this tactical advantage were not present, Israel’s enemy or enemies, no longer having to anticipate unacceptable reprisals, could sometime feel more-or-less inclined to strike first. In such a scenario, by definition, critical Israeli deterrence could fail altogether.

Terrorism, like perfidy, is a codified crime under authoritative international law, but discrete and component crimes are mutually reinforcing rather than mutually exclusive. De jure, any human shields-based deceptions launched by anti-Israel terrorists would effectively add a second layer of illegality to an already underlying insurgent dereliction. Though frequently disregarded or minimized, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, and Hezbollah insurgencies are inherently illegal. This is true even if one were to assume “just cause” in all or some of these groups.

In law, perfidious tactics are not “only” mala prohibita (“evil as prohibited”), but also malae in se (“evil in themselves”).

https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2021/05/louis-rene-beres-israel-hamas-war/

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On Gaza ruins, with human shields, Hamas "celebrates victory"

The Israeli declaration of a unilateral ceasefire provoked cries of victory from the terrorist organization, which called on its supporters to celebrate

By Assaf Gibor - May 21, 2021- 10 Sivan 5781

It is very easy for Hamas to produce a picture of victory. The dictatorial organization that controls the Gaza Strip does not allow for internal criticism or political opposition. A journalist who dares to paint a picture other than victory will find himself in the torture cellars of Hamas or simply underground.

In Ramallah, Abu Mazen will have to swallow another frog of victory celebrations and wait a bit before launching an arrest campaign against the organization that raised up high Jerusalem as a pretext for the operation but is thinking of taking over not only Jerusalem but all PA territories.

https://www.makorrishon.co.il/news/352249/

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Duduououate @realdudau tweeted:

The heart aches on these children are innocent and hostage by Hamas who uses them, the world should shake and dismantle Hamas !! Just your headline, you rags one by one, should have been: 68 children that Hamas has murdered ... What about Ido Gloss Z."L.?

A Jew's blood is not considered by you. anti-Israeli garbage.

https://twitter.com/RealDuduA/status/1397798401325023236

Dudu Aouate attacks the Haaretz: "Anti-Israel, rags one by one."

The newspaper made headlines with visuals of the number of children killed in Gaza in the latest round of fighting and drew many comments on the net. Former goalkeeper: "Your 'Jewish' blood is not considered. Rubbish, anti-Israel newspaper."

Ice Staff, May 27, 2021

...

Former MK Michael Ben-Ari continued on Aouate's line, writing: "The traitor newspaper: The Hamas Nazis shoot at elderly women and children - the Jews are to blame. Destruction of the State of Israel, and denial of all negotiations. But it is likely that Haaretz sympathizes with this Nazi murderous treaty. "

Journalist Haim Etgar also decided to attack the headline and tweeted: "It is horrible and horrible and yet to publish such a cover without stating who uses the population and children as a human shield, who initiates shootings from civilian population centers and ranges almost exclusively civilians and hence this heartbreaking result does not give the reader a picture Complete and balanced "...

https://www.ice.co.il/media/news/article/821331

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Yoni Ben Menachem: Yahya Sinwar Challenges Israel

28 May 2021 - The Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip emerges from his hiding place and begins to provoke Israel, When he calls on her to try and eliminate him ... He was careful to walk around surrounded by bodyguards and residents of the Gaza Strip who served as his "human shield," assuming that the IDF would not eliminate him when surrounded by civilians.

https://www.zman.co.il/224663

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Adv. Nitzana Darshan-Leitner (@AttorneyNitsana) Tweeted (May 28, 2021):

We must first investigate how the shooting started. Why Hamas fired missiles and rockets. And only then to investigate Israel why it defended itself. In order to investigate the issue of the victims, who also have no comparison between them, one must first investigate how the victims arrived in the battle zone of Hamas.

How did Hamas position itself among the civilian population to be used as a human shield, and then to interrogate Israel - did it intentionally harm these victims, or did it fire more than once to prevent harm to innocent people as much as possible.

Justice is with Israel, and we will not succumb to UN lies. Like any democratic state, Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism that threatens its citizens.

https://twitter.com/AttorneyNitsana/status/1398287557780250628?s=20

https://twitter.com/AttorneyNitsana/status/1398287556396175360?s=20

https://twitter.com/AttorneyNitsana/status/1398287559269261314

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Khaled Abu Toameh @KhaledAbuToameh

UNRWA 'condemns the existence and potential use by Palestinian armed groups of tunnels underneath its schools (in Gaza) in the strongest possible terms It is unacceptable that students and staff be placed at risk in such a way.'

Jun 5, 2021· https://twitter.com/KhaledAbuToameh/status/1401333927428640775

Exclusive documentation: A Hamas tunnel was exposed at a UNRWA school in Gaza. Gal Berger, Kann News, June 10, 2021.

Exclusive documentation: Exposed.

The tunnel was excavated about 7 meters below the school grounds, where children's sports and leisure activities are routinely held. UNRWA has announced that it condemns any excavation of tunnels under their facilities, and has appealed to the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip for clarification.

https://www.kan.org.il/item/?itemid=107439

UNRWA finds attack tunnel under one of its Gaza schools

By Tovah Lazaroff

June 6, 2021 21:36

... “UNRWA condemns the existence and potential use by Palestinian armed groups of such tunnels underneath its schools in the strongest possible terms. It is unacceptable that students and staff be placed at risk in such a way,” the organization stated.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/unrwa-finds-attack-tunnel-under-one-of-its-gaza-schools-670262

UNRWA: Tunnel found under Gaza school hit by Israel in last month’s conflict

Announcement comes after head of the UN group is thrown out of the Strip for saying IDF launched ‘precise’ strikes in recent battle; school was empty when IDF hit

By Judah Ari Gross - 7 Jun 2021.

The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency has condemned the construction of a tunnel under a school it operates in the central Gaza Strip, which was apparently targeted by the Israel Defense Forces during last month’s 11-day battle between Israel and the Hamas terror group.

In its statement, the UN Relief and Works Agency also denounced the Israeli strikes on the tunnel.

According to UNRWA, the Israeli attacks on the compound in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood — home to UNRWA Zaitoun Preparatory Boys’ School “A” and Elementary Boys’ School “A” — took place on May 13 and 15 when the complex was empty...

UNRWA schools in Gaza have been used in the past to store and launch rockets at Israel, particularly during the 2014 Gaza war.

In 2017, the agency also said it had found a Hamas tunnel dug underneath one of its schools.

([A photograph by an Israeli drone showing 14 underground rocket launchpads in the yard of a school in the Gaza Strip that were used by Palestinian terror groups during May’s conflict between the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas. (Israel Defense Forces)]

In one case during the latest round of fighting, the Israel Defense Forces determined that the courtyard of at least one school — it was not immediately clear if it belonged to UNRWA — housed 14 underground rocket launchpads, which it said were used during the fighting.

However, as schools in Gaza have regularly been used as refugee centers during times of conflict, the IDF’s official policy is to avoid striking them unless necessary...

According to the UN agency, after the fighting ended, investigators were sent to the school and discovered what appeared to be a tunnel underneath the compound.

“A detailed assessment on 31 May 2021 revealed what appears to be a cavity and a possible tunnel, at the location of the missile strike. The depth of the cavity is approximately 7.5 meters below the surface of the school. UNRWA discovered the existence of a possible tunnel in the context of the investigation of the fired missiles,” the agency said...

In its statement, UNRWA denounced the construction of the tunnel, but did not identify the group responsible for it.

“UNRWA condemns the existence and potential use by Palestinian armed groups of such tunnels underneath its schools in the strongest possible terms. It is unacceptable that students and staff be placed at risk in such a way,” the agency said.

The UNRWA announcement came days after the head of the agency in Gaza, Matthias Schmale, was recalled from his post amid an uproar in the coastal enclave over an interview he gave to Israeli TV during which he said that IDF strikes during the war appeared to be “precise” and “sophisticated.”

Matthias Schmale, UNRWA’s director in Gaza, speaks during a news conference in front of the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City, May 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Schmale, along with his deputy David de Bold, left the Hamas-run coastal enclave last Wednesday, according to Channel 12, the network to which the UNRWA director made the original comments last month. The interview led to accusations from Gaza rulers Hamas that he was exonerating Israel for the deaths of Palestinian civilians, prompting Schmale to apologize.

A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency told Channel 12 that Schmale had been called back to Jerusalem for consultations and had decided to take an extended leave of absence.

De Bold was also deemed persona non grata by Hamas, according to Palestinian media, which said the terror group was demanding that both he and Schmale be fired.

The UNRWA spokesman told Channel 12 that de Bold would continue his job remotely from Jerusalem and that Deputy Commissioner-General Leni Stenseth would run the Gaza office on-site in the interim.

In the May 23 interview, Schmale was asked about the IDF’s assertion that its military strikes were very precise. He responded: “I’m not a military expert but I would not dispute that. I also have the impression that there is a huge sophistication in the way the Israeli military struck over the last 11 days.”

He also said that there were not at the time any shortages of food, medicine or water in Gaza as Israel had reopened the crossings.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/unrwa-tunnels-under-gaza-school-hit-by-israel-in-last-months-conflict/

UNRWA REITERATES THE INVIOLABILITY OF ITS INSTALLATIONS MUST BE RESPECTED AT ALL TIMES

11 August 2021

[...]

Initial risk assessments have indicated the existence of underground structures that could have led to further damage. The Agency condemns the existence and potential use of such underground structures, including tunnels, in the strongest possible terms, and letters of protest have been sent to the de facto authorities in Gaza. The Agency has also protested the takeover by the de facto authorities of one of these schools, which undermines the inviolability and neutrality of UNRWA premises. These actions also stand to compromise the safe return of children to their schools and scuttles the Agency efforts to open the schools on time.

https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/unrwa-reiterates-inviolability-its-installations-must-be-respected-all

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UN condemns use of civilians as human shields, anti-Semitic terror

The international body passes resolution to condemn terrorism directed at Jews for the first time in its history, as well as the use of the internet as a recruitment tool for terrorists; Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan welcomes decision

i24NEWS - Ynetnews

Jul 7, 2021 — The United Nations on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning the use of civilians as human shields by terrorist groups, a strategy frequently used by organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS), which was first approved in 2006 and is reviewed every two years. This year marked the seventh review of the document that prioritizes the counter-terrorism strategy of member states.

The international body also condemned anti-Semitic terrorism for the first time, as well as the use of the internet as a tool for the recruitment of terrorists.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjgje6zad

Achievement for Israel: UN condemns terrorist organizations' use of civilians as human shields

9:41 27 Tammuz 5781 07.07.2021 Shlomo Riesel

... Only a month after Operation Wall Guard, and at Israel's request, the UN condemns the use of terrorist organizations by civilians as human shields, the despicable method of operation of Hamas and Hezbollah.

In addition, in its decision, the UN condemns for the first time anti-Semitic terrorism and recognizes its existence. This is a very important and significant decision against the background of the wave of anti-Semitism in the world that is taking place these days.

The UN resolution also condemns the use of the Internet as a tool to encourage and recruit terrorist operatives and calls on Internet companies to take responsibility, a struggle that Ambassador Arden has led since his time as Minister of Internal Security, and continues to lead in the international arena and UN.

https://www.93fm.co.il/radio/708433/

An unexpected U.N. turn toward Israel

By WJW Editorial Board - July 14, 2021

Since the historic founding of the state of Israel more than 73 years ago, the United Nations General Assembly has passed hundreds of resolutions critical of the Jewish state. Whether based upon criticism of Israel’s “disproportionate” response...

So it was with great surprise that we learned that in what appears to be a routine, below-the-radar resolution passed by the U.N. General Assembly last week, the world body included subtle criticism of Hamas, Hezbollah and other bad actors in the Middle East, and had elements that seemed to favor Israel.

The provisions in question were part of the General Assembly’s bi-annual review of Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, which was supposed to have been handled last year, but was delayed because of the COVID pandemic. Within the resolution, the General Assembly did three things that got our attention: First, it condemned the use of civilians as human shields during military operations, a common practice by terrorists — and especially Hamas in Gaza — that imperils innocent lives. Second, for the first time ever, the General Assembly condemned terrorism directed toward Jews, among others. And third, it condemned the use of the internet to recruit terrorists.

These three unexpected provisions — tucked away in the broader Global Terror resolution — are a welcome change, even if the reporting of them has been muted. We hope the provisions signify a new level of honesty in the U.N.’s General Assembly. But we aren’t sure.

In order to gauge the significance of the provisions, we would like to understand what prompted them. And we admit that our lingering uncertainty underscores how diminished the U.N. has become in our minds as a result of the organization’s historic and unrelenting anti-Israel bias.

We are skeptical whether the newfound morality added to the recent U.N. resolution is a sign of a meaningful shift in the U.N.’s policy, or just a minor adjustment. We will withhold judgment until we see what comes next.

https://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/an-unexpected-u-n-turn-toward-israel/

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Egyptian-American Political Analyst Magdi Khalil: Hamas Uses Gaza Civilians As Human Shields; Recent Fighting Was Intended To Help Iran In Nuclear Negotiations

June 8, 2021

#8917 | 03:02

Source: Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar)

... Yahya Sinwar admitted that [Hamas] was transferring its military bases away from residential areas and high-rises. He admitted that all their military bases are located in high-rises. No one believes him that they are going to move them. In other words, they sacrifice the civilians in Gaza, and they target every Israeli civilian, as well as the airport. If Hamas would have hit a civilian airplane with civilian passengers on it, this would be a cause for celebration for Hamas...

https://www.memri.org/tv/magdi-khalil-hamas-uses-gaza-civilians-as-human-shields

The Buffalo Tribune

June 7 at 5:34 AM [2021]

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar admits that the terrorist group hides in civilian buildings in Gaza.

https://www.facebook.com/TheBuffaloTribune/videos/hamas-leader-yahya-sinwar-admits-that-the-terrorist-group/2895337384055026/?extid=SEO----

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP1Ul_OAebu/?hl=en

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No. 8901 -

Vienna-Based Syrian Journalist Thaer Al-Nashef: Hamas Uses Civilians As Human Shields; Hamas Leaders Split Gaza Rehabilitation Aid Among Themselves

- 05/25/21

Source: Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar)

Syrian journalist Thaer Al-Nashef, who is currently living in exile in Vienna, said that the Hamas "media machine" and Iran have exploited events in Jerusalem and Gaza in order to garner Arab sympathy over other Palestinian factions and to further Iranian interests in the Vienna nuclear negotiations. He made these remarks in a show that aired on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) on May 25, 2021. Al-Nashef said that Iran is exploiting the situation to gain sympathy in the Arab world, after its reputation was tarnished following its actions in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. He added that Hamas instigated the events in Sheikh Jarrakh and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to provoke the Israeli police. Al-Nashef went on to say that Hamas ignores its civilian population, which it uses as human shields, and that a third of its rockets fell inside the Gaza Strip, killing Palestinian civilians. He further said that while Hamas claims that it only launches its rockets against military targets, the whole world saw that it targeted Israeli civilians. Al-Nashef said that Hamas's leaders will split the billions that they get in aid in order to rehabilitate the Gaza Strip among themselves, just like they did after the 2009 and 2014 wars. He said that Hamas's wealth grows with every war.

https://www.memri.org/tv/syrian-jouranlist-thaer-nashef-hamas-uses-civilians-as-human-shields-steals-aid-money

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No. 8889 -

Bahrain-Based Researcher Amjad Taha: Iran Is Using Palestine As A Bargaining Chip In Vienna Negotiations; Hamas 'Militias' Peddle The Blood Of Innocent Women And Children Of Gaza – Is Using Women And Children As Human Shields Considered A Victory?

- 05/26/21

Source: The Internet - "Diwan Al-Mulla Internet TV Show (Kuwait)"

https://www.memri.org/tv/Bahrain-based-amjad-taha-iran-using-palestine-bargaining-chip-vienna-militias-hamas-peddle-blood-human-shields

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GOP Rep. Waltz introduces House resolution to censure 'Squad' for 'defending foreign terrorists'

i24NEWS, June 14, 2021.

Motion included a litany of accusations, including inciting antisemitic attacks across the United States

Republican Representative Mike Waltz (Fla.) introduced a House resolution Monday to censure the four principal members of the so-called Squad, accusing each of the congresswomen of "defending foreign terrorist organizations and inciting antisemitic attacks across the United States.

Waltz's resolution condemns and censures Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Ma.) for labeling Israel "an apartheid state."

His motion also clearly delineated the differences between Israel, which he said was a "key ally and strategic partner of the United States" and one to which, since 1948, "Congress has offered unwavering support to its security, taking actions to defend itself and its "non-military targets," as opposed to the Gaza Strip's Hamas terrorist rulers.

He accused the Islamist group of committing war crimes via using civilians as human shields and the firing of thousands of rockets into Israel territory.

In addition to drawing attention to Omar's comments equating the United States and Israel to Hamas in Gaza and the Taliban in Afghanistan, he highlighted that Tlaib has accused Israel of "ethnically cleansing" the Palestinians and "promoting racism and dehumanization."

Waltz also called out Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley for asserting that Israel's government routinely commits "human rights abuses."

He linked their claims and their promulgation across social media - where between them they have some 15 million followers on Twitter alone - to a significant uptick in violence and antisemitic hate crimes throughout the United States.

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/americas/1623681990-gop-rep-waltz-introduces-house-resolution-to-censure-squad-for-defending-foreign-terrorists

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To Bring Peace, Free Palestinians from Hamas—and Iran - Mosaic Magazine

10 Jun 2021 — During the May 2021 conflict, Hamas reportedly used civilians as human shields to protect its military assets from Israeli counterstrikes

When fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas last month, some cynics rushed to declare that the peace agreements between Jerusalem and several Arab countries brokered by the Trump administration were failures. Some of these same cynics had previously put forward the bizarre claim that these diplomatic breakthroughs constitute an abandonment, or worse, of the Palestinians—as if the Palestinians had somehow benefitted from the Arab world’s perpetual state of war with, and refusal to recognize, Israel. But such commentary bespeaks only a misunderstanding of the Middle East, writes Ali al-Nuaimi, an Emirati diplomat who was involved in the recent negotiations with Israel..

https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/israel-zionism/2021/06/to-bring-peace-free-palestinians-from-hamas-and-iran/

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Israel-Gaza: the digital conflict

'As the world increasingly questions Israel’s right to exist, the necessity to communicate the fundamental legitimacy of our nationhood is more important than ever'.

By Gerard Max - June 4, 2021, 10:50 am

... Facts have been rendered worthless, our voice muted, our pain inconsequential.

The reality is that it’s unlikely that any of us can directly influence events in Israel. However, it has become clearer than ever that our ability to live safely, while being identifiable Jews in Australia, is intimately connected to our ability and willingness to defend our link with Israel.

We know the facts. The “atrocious, racist eviction of Palestinians” in Sheikh Jarrah, an eviction that hasn’t actually happened, was a flashpoint of pure confection.

In fact, it was Jews who were ethnically cleansed in 1948. What followed were the orchestrated riots at Al-Aqsa mosque – a mechanism to unite the broader Islamic community behind Hamas, and then the rocket barrage from Gaza, designed to both kill Israelis and induce a response that would inevitably create civilian casualties and feed – with grotesque cynicism – Hamas’s “dead baby” strategy.

And it worked brilliantly. The international media which dutifully reported on Israel’s “disproportionate response”, the human cost, the carnage in Gaza, largely ignored the fact that the citizens of a democratic country spent days and nights in bomb shelters, and completely ignored the reason why Gazans have no bomb shelters. Not through lack of money, but rather because Hamas needs Gazans to die to achieve its objective – the excision and destruction of Israel.

Online has become even more of a cesspool of antisemitism...

https://www.australianjewishnews.com/israel-gaza-the-digital-conflict/

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Yes, Hamas Uses the Palestinian People as Human Shields

Dr. Munr Kazmir, Jun 2, 2021

How else could Hamas manage to still exist?

Among defenders of Hamas there is much debate about the often-repeated claim that Hamas uses the Palestinian people as human shields.

But the question is not, as CNN would have us believe, “complicated.”

Yes, of course Hamas is using the Palestinian people as human shields.

If Hamas wasn’t using the Palestinian people as human shields, that is, intentionally locating military operations beneath civilian hospitals, schools, and public buildings, Israel’s military forces would destroy Hamas

It’s that simple: If Hamas were to concentrate its forces in purely military outposts, clearly separated from surrounding civilian areas, and presenting, even the most ardent Hamas-defender must admit, an excellent target, Israel would destroy those military installations ten minutes after the Israeli Defense Ministry received satellite intel. Probably sooner...

Just because progressives in the U.S. have conflated Hamas with the causes of Middle Eastern peace and Palestinian liberation, doesn’t make it true. The Palestinian people don’t need liberation from Israel; they need liberation from an organization using terror and anti-Semitism to maintain a tight grip on power in Gaza.

This isn’t about land; land concessions have been made, and offered. It isn’t about religion, not when so many of Israel’s Muslim neighbors have made peace with the world’s only Jewish state.

Launching missiles at Israel isn’t some holy war; it isn’t a war being fought for human rights. Quite the opposite. Attacking Israel is about maintaining the power and control Hamas has over the Palestinian people, the peace process and the region as a whole.

More Palestinians have lost their lives in this latest conflict than have Israelis, as is usually the case. Those who defend Hamas, and its actions, in the U.S. and around the world often point to the fact that Israel’s military forces, defensing and offensive, are so superior to that of Palestine.

Knowing this, as Hamas leadership does, why would it launch missile attacks against Israel? Because Hamas wants enough Palestinian civilians to die as to provoke the rest of the Muslim world into destroying Israel- as Hamas lacks the ability to destroy Israel alone.

Israel’s far-superior military forces outmatch those of Hamas by a considerable amount. Hamas routinely attacks civilian populations in Israel, and as such, Israel has a right to defend itself...

https://munrkazmir.medium.com/yes-hamas-uses-the-palestinian-people-as-human-shields-6bb8decb7b25

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Major Jewish leaders join new initiative that focuses blame for the deaths of children in Gaza on Hamas

(June 8, 2021, JNS Wire) Major Jewish leaders around the world are supporting an initiative to place the blame for the deaths of dozens of children, killed in the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, on the Gaza-based terrorist organization.

An image was created mocking the recent New York Times front cover which featured a collage of 67 Gazans under the age of 18 titled “They Were Just Children” using information and statistics gathered from Hamas-run institutions in Gaza, and insinuating that Israel was at fault for their deaths.

The image being shared online, seen over a million times, changes the name of the publication to “The New Woke Times” and the same collage of children is led with the title “Hamas Wanted for the Murder of 67 Children” and features pictures of Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar. The concept if to place the blame on the real culprits for the tragedy.

“The publication by the New York Times of the photograph of the children is a libelous distortion and misrepresentation of the facts of the recent conflict,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “It was Hamas that initiated the conflict and placed its rockets among civilian populations and proceeded to launch more than 4000 rockets at Israel, even though around 700 of them landed within their own territory and may have been physically responsible for many of the deaths. The world should join in condemning them and seeking their arrest for those war crimes.”

“Hamas’ goal of generating civilian casualties is achieved,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Associate Dean, Director, Global Social Action of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “New York Times editors give Hamas ultimate victory labeling these deaths as crime against humanity by Israel instead of naming these mass murderers. If international media and donor nations continue their irresponsible policies, then more ‘innocents’ will surely die in next round and terrorists around the world will see that terrorism does pay.”

“The New York Times in their recent front-page story greatly rewarded Hamas’ tactic of using Palestinian children as human shields, guaranteeing of course, that Hamas will continue committing this horrific war crime into the future,” said Ellie Cohanim, who served as Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism at the United States Department of State between 2019 and 2021. “For a terror organization like Hamas, winning a PR victory against Israel is worth the loss of human life—Palestinian or otherwise. Hamas does not value human life, they value only getting closer to their charter goal of eliminating Israel and they understand well that it helps their cause for the world community to censure Israel for Palestinian death tolls.”

“Responsible journalism would mean NOT rewarding Hamas for their use of human shields. Responsible journalism would also mean investigating how many of those children’s deaths were caused by failing Hamas rockets, how many of the teens were actually recruited young terrorists themselves and being fair and accurate as to the fact that it is ultimately Hamas who should be held responsible for all of the death and destruction they initiated with their attacks on Israel.”

“During Operation ‘Guardian of the Walls’, Israel was fighting on multiple battlefronts, with the online campaign being no less crucial. In this regard, we were essentially engaged in a ‘war of narratives’, fighting against Palestinian propaganda and a vitriolic campaign of hate against the Jewish state, which was often aided and abetted by some elements of mainstream media, who sought to elevate Hamas and apply a dangerous moral equivalence with Israel’s inalienable right to self-defense,” said Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of The International Legal Forum and a leading expert in digital diplomacy. “It was critical therefore, that all those who stand for truth and side with the right of democracies to fight against the campaign of terror waged against Israel, to speak out.”

The above messages were shared by dozens of other organizations including the Combat Antisemitism Movement, Club Z, Endowment for Middle East Peace and others.

https://www.jns.org/wire/major-jewish-leaders-join-new-initiative-that-focuses-blame-for-the-deaths-of-children-in-gaza-on-hamas/

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For the first time since the "Guardian of the Walls": It will be possible to export agricultural products from Gaza

Following a security assessment, it was decided to allow a limited export of agricultural products from the Gaza Strip for marketing in Judea and Samaria and abroad through the Kerem Shalom crossing starting this morning. According to the Palestinians, Israel will also allow the transfer of mail and passports.

Elior Levy Updated: 20/06/2021

...Yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett referred to the tensions with Hamas and said that "there is no intention to harm those who did not stand up for us and kill us, and we do not hate those held hostage by a brutal and violent terrorist organization." At that time, our enemies will know the rules - we will not tolerate violence, we will not tolerate drips, we will not understand any more rebellious people."

https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/HyWUlz6o00

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Institute for Contemporary Affairs.

Founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation

No. 647 - June 28, 2021

Hamas’ Human Rights Violations in the 2021 Gaza War.

Amelia Navins, Lenny Ben-David, June 29, 2021.

*As recognized by international law, Israel has the legal right to employ the force necessary to defend itself. President Biden, on May 16, 2021, “reaffirmed his strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza.”

*From a young age, Palestinian children are indoctrinated by the Palestinian leadership to seek death through war. For example, the daughter of a Hamas official was recorded saying, “If we die, we will die as Martyrs for the sake of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.” Such indoctrination is reinforced in summer camps for children and culminates in the conscription of children into military units, in direct violation of international humanitarian law.

*In the course of the 11-day conflict, from May 10 to May 21, 2021, Hamas launched 4,300 rockets at Israeli civilians in a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, which calls to protect civilian populations during military operations. Article 25 of the 1907 Hague Regulations specifically prohibits attacks or bombardment of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings that are undefended.

*Hamas unapologetically uses its own civilians as human shields, unconcerned with the fatal ramifications of its actions. British Colonel Richard Kemp designated Hamas as “the first ‘army’ in history to use their own civilian populations as a primary weapon of war.” On May 12, 2021, UN Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland told the UN Security Council, “Hamas and other militants’ indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars from highly populated civilian neighborhoods into civilian population centers in Israel violates international humanitarian law, is unacceptable, and has to stop immediately.”

*Israel makes a concerted effort to limit civilian casualties. The IDF engages in the practice of “roof knocking” to warn civilians prior to an attack on Hamas targets. In addition, before Israeli attacks, civilians receive phone calls advising them to evacuate. Israeli drones watch from above, and attacks are permitted only after it is confirmed that the building has been evacuated.

*Hamas demonstrates no respect for international humanitarian law designed to protect innocent civilians. Therefore, it is vital that Hamas be held accountable for its illegal actions in international forums and international courts of law. Without doing so, there will be no justice for those who have suffered from the grave human rights abuses committed by Hamas.

https://jcpa.org/article/hamas-human-rights-violations-in-the-2021-gaza-war/

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IDF: The largest explosion in the Gaza Strip - an Islamic Jihad weapons depot

An IDF spokesman in Arabic reveals that the explosion that took place earlier today in the Gaza Strip and caused deaths and injuries was caused by a malfunction in the Islamic Jihad's weapons depot. IDF in Arabic Lt. Col. Avichai Adrei.

News 20.

Thirteenth of Av 5781 (22/07/2021)

Lt. Col. Avichai Adraee, the IDF's spokesman in Arabic, reveals on his Twitter account that the explosion that took place earlier today in the Gaza Strip and caused deaths and injuries was caused by a malfunction in the Islamic Jihad's weapons depot.

"The explosion is further proof that the terrorist organizations prefer to continue their murderous activities over the interests of the residents of the Gaza Strip. "Instead of responding to UN calls for Gaza rehabilitation, terrorist organizations continue to manufacture weapons and promote the construction of military sites, storing their weapons in the heart of residential neighborhoods and among civilians, and exposing them directly to danger," Adraee wrote on his Twitter account.

https://www.20il.co.il/%D7%A6%D7%94%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A5-%D7%94%D7%92%D7%93%D7%95%D7%9C-%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%94-%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%A1%D7%9F-%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%A7-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%92/

https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_p?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.20il.co.il/%D7%A6%D7%94%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A5-%D7%94%D7%92%D7%93%D7%95%D7%9C-%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%94-%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%A1%D7%9F-%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%A7-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%92/

1 killed, 10 injured in explosion at Gaza City market

By Tzvi Joffre

July 22, 2021:

... after a weapons storage belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist movement at the Al-Zawiya market in Gaza City exploded on Thursday morning... The PIJ seemed to take some form of responsibility on Thursday evening, announcing that it would "rise up to its responsibilities" and follow up with all concerned parties concerning the explosion in the market. The terrorist movement expressed its "full solidarity" with those affected by the explosion.

The injured were transferred to Shifa Hospital in the coastal enclave. The Palestinian killed in the incident was identified by Palestinian media as Atta Saqallah.

"Instead of responding to UN calls for the reconstruction of Gaza, terrorist organizations continue to manufacture weapons and promote the construction of military sites," added Adraee. "These terrorist organizations store their weapons in the heart of residential neighborhoods and among civilians, exposing them directly to danger."

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/explosion-at-market-in-gaza-city-injuries-reported-674567

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Palestinians to Hamas: 'Stop Using Us as Human Shields!' - Janglo

27 Jul 2021 — In a rare rebuke, Palestinians and human rights organizations called on Hamas and other Gaza terror groups to stop storing weapons in civilian areas.

https://www.janglo.net/item/UIJoNJrTl0S

PA and Fatah Accuse Hamas of Using Human Shields

David Lange - Aug 3, 2021

Grab the popcorn, folks, The PA and Fatah are joining the chorus that is criticizing Hamas for doing what Israel has shown them to be doing for years: human rights abuses, including using their own civilians as human shields...

Of course, the PA and Fatah are no boy scouts themselves; they are people in glass houses – terrorists in suits to be more precise – who literally throw stones (and Molotov cocktails). Their criticism of Hamas here is to score political points. Nevertheless, it is always a positive development when terrorists organizations turn on each other..

https://www.israellycool.com/2021/08/03/pa-and-fatah-accuse-hamas-of-using-human-shields/

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Hamas prevents UN team from working near terror tunnel by school - report

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF - AUGUST 11, 2021

... "4,000 Palestinian kids can't go to school because of Hamas! The international community cannot ignore Hamas's heinous human rights violations & the state of terror it inflicts on Gazans. Hamas is a terror organization that uses innocents & children as hostages & human shields," wrote Erdan on Twitter.

At the end of May, UNRWA found what “appears to be a cavity and a possible tunnel, at the location of the missile strike,” the organization reported in June.

UNRWA said that the tunnel was not connected to the school. There is no “indication of the existence of any entry or exit points for the tunnel within the premises,” it added.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/hamas-prevents-un-team-from-working-near-terror-tunnel-by-school-report-676400

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Norwich University News Edition: Voices on Peace and War

Hamas and the war of narratives

... Hamas is a terrorist group that uses violence for power. Hamas was founded in 1987, and since 1989 they have killed both Palestinians and Israelis, conducted at least 83 suicide attacks, and indiscriminately fired over 13,500 rockets toward Israeli civilian targets. A specific example involves a Hamas suicide bomber who detonated himself on Bus 37 in Haifa in 2003. He killed 17 civilians including the 13-year-old daughter of the author’s close American friend living in Israel as she was on her way home from school. Hamas’ 1988 Charter, Article 8, identifies the Hamas slogan as: “Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.” The 2007 Battle of Gaza clearly demonstrated that Hamas does not represent all Palestinians then, nor does it in 2021.

That Mahmoud Abbas canceled the Palestinian Authority’s 2021 elections is a sign of Hamas’ troubling rise. Abbas was worried about Hamas’ ability to gain even more power, yet Hamas circumvented Abbas and projected its voice loud and clear through the May 2021 al-Quds Sword campaign. The campaign is the most recent example of Hamas’ continued use of asymmetric warfare to engineer hearts and minds.

Let’s be clear: There would have been no Palestinian fatalities in Gaza earlier this year if Hamas had not fired rockets toward Israeli civilian targets. In May 2021, Hamas fired over 4,000 rockets directly toward Israel’s cities, while they used civilians as human shields in Gaza. Using human shields is a practice they have operationalized as doctrine because it has been successful. Although the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system shot down 90 percent of the rockets, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) targeted Hamas’ military and missile sites to stop the constant rocket barrage...

By Travis Morris - August 11, 2021.

https://www.norwich.edu/news/voices-from-the-hill/peace-and-war/3288-hamas-and-the-war-of-narratives

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Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) Tweeted:

Hamas arrests 20-year-old Mustafa Asfour, from Khan Yunis, after he criticized Hamas for storing weapons in residential areas in the Gaza Strip.

https://twitter.com/KhaledAbuToameh/status/1424462364657737728

August 8, 2021

Hillel Neuer's tweet - "20-year-old Mustafa Asfour of Gaza did something our Western correspondents rarely do: He risked his life to call out Hamas for using Palestinians as human shields by storing bombs in residential areas. That’s a war crime under the Geneva Conventions that Ken Roth never mentions. " - Trendsmap

https://www.trendsmap.com/twitter/tweet/1424880984454012930

Aug 10, 2021

Hamas arrests Palestinian for criticizing the policy of storing weapons in residential centers.

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz

Aug 9, 2021

Israeli Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh tweeted on Sunday that Hamas arrested 20-year-old Mustafa Asfour, from Khan Yunis, after he criticized Hamas for storing weapons in residential areas in the Gaza Strip.

Explosions in houses

Critics of Hamas from its own citizens increased two weeks ago when an explosion in a house used to store weapons in a residential area [https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=349613619865288] in the center of Gaza City killed one and injured 14 others, including six children.

The IDF released a statement clarifying that it had not conducted any activity in the area.

“Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza views the explosion incident with grave seriousness, as there have been repeated incidents of internal explosions in houses in overcrowded residential neighborhoods for various reasons in the past, which resulted in the killing of a number of civilians and the destruction of homes and public and private properties,” a statement from the humanitarian NGO read. “Accordingly, Al-Mezan reiterates its call for a comprehensive and serious investigation into this incident and other similar events, to publish the results of the investigation publicly, and to take the necessary measures to ensure that it does not recur in order to preserve the lives and property of citizens.”

Palestinian writer Fadel Al-Manasfeh said it was clear that Hamas chooses popular markets as a safe place for its ammunition warehouses because it knows that Israel does not target such places. He also pointed out that a similar explosion took place in an open market in the Nuseirat refugee camp last year, killing more than 10 Palestinians and injuring dozens of others.

Hamas using human shields

Israel conducted an investigation [https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Pages/Hamas-attacks-from-civilian-population-areas-13-Jul-2014.aspx] after the 2014 Protective Edge incursion into Gaza and determined that Hamas positions its rocket launching sites, weapons caches, and command centers in areas surrounded by civilian buildings, and stores explosives and weapons in and around schools, mosques, residential homes and other civilian infrastructures. Hamas systematically exploits Palestinian civilians as human shields [https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Pages/Hamas-again-uses-Gazan-civilians-as-human-shields-July-2014.aspx] for military targets in Gaza.

Arresting Palestinian critics and media

Both Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah routinely jail critics. In June, Nizar Banat, a critic of the Palestinian Authority, died after being beaten and arrested by Palestinian security forces in his house in Hebron. Palestinian activist Rami Aman reported in April that he endured months of torture at the hands of Hamas after contacting Israeli left-wing “peace” activists. Hajar Harb, a Gazan journalist, was prosecuted by Hamas after he published an expose revealing that the terrorist organization arranged illegal medical transfers out of the Gaza Strip for people who did not need treatment.

According to the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms, a Ramallah-based NGO, in 2018 alone the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank were responsible for 77 attacks on media freedom during the year. These included arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment during interrogation, confiscation of equipment, physical assaults and bans on reporting. The Hamas authorities in Gaza were responsible for 37 such attacks.

https://www.israel365news.com/195802/hamas-arrests-palestinian-for-criticizing-the-policy-of-storing-weapons-in-residential-centers/

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The Israeli response to the terror of incendiary balloons...

Hamal, Aug 23, 2021

The Israeli response to the terror of incendiary balloons:

During the day, 9 fires broke out in the south following the blowing of balloons in a ravine.

A resident of Kerem Shalom said in response to the fires: "We replaced a government that did not respond properly and we got a government that does not respond at all."

During the night, the IDF began attacking Hamas targets in the Khan Yunis area:

"Fighter jets attacked a Hamas terrorist weapons production site in Khan Yunis, a terrorist tunnel shaft in Jabalya and an 'underground rocket launching station located in the heart of a civilian population in Shuja'iyya, near a school.

At the time of the attack, it was reported that machine gun fire was being fired at Israeli territory, for which the IDF also attacked a Hamas terrorist tunnel shaft in Khan Yunis.

https://www.hamal.co.il/post/-MhpDI7X0B0E7VhN2wRD

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Family of fallen Border Police officer urges commission of inquiry into death

Relatives demand 'rigorous, objective and independent investigation' after Barel Hadaria Shmueli was killed by Palestinian gunman on Gaza border

By TOI STAFF and JUDAH ARI GROSS 31 August 2021

The soldiers stationed on the border did not immediately open fire at the masses that suddenly attacked the fence, out of concern that they might hit civilians who were in the area, a military official said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/family-of-fallen-border-police-officer-urge-commission-of-inquiry-into-his-death/

Aside From Biden, Other US Lawmakers Should Be Investigated

Sep 1, 2021

Tzemach Yehudah Richter

... The disaster in Afghanistan, resulting in many Americans and those who helped America, being stranded behind enemy lines, has caught the world’s attention. What also needs to be emphasized is the cease-fire that has been broken many times by Israel’s enemies who are responsible for the murder of Israeli Border Policeman Barel Hadaria Shmueli.

Shmueli was wounded last Saturday night as Gaza rioters at a Hamas-run rally surged toward the security fence. In videos from the scene, rioters could be seen attempting to destroy and then snatch a soldier’s gun as it poked through a hole in the concrete wall. One man could then be seen running up to the wall, taking out a gun that had been tucked in his waistband and firing three shots through the hole at point-blank range. One of the rounds struck Shmueli in the head.

Thousands of mourners turned out on Monday night for his funeral. Shmueli, 21, was laid to rest at the Kiryat Shaul military cemetery in Tel Aviv.

“I promise, I will follow my son, Barel, I will follow in his wake, I can’t continue my life,” cried out his mother, Nitza Shmueli, at the funeral. “Everyone here must take responsibility for his little sister, whose king is no longer alive.”

Initial findings from the military’s investigation into the violence along the Gaza border on Saturday indicated that the troops were unprepared for the sudden rush of rioters toward the security fence. The soldiers stationed on the border did not immediately open fire at the masses that suddenly attacked the fence, out of concern that they might hit civilians who were in the area, a military official said.

Please remember this was a Hamas-run rally...

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/aside-from-biden-other-us-lawmakers-should-be-investigated/

Israelis mourn and Palestinians celebrate the murder of a young Israeli policeman

Aug 31, 2021 | Christians Against Anti-Semitism, News

[...]

Unfortunately, the lies and propaganda of Palestinian leaders and the media is nothing new and their latest method for Gaza terrorists to attack Israel is through the claimed ‘peaceful border protests’ which are really violent terrorist riots where Hamas and other terror groups use civilian protesters as human shields for actual terrorists to blend into crowds in plain clothes and carry out attacks, including shootings, bombings and attempts to cut through security barriers.

Their objective is to kill Israelis, whether that be Israeli soldiers defending the border or breaching the fence and killing civilians inside Israel. At the start of the riots in 2018, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar made it clear when he said, “We will take down the border (with Israel) and we will tear out their hearts from their bodies.”

Many parts of Western media still say these are civilian protests born out of frustration due to the ‘occupation’. The reality is they are a planned strategy of terror groups.

Hamas has disseminated maps from the various protests points in Gaza to the nearest Israeli towns and villages. Their intention is not to kindly greet their neighbours, their intention is to kill Jews. And Israeli soldiers continue to stop that from happening.

Barel Shmueli was one such soldier who gave his life defending the borders of Israel. Initial findings from the military’s investigation into the violence along the Gaza border found that soldiers stationed on the border did not immediately open fire at the masses that suddenly attacked the fence, out of concern that they might hit civilians who were in the area, a military official said.

Shmueli was more concerned with protecting Palestinians than Hamas terrorists were. The cowards hid behind those civilians and Shmueli’s life was cut short by the hatred of Israel that fuels this conflict.

This hatred is not limited to a small section of Palestinian society but appears much wider as demonstrated by the celebrations of the death of the Israeli.

https://www.cufi.org.uk/news/israelis-mourn-and-palestinians-celebrate-the-murder-of-a-young-israeli-policeman/

They Tied the Hands of the IDF

Matan Peleg | 30/08/2021

Barel Hadaria Shmueli was killed because they tied the hands of IDF soldiers. Now we must return to the starting point and understand how it happened.

The year 2018 was a turning point in the struggle to tie the hands of IDF soldiers and it began in March of that year when Hamas marches to the Gaza border border first appeared. Children, under the auspices of which terrorist operatives in civilian clothes approached the border fence...

Within less than a month of the first march, Yesh Din, together with the Association for Civil Rights, Adalah, Gisha and HaMoked, petitioned the High Court to ban IDF soldiers from firing on protesters approaching the fence (HCJ 3003/18) on the grounds that they do not constitute Danger to IDF soldiers.

The High Court rejected the petition and within a week another petition was filed by Adalah in cooperation with the Palestinian organization "Al-Mizan - for Human Rights in Gaza" against the Chief of Staff and the IDF personally (High Court 3250/18)

This time the petition detailed the list of "victims" who died during the riots, without mentioning the fact that a significant number of them were defined by terrorist organizations as activists for all intents and purposes.

At the same time as petitions were filed against Israel from within, international pressure also developed, often with the involvement of those very far-left organizations.

In May 2018, the UN Human Rights Council announced the establishment of a commission of inquiry against Israel, due to the fact that Hamas demonstrators were killed in the riots. D. Michael Sfarad...

The IDF has been educated to think in new terms such as "possible enemies" that are different from "immediate enemies" and therefore not every event of a "Turkish cavalry" (infiltration of the border fence) is necessarily a potential encounter with an immediate enemy, but perhaps only a "possible enemy".

Many questions arise when one thinks of this smokescreen that surrounds IDF soldiers with European funding and through terrorist and propaganda organizations seeking to exploit the weakness of the State of Israel in operating its soldiers. Probably in the context of the undercover fighter by an armed terrorist who arrived under the auspices of possible enemies on the fence on August 21, 2021.

An IDF investigation following the shooting even revealed that a few minutes before the terrorist fired through the slit in the fence, another IDF sniper in the unit was forced to use his pistol to fire from zero range at another terrorist who tried to snatch his weapon, thus thwarting the possible or immediate threat, depends who is being asked.

https://mida.org.il/2021/08/30/%D7%A7%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%95-%D7%9C%D7%A6%D7%94%D7%9C-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%93%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D/

Soldier's father to Bennett: "Coward, come see him"

"They are approaching the fence, where do you live?" The father shouted in the conversation. "Yes shoot, no shoot, what is it, you do not know how to make decisions? Are you afraid? Who are you afraid of? Wake up, you are a coward, do something, throw them off the field for another mile."

Father of Barel later called on Bennett to come and visit the hospital: "Let's see you, come. We do not do pogroms as we and our soldiers do. Come see you, be a man. What world do you live in? Wake up our children go. Take responsibility."

Aug 23, 2021

https://m.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-444407-00.html

Fight, Damn it! | The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com | Vic Rosenthal

Sep 2, 2021

IDF St. Sgt. Bar-El Hadaria Shmueli, 21, wounded in action August 21, 2021...

Jewish Israelis (with some exceptions) understand that they have an obligation to pay a price for the existence of the state, and that part of that price is that some of our children will lose their lives. Nothing demonstrates more conclusively how important the state is to the Jewish people.

So you can imagine the anger when a young life ends because somebody in authority was incompetent or lazy. War is war and soldiers die, but one of the things a good military organization does is analyze its defeats and failures, learn lessons from them, and make changes so that future outcomes will be better. When a preventable casualty occurs, it is because someone failed to do their job.

There are micro- and macro-failures. For example, if a soldier dies because his weapon wasn’t properly maintained, that is a micro-failure. If many lives are lost because an enemy that could be defeated is allowed to continue to re-arm, over and over, and the result is an unnecessary war, that is a macro-failure. They are both the result of someone not doing their job.

The tragic death of Border Police 1st Sgt. Barel Hadaria Shmueli, z”l, traumatized the entire nation, because it was unnecessary, a combination of micro- and macro-failures. Shmueli, a sniper, was placed at a slit in a wall that forms part of the border between Israel and Gaza. The slit was improperly located (too low) and inadequately surveilled by cameras on the Gaza side. The location was known to be dangerous. Sniper weapons are carefully adjusted to fit the individual, and for some reason he was not using his personal weapon. It jammed several times at critical moments. There is a buffer zone along the border that is supposed to be clear of Arab “demonstrators” (i.e., Hamas fighters and human shields), and somehow a number of them were allowed to enter it and come up against the wall, where they could not be seen by the defenders. They attempted to grab Shmueli’s weapon from outside, and in the struggle one of them placed a pistol up to the slit and fired; the bullet struck Shmueli’s head (information from a Hebrew article in Israel Hayom, 1 September).

These are some of the micro-failures, which the IDF promises to deal with. There is also an ongoing macro-failure...

https://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/abu-yehuda/fight-damn-it/2021/09/02/

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Hamas building 'thousands of rockets' as tensions rise again

James Rothwell, Sunday Telegraph-UK

Hamas is building thousands of rockets and has resumed work on its tunnel network in Gaza, IDF spokesman Lt.-Col. Amnon Shefler said. "They continue to manufacture thousands of rockets and upgrade their offensive capabilities, including rocket ranges and underground tunnels, attack UAVs [and] naval forces."

"Furthermore, they continue to deliberately position these in close proximity to civilians in order to use them as human shields, knowing that the IDF adheres both to our morals and to the rule of international law."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/09/26/hamas-building-thousands-rockets-tensions-rise/

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Fatah mocks Hamas for using children as human shields when attacking Israel

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik | Oct 6, 2021

During Hamas’ war against Israel in May, Israel condemned Hamas for using civilians as human shields. During the war, the PA and Fatah supported Hamas’ terror campaign and even encouraged Palestinians and Israeli Arabs to riot against Israeli civilians.

However, a few months later, Fatah is acknowledging that the Hamas war tactic was immoral because they used civilians including children as human shields.

A striking example of this is Fatah’s posting the above cartoon on the official website of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture. Accompanying the cartoon showing Hamas using an infant as a shield, are the words "Without explanation." [Website of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Aug. 29, 2021]

Similar criticism was expressed by Fatah in this cartoon depicting a man with “Hamas” written on him making a “V” for victory with one hand, while putting his other hand around the shoulders of a man with “The Palestinian people” written on him. The “Hamas” man is holding a target over the other man’s heart.:

Text: “The heart of the issue – their target!”

[Website of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Aug. 1, 2021]

Palestinian Media Watch has reported on harsh PA and Fatah criticism of Hamas’ use of civilian areas to store explosives and weapons. Hamas does this knowing that Israel goes to great lengths to protect Palestinian civilians and refrain from bombing such areas.

https://palwatch.org/page/29206

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On animals and young terrorists

Throughout human history, children and adolescents aged 8-18 have been educated, brainwashed and trained to bear arms and fight in the first line the wars of the adults.

Col. (Res.) Tal Brown, 4 Tevet 5782 . 08.12.21

There is no single species in the entire animal kingdom that allows its tender offspring to die in spite of their souls in order to protect the adult herd. This law of nature applies as stated to all wild animals, but unfortunately does not apply to every human being wherever they are.

Throughout human history, children and adolescents aged 8-18 have been educated, brainwashed and trained to bear arms and fight in the first line the wars of the adults, especially in the Asian and African continents. The same is true in modern times and in recent decades as can be learned from the Vietnam War, in which children fought and even exploded over American forces; From the Iran-Iraq war in which children worked their way through the minefields; In Afghanistan where the first American fighter was shot and killed in January 2002 by a 14-year-old boy; In Liberia, Africa, where cruel President Charles Taylor, who came to power in 1999, used some 15,000 children in his wars;

In Sierra Leone where about two thousand children fought many of whom did not cross the first decade of their lives but participated in horrific atrocities; In Sri Lanka where the rebel army, dubbed the "Tamil Tigers" that fought to establish an independent state in the Tamil regions, did not hesitate to recruit and send boys and girls aged 9-15 to the front while showering praise on their parents; This was also the case in the first Lebanon war with the appearance of the "RPG children" aged 10-12 who fired on IDF forces; in the Ethiopian-Eritrean wars; in southern Sudan until a few years ago; in Cambodia, Colombia and more. Shocking? Depends on whom Ask, when and where.

The situation in our districts (M.E.)

It turns out that the law of nature, which protects and protects the lives of young offspring of animals in the herd, does not apply to humans in the Middle East and does not necessarily apply to all our Arab neighbors in the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria.

For almost three decades, and even more so since the first uprising (intifada) in the second half of the 1980s until now, a significant number of Arabs in those areas have been sending their young people and even their young children to confront IDF soldiers at the forefront of the struggle in Israel. Rocks against soldiers in conflict zones, have been a common sight in the "territories" since the 1980s, on which, unfortunately, generations of terrorists still grow. Upgraded to a "Mashtuba" car for trampling and terrorist attacks. (Mashtuba: Arabic for “erased” because the vehicles have no license plates).

Since the second uprising in 2000, the use and exploitation of children and adolescents by most terrorist organizations (Fatah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) has increased for terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, soldiers, and military targets. And these boys, many of whom were apprehended by security forces before carrying out the attack, ranged in age from 11 to 17.

It is clear that the terrorist organizations are taking advantage of the innocent appearance of the children and teenagers, which does not arouse suspicion, in order to assimilate more easily in crowded places. On the other hand, these children and adolescents are perceived among their trainees, who systematically wash their brains, as comfortable to influence and as an easy site for terrorist organizations for the purpose of recruiting them as terrorists and even as suicide bombers.

In this way, from July 2002, the Islamic Association in Gaza began operating the "Al-Aqsa Intifada's Martyrs' Camp. The Hamas organization also holds similar camps in which children are taught about Islam and jihad against Israel, with images of the martyrs standing out from all sides. The political guidance, in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority's Youth Ministry, also holds summer camps whose goals include inciting children, recruiting them for propaganda activities and instructing them in the use of weapons to carry out future terrorist activities against Israel. This is exactly how the seeds of hatred and calamity against Israel are being planted in their minds and hearts from infancy.

https://www.inn.co.il/news/534070

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Gaza Conflict 2021 - Jonathan Schanzer - Armin Lear Press, Nov 10, 2021

The May 2021 conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas generated headlines around the world. However, much of the reporting ignored the history, funding, political dynamics, and other key components of the story. Hamas initiates conflict every few years. But the reporting rarely improves. Social media has only further clouded the picture. Hamas is rarely held responsible for its use of "human shields," blindly firing rockets at civilian areas in Israel, or diverting aid that should benefit the people of Gaza.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism, has been the primary patron of Hamas since the group's inception in the late 1980s. Hamas has received additional assistance over the years from Qatar, Turkey and Malaysia. These countries are fomenting conflict, while others, such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, have tried to minimize it. Gaza is therefore ground zero in a struggle for the future stability of the Middle East.

The Biden administration has important choices to make. Its intent to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal could have significant consequences, given that sanctions relief to Iran will likely yield a financial boon for Hamas, along with other Iranian proxies. The Biden administration must also come to terms with "The Squad," a small but loud faction of the Democratic Party that seeks to undermine the US-Israel relationship.

https://books.google.com/books/about/Gaza_Conflict_2021.html?id=6CiczgEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description

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Multiple deaths caused by explosion in Lebanon Palestinian camp - The Jerusalem Post

By JPost Staff, Dec 10, 2021

A security source confirmed the explosion, which took place at a Hamas weapons depot, but did not provide further details.

[https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/t_JM_ArticleMainImageFaceDetect/476485]

The explosion took place at a Hamas weapons depot and a judge had ordered security forces to launch an investigation, the state-run National News Agency reported.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/explosions-heard-in-lebanon-injuries-reported-688434

Explosion rocks Hamas weapons depot in Lebanon

Large explosion rocks Hamas weapons depot in Palestinian Arab camp in port city of Tyre.

Elad Benari, Canada

10.12.21

A large explosion rocked a Palestinian Arab camp in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Friday night, Reuters reported.

The explosion took place at a reported weapons depot belonging to Hamas terrorist organization, which maintains a presence in a number of Palestinian Arab camps in Lebanon, a PA source said.

...

Lebanese residents who are registered as “Palestinian refugees” and their descendants who were born in that country reside in residential neighborhoods known as "refugee camps", have limited work options and are refused citizenship.

Lebanon refuses to naturalize the “Palestinian refugees” and has stressed the need to work for their return to their country of origin, which Palestinian Arabs claim is Israel.

Late last year, Lebanese authorities launched a crackdown on foreign workers, including people registered as “Palestinian refugees”.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318451

Hamas source says weapons cache that exploded in southern Lebanon was ‘for defense’

Source from terror group confirms to Lebanese outlet that explosion was caused by fire; arms depot in mosque detonated after fireball engulfed building in refugee camp

By TOI Staff and Agencies, Dec 11, 2021

... The fire ignited some of the weapons that appeared to have been stored inside the mosque, residents said...

The decision to establish the Lebanon branch was made in 2014 after another Gaza war that summer...The terror group decided that a new branch would be formed and that it would be subservient to Hamas leadership.

Training for the fighters is being provided by unnamed Iranian actors and members are currently focused on building additional homemade rockets with a range of dozens of kilometers, the report said.

The Shiite Hezbollah terror group, which controls much of southern Lebanon, is aware of the Sunni branch’s operations and has given them a green light. However, Hezbollah has veto power over the Hamas branch’s activities, according to the report.

Lebanon is home to tens of thousands of Palestinian... Many live in the 12 .. camps that are scattered around the small Mediterranean country.

By longstanding agreement, the Lebanese army does not enter the camps, leaving security inside to Palestinian factions.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-says-weapons-cache-that-exploded-in-southern-lebanon-was-for-defense/

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Kids as Human Shields: Evolution of Hamas’ War on Israel

Douglas Blair / @DouglasKBlair / December 23, 2021

The conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas goes back decades. But earlier this year, an 11-day conflict between the two brought the eyes of the world back to the Middle East, where Hamas has resorted to using children in its campaign to destroy Israel.

"Hamas uses human shields on a regular basis," terrorism expert Jonathan Schanzer says. “They actually send kids to the border fence with Israel and militants hide behind them."

Schanzer, senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies and author of “Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and 11 Days of War,” has detailed the terrorist group’s ongoing campaign to obliterate the Jewish state.

Schanzer joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to break down those 11 days of conflict and discuss how America should be involved.

Palestinian children routinely are used as human shields to protect Palestinian militants as they try to kill Israelis.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/12/23/kids-as-human-shields-evolution-of-hamas-war-on-israel/

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My Israel MyIsrael (@MyIsraelorgil) Tweeted:

Note this, it's important:

"In the school area."

Arabs deliberately throw stones at Jewish vehicles near schools. Human Shield. Is the person who threw stones and wounded a woman a student from this school? In any case, this is the reality. Arab boys try to murder. Monsters who try to murder innocent women.

Just do not complain when they are the ones who will get hurt in the end.

Feb 28, 2022.

https://twitter.com/MyIsraelorgil/status/1498296426413142018

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10 burned synagogues and property

crimes: the damage of the riots.

Liran Levi, Walla! 16/05/2021.

From the data received regarding the riots in the cities involved, it appears that out of 28 mosques, piles of stones and Molotov cocktails were prepared, and in 22 houses of prayer the believers were excited to go out and harm the Jews. 10 synagogues were burned, with property owned by Jews being damaged at higher rates than those of Arabs.

https://news.walla.co.il/item/3435868

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Schools, mosques and even hospitals:

The IDF reveals to the world - Hamas infrastructure in the heart of the civilian population in Gaza

The image of an ammunition depot belonging to a terrorist organization located next to a clinic or school is not new to Israelis, and to the world? For years, terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip have been using civil, religious, and humanitarian buildings as human shields. But how common is it?

27.07.22

Adi Keller and Yuval Tal

It's no secret to us that the Gaza Strip is an uneasy section. Some of the challenges encountered by commanders in the field revolve around the question of how to operate in such a civilian and complex area. The terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, led by 'Hamas', take advantage of the civilian route to determine the rules of warfare themselves.

[https://youtu.be/zT2cndq_Xbc]

After the 'Guardian of the Walls' operation, for example, during which an underground terror tunnel of Hamas was attacked, an entrance shaft leading to an entire network, located under the Islamic University, was exposed. The university has about 20,000 students, and is a center of political, social, and cultural power. The main headquarters of UNRWA in the Middle East is also located near the tunnels.

[https://youtu.be/qnIi-Xgu_1E]

It is also exposed to manufacturing and repairing Hamas weapons, located in a building used for residences and other civilian needs. The site is intended for terrorist activity and funded infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip, and 45 meters from a mosque, 55 meters from UNRWA clinic and 60 meters from the Shifa Hospital, the central and important hospital in the Gaza Strip The patients are treated every thousand patients and employs about 1,000 employees.

[https://www.idf.il/media/kwmnusyb/991fb206-810e-4e63-9a61-b11554ae3e2e.png?width=500&height=280.9375]

Over the years, the hospital and its surroundings were used for terrorist needs: January 2009, during Operation Cast Lead, the GSS revealed that Senior Hamas officials take advantage of the hospital to a hiding place. In 2014, during Operation Tzuk Eitan, Report in Washington Post that hospital offices are used as a primary headquarters of Hamas, and the organization's activists were observed in the corridors of the hospital. The production site contains explosives and flammable materials, which may flare And explode, all at the time being unbeated in the building.

[https://www.idf.il/media/uwglfkqs/9b7cec3c-96c3-4688-8b72-9128f6931bd1.png?width=500&height=280.9375]

Another case is the Hamas ammunition depot located inside the "Al-Shahid" mosque - a mosque where sports classes, first aid courses, children's activities and youth movement activities are held. The warehouse is hidden in the heart of a civilian neighborhood and next to a public library financed by a German bank.

[https://www.idf.il/media/uwglfkqs/9b7cec3c-96c3-4688-8b72-9128f6931bd1.png?width=500&height=280.9375]

What is less known is that in addition to the warehouses and training bases of those organizations, underground networks are also being built within the various neighborhoods in the Strip. The tunnels pass under buildings necessary for the civilian way of life, knowing that attacking those targets would be provocative. If the tunnels collapse, hospitals, mosques, universities or factories will also collapse with them.

[https://www.idf.il/%D7%90%D7%AA%D7%A8%D7%99-%D7%99%D7%97%D7%99%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%93-%D7%94%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9D/%D7%9B%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA/2022/%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%95%D7%90%D7%99-%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%AA-%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A8-%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%97%D7%AA-%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%97%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%AA%D7%99-%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8-%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%A8%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%90%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D/]

The route of a terrorist tunnel under the school complex and medical buildings.

A recent example is the underground terror tunnel of Hamas in the Tapah neighborhood of Gaza City. The tunnel is used for the storage of explosives and for the movement of Hamas terrorist operatives, and is located near the "Pepsi" factory operating under franchise, and the UNRWA "Drag" elementary school, which in an emergency is used as a declared shelter for 2,500 people.

Also located, an war-material warehouse and a terrorist tunnel shaft were located in the homes of two of the organization's operatives. The first is Mahmoud Salah Muhammad Abu Ali - an operative in the Hamas production system, on the roof of his house a war-material warehouse was discovered. And it's not just his house that he poor - the house is surrounded by other residences and is located next to the UNRWA clinic, which is across the road and provides medical care to about 15 thousand people.

The second activist is Omer Oni Ooch of Hisan, an activist of the terrorist organization Hamas and in charge of training in the Shujaiyya battalion, whose house has a tunnel shaft 60 meters away from a school with about 20 classes and is used as a shelter for refugees during an emergency, and 30 meters away from a mosque.

The locations where the infrastructures were discovered present a difficult and sad picture of the situation, where exploitation and inhumanity are a course of action. The enemy hides under the noses of innocent people the infrastructure for the next war, thus putting them, against their will, at the front of the next campaign. Commanders from all the units associated with the sector are dealing with the dilemmas that the situation creates. They operate with the knowledge that if they do not act - those places will be used for terrorism. This is how the surgical and pinpoint strikes that the IDF is identified with were created.

https://www.idf.il/71814/

IDF unveils Hamas sites to be targeted in future Gaza conflicts

By Anna Ahronheim, July 27, 2022

... Among the sites disclosed to journalists on Wednesday was a tunnel used to store weapons and and move fighters in Gaza City's Tuffah neighborhood next to a now-closed Pepsi factory that closed following last year’s war as well as close to a UNRWA elementary school which is used as an emergency shelter for some 2,500 people in times of hostilities.

Another tunnel used by Hamas in the Zabara neighborhood of Gaza City identified by the IDF on Wednesday is under a UNWRA school and a central ambulance center with 14 ambulances as well as a medical equipment storage complex. The tunnel also runs under a church and schools that are used as shelters during hostilities.

Another site is a tunnel entry shaft that was exposed during last year’s conflict near the al-Azar university in Gaza City which has about 20,000 students. According to the IDF, the tunnel entry shaft leads to a network of subterranean tunnels that branches throughout the Tel-Hawa area southwest of Gaza City and is also close to a police station, a UNWRA school, medical clinic, mosque, a community center and UNRWA’s headquarters in the area.

According to the IDF, Hamas has a munition production facility located in a building that is also used as a residential building. The site, which contains explosives and flammable material that would cause extreme damage should it explode, is 45 meters from a mosque, 55 meters from a UNRWA clinic that is used as a triage and primary screening center, and 60 meters from Shifa hospital.

Shifa is considered the blockaded enclave’s main hospital and treats thousands of patients daily. But it has also been used by the terror group for years, including in the 2009 Operation Cast Lead, when senior Hamas officials hid in the building. It also used the hospital in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge as its main headquarters.

The IDF also shared the location of a munition warehouse used by Hamas inside the al-Shahid Mosque in the Bureij refugee camp, in the heart of a civilian neighborhood and next to a public library funded by Germany’s KfW bank. The mosque serves as a community center, providing first aid courses and activities for local children.

Another mosque identified by the IDF as an ammunition depot was the Abdullah Azzam Mosque in the Nuseirat refugee camp. According to the army, the mosque is an important part of the camp, is surrounded by residential homes and is just 86 m. from the offices of UNRWA’s North Nuseirat relief and social services.

"An explosion, an accident or even a fire in the warehouse could result in injuries to civilians, from worshipers in the mosque to people who come to receive humanitarian aid," the IDF said.

Following a Wednesday tour of the Gaza Division, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said, "Hamas fires from within the civilian population and into the civilian population – the world should charge Hamas a price for its crimes."

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/article-713227

Benny Gantz on Twitter:

"The IDF has revealed today new examples that demonstrate just how much Hamas endangers Palestinian civilians. Hamas launches attacks from within population centers towards population centers. The whole world must see this crime against humanity.

https://t.co/Bawn7iqvsu" / Twitter

July 27, 2022

https://twitter.com/gantzbe/status/1552358673317502976

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AbuAliEnglish @AbuAliEnglishB1n Tweeted:

Media outlets in Gaza realized that it's probably not a good idea to publish clips of rockets being launched from the heart of civilian areas... They began blurring out the lower part so as to hide the truth. You have both versions of the same clip. Share it with the world!

Aug 6, 2022

https://twitter.com/AbuAliEnglishB1/status/1555857839305986048

AbuAliEnglish @AbuAliEnglishB1 Tweeted:

They did fire rockets at other targets, attached are pictures showing once again rockets being fired from civilian areas at civilian areas. In the #West_Bank, the operatives of PIJ military wing in #Jenin claim that they fired at #IDF targets at precisely 9:00...

Aug 6, 2022

https://twitter.com/AbuAliEnglishB1/status/1555987140693168128

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The children who were killed in Jabaliya - as a result of Jihad shooting

Tal Marciano, Srugim news, 06.08.22

Contrary to the Palestinian publications regarding the killing of the children in Jabaliya, it appears that the IDF did not attack in Jabaliya and the deaths are the result of failed shooting by the Islamic Jihad...

after an investigation it was reported that there had been no attack by the IDF in Jabaliya since 18:51 and the deaths there were the result of failed shooting by the Islamic Jihad organization.

https://www.srugim.co.il/?p=698351

Deadly blast in Jabaliya 'unequivocally' a failed Islamic Jihad rocket — officials

Emanuel Fabian, The Times of Israel, Aug 6, 2022

An explosion that rocked the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, killing at least four children, was a failed Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket launch, officials say.

According to a military official, the Israel Defense Forces did not conduct any airstrike in the area at the time of the blast.

The official says the IDF detected the launch on its radar systems and saw it land in the area.

"We have videos that prove beyond any doubt that this is not an Israeli attack. It has been unequivocally proven that it was a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch," another Israeli official says.

According to the IDF, some 90 rockets fell short in the Gaza Strip since Friday.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/deadly-blast-in-jabaliya-unequivocally-a-failed-islamic-jihad-rocket-officials/

Lapid's spokesperson stresses it was Palestinian rocket fire that killed Gazan kids

Aug 6, 2022

Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s international spokesperson, Keren Hajioff, releases an English-language video statement stressing that an explosion that killed several Gazans tonight, including children, was caused by a rocket fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group that misfired and landed inside the Strip.

"Tonight, Islamic Jihad terrorists fired a rocket towards Israel which fell short inside Gaza, hitting a Palestinian home in the Jabaliya neighborhood and tragically killing at least four children," she says. “There is video documenting the entire thing. There was no Israeli activity in the Gaza Strip, in that area or at that time.

"Islamic Jihad is killing Palestinian children in Gaza. One in four rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel – lands inside the Gaza Strip," Hajioff adds. "The world should be outraged at this terrorist group targeting innocent Israelis and killing innocent Gazans. Israel will continue to stand up to this vicious terrorist organization – which threatens Israelis and Palestinians alike."

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/lapids-spokesperson-stresses-it-was-palestinian-rocket-fire-that-killed-gazan-kids/

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Watch | "Right now there is a human being within 60 meters - stop stop"

Noa Magid, Aug 7, 2022

During the attack on a naval ammunition warehouse in the house of a terrorist, it was identified a non-involved [person] in the attack range. Following the identification, the plane stopped.

The attack was carried out later when there was no threat of harm to civilians, which were in the area.

https://www.0404.co.il/?p=830018

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IDF spokesman: Operation "Dawn" "I saw children running in the trees - cancel the attack"

MivzakLive, August 7, 2022 | 20:22

During the foiling of Khaled Mansour last night, children were identified in the area of the attack and therefore the attack was postponed several times. Later, when the children were not present in the area, the attack was successfully carried out and the Palestinian official was foiled.

https://www.mivzaklive.co.il/archives/596165

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Lt. Col. Richard Hecht on Twitter:

"Another tragedy in the Gaza Strip today.

Weapons stored unsafely in the house of a member of a Palestinian terrorist group exploded and killed a young child in the vicinity.

These are the sad consequences of militarizing civilian areas for terrorist activity.

https://t.co/9AUT2TwAhn" / Twitter

Aug 23, 2022

https://twitter.com/LtColRichard/status/1562107460994977792

The IDF spokesman to the foreign media revealed the cause of the explosion today in Gaza

News 0404, 08/23/2022

Earlier today (Tuesday) it was reported in Gaza about an explosion for unknown reasons inside a house. According to the reports, the explosion resulted in deaths, including a child, and many injuries on the spot.

The Arabs tried to hide the cause of the explosion and some even claimed that it was an assassination attributed to Israel, but the IDF spokesman for foreign media revealed in a tweet on Twitter that it was weapons that were stored insecurely in a terrorist's house, exploded and resulted in the death of a child and other casualties.

The IDF spokesman for foreign media said: "Another tragedy in the Gaza Strip today. Weapons stored unsafely in the house of a member of a Palestinian terrorist group exploded and killed a young child in the vicinity.

These are the sad consequences of militarizing civilian areas for terrorist activity."

https://www.0404.co.il/?p=832819

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[journalist covering the Middle East Makor Rishon]

Assaf Gibor @assafgibor:

Sep 28, 2022

Operatives in Jenin shoot at IDF forces and then flee into a school, so that the children will act as a human shield.

https://twitter.com/assafgibor/status/1575067223088996352

For those who were not clear, operatives = terrorist operatives in the various organizations.

https://twitter.com/assafgibor/status/1575076997167869952

For those who were not clear, operatives = terrorist operatives in the various organizations.

https://twitter.com/assafgibor/status/1575076997167869952

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Exchange of fire in Jenin: terrorists shot from behind an ambulance

10/14/22 | Idan Yosef

Palestinian militants took cover near an ambulance of the Red Crescent and fired from there at our forces

[https://www.news1.co.il/uploadimages/NEWSY20154bd7e5b148478590010e8c0c0c916a.jpg]

Palestinian terrorists opened fire and detonated an explosive device at IDF and IDF forces who were operating (Friday, 14.10.22) in Jenin to arrest a Hamas operative suspected of having carried out shooting attacks against the security forces. The forces returned fire. According to reports, two or three Palestinians were killed. The armed men took cover near the Red Crescent ambulance and from there fired at the troops. The troops left the refugee camp in the city under heavy fire, unharmed.

The Jenin Battalion in the military arm of the Islamic Jihad announced that it was the one that fired at the IDF forces. https://www.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-460028-00.html

The terrorists fired beside an ambulance in Jenin, a Palestinian doctor killed: "An Fatah man who fought with us"

Exchanging fire in Jenin: Undercover entered the refugee camp, arrested Hamas operator and fired to death at a terrorist. Armed men were documented firing near Ambulance, Dr. Abdullah Ahmed was killed. The IDF is interrogated, yet it is not yet clear who has hit the doctor - and has been suspected that he also shot himself. In the past, he was documented carrying weapon along with armed men. The Palestinians: "Man Fatah man, was killed by gunfire."

Yoav Zeitun, Elisha Ben Kimon, Einav Halabi, Itamar Eichner and Meir Turgeman | Updated: 14/10/2022.

https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/ryuduo87o

[International Human Rights Lawyer]

Arsen Ostrovsky @Ostrov_A:

Oct 14, 2022

#Palestinian terrorists in #Jenin today, firing at Israelis, while using an ambulance as a shield. This is gross war crime! Where is the outrage by all those who don’t waste breath to condemn Israel & profess to care so much about international law?[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfBS5WAWAAAEl67?format=jpg&name=360x360]

https://twitter.com/Ostrov_A/status/1580854649049223168

Palestinian terrorists use old lady and ambulance as human shields in shootout as human shields in shootout with IDF

Oct 16, 2022 — In a shootout with the IDF in Jenin, Palestinian terrorists shot wildly from behind a Red Crescent ambulance as an old woman fled for safety. Two Palestinians were killed, including a doctor who was killed by the IDF while he was firing an automatic weapon at IDF troops...

Dr. Dr. Abdullah Abu Tin, who was killed in this shootout posted several photos of himself on social media posing with automatic weapons...

[The terrorists shoot under the protection of elders and ambulances at our fighters..

(pic.twitter.com/K0NwEa3qNz)

— Hallel Bitton Rosen (@BittonRosen) October 14, 2022

https://twitter.com/BittonRosen/status/1580803110838358018]

In this video of the same incident, a Red Crescent medic can be seen removing the body of Dr. Abu Tin from the scene with his rifle still on him...

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades terror group claimed Abu Tin as a member.

https://www.israel365news.com/275569/palestinian-terrorists-use-old-lady-and-ambulance-as-human-shields-in-shootout-with-idf/

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Yoseph Haddad @YosephHaddad:

Yahya Sinwar does not dare to go out into a public area without children next to him... who needs bodyguards anyway? This is his insurance that the IDF will not try to assassinate him... For the Hamas terrorists, the children of Gaza are a human shield!

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd_oXUBXEAEUvMz?format=jpg&name=small]

Oct 1, 2022

https://twitter.com/YosephHaddad/status/1576233884660142080

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UNRWA discovers terrorist tunnel under Gaza school

UNRWA explained that a "man-made cavity" was identified underneath the school grounds.

By Jerusalem Post Staff

Published: December 1, 2022

[(TOP) A fighter from the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, is seen inside an underground tunnel, in Gaza, August 18, 2014.]

A tunnel was discovered under a United Nations school in Gaza, according to a Tuesday announcement from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

UNRWA explained that a "man-made cavity" was identified underneath the school grounds. The area was sectioned off and the tunnel was sealed, the agency said.

"The Agency protested strongly to the relevant authorities in Gaza to express outrage and condemnation of the presence of such a structure underneath one of its installations," said UNRWA in the Tuesday press release. "The presence of a man-made cavity underneath the grounds of an UNRWA school is a serious violation of the Agency’s neutrality and a breach of international law. Moreover, it exposes children and Agency staff to significant security and safety risks."

Tunnels and weapons continue to be found despite UNRWA objections

Tunnels and underground weapons caches belonging to Gazan terrorist groups have previously been discovered under or in close proximity to UNRWA schools.

In 2017, a tunnel was discovered under The Maghazi Elementary Boys A&B School and the Maghazi Preparatory Boys School, which are located on the same premises. The UNRWA Zaitoun Preparatory Boys’ School “A” and Elementary Boys’ School “A” was damaged during the 2021 Operation Guardians of the Wall after a “appears to be a cavity and a possible tunnel" was hit by an IDF missile strike near the school. UNRWA said that the tunnel was "approximately 7.5 meters below the surface of the school."

In 2014, a stockpile of 20 rockets were found in an UNRWA school that had been closed for the summer.

Tunnel systems have been built throughout Gaza by the ruling Hamas terrorist organization. The system is used to store and transport munition, serve as bunkers and command and control centers for terrorist officers, and allow safe passage for gunmen who might otherwise be targeted by Israeli air forces during open conflict.

"The presence of a man-made cavity underneath the grounds of an UNRWA school is a serious violation of the Agency’s neutrality and a breach of international law."

UNRWA

UNRWA has established several schools throughout Gaza and the West Bank, including one girls' school in Beit Anan which recently inaugurated a new community vegetable garden.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/gaza-news/article-723788

UNRWA finds tunnel underneath one of its Gaza schools

Agency tasked with helping "Palestinian refugees" condemns tunnel found underneath one of its schools, but makes no mention of Hamas.

Elad Benari, Dec 1, 2022

UNRWA, the UN agency tasked with helping “Palestinian refugees”, announced it found a tunnel underneath one of its schools in the Gaza Strip, condemning it as a "neutrality breach", i24NEWS reported on Wednesday.

In a statement, UNRWA did not mention specifically mention Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and has dug many tunnels used for terrorist operations and leading from Gaza to Israeli territory.

"The presence of a man-made cavity underneath the grounds of an UNRWA school is a serious violation of the Agency’s neutrality and a breach of international law. Moreover, it exposes children and Agency staff to significant security and safety risks," it added.

This is not the first time that a tunnel has been discovered underneath an UNRWA installation. In June of 2021, UNRWA admitted it revealed a tunnel beneath one of its schools that armed terrorist groups utilized during a round of fighting with Israel the previous month.

Hamas later prevented UN experts from operating in the area of the tunnel shaft, reportedly removing the UN personnel from the scene.

During the 2014 counterterrorism Operation Protective Edge, Hamas rockets were discovered inside a school building run by UNRWA.

Likewise, a booby-trapped UNRWA clinic was detonated, killing three IDF soldiers. Aside from the massive amounts of explosives hidden in the walls of the clinic, it was revealed that it stood on top of dozens of terror tunnels, showing how UNRWA is closely embedded with Hamas.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/363733_

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IDF exposes Hamas, Islamic Jihad rocket launch sites near Gaza schools

The IDF revealed the location of at least three schools that have rocket launch sites stationed next to them.

By Yonah Jeremy Bob, Jerusalem Post December 14, 2022

The IDF on Wednesday exposed three new school locations that Hamas has been recently using as rocket launch sites, violating the laws of war about keeping war-related issues away from civilian areas.

A statement by the IDF said, "Hamas exposed: This is how the Hamas terrorist organization uses schools and education to promote its terrorist agenda. Additional instances of Hamas deliberately using children as human shields are now being exposed."

"This exposure comes approximately two weeks after UNRWA reported that the ground of one of its schools had collapsed. The collapse was caused by the construction of a Hamas terrorist tunnel," said the IDF.

Where were the rocket launch sites found?

The first location listed by the IDF is adjacent to the Mo'ath Bin Jabal school in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City.

Near the school, which is used by UNRWA as a shelter during emergencies, is a Hamas rocket launch site, according to the IDF.

In addition, the IDF stated that "prior to Operation Guardian of the Walls, the school’s principal, Mehammed Abu Oun, maintained contact with an operative in the Hamas rocket array, Jalal Abu Aoun," who the IDF said was managing the firing of rockets from the site.

Hamas stationed a second rocket launch site near the Khalil Al Nobani school in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, said the IDF.

No additional information was provided regarding the firing of rockets from that location.

Finally, the IDF said that "terrorist organizations stationed rocket launch sites near the Al-Furqan elementary school" which is also located in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

It said that "Terrorist organizations launched rockets from the sites near the school throughout Operations Guardian of the Walls and Breaking Dawn, thereby endangering the lives of the students and residents of the Gaza Strip."

The use of the phrase "terror organizations" and referring also to Operation Breaking Dawn, which was fought strictly between the IDF and Islamic Jihad, suggested that this third sight might have been used more by Islamic Jihad – though this would still be with Hamas, which rules Gaza, encouraging the group or looking the other way

Next, the IDF said that over 1,000 innocent students attend these schools that Hamas and Islamic Jihad use for terrorist activities.

"The cynical exploitation of schools proves once again that the terrorist organization consciously chooses to endanger Gazan civilians and use them as 'human shields' for the benefit of their terrorist agendas." - IDF.

Hamas had not responded at press time.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-724885

The IDF reveals: Hamas places rocket launchers near schools

Srugim news, 14.12.22

The IDF spokesman revealed aerial photos proving that Hamas is placing pits for launching rockets near schools throughout the Gaza Strip, and even made contact with educators who authorized them to shoot at Israel

On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Hamas organization in Gaza, the IDF spokesman revealed today (Wednesday) aerial photos showing that the terrorist organization is placing pits for launching rockets near schools in the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF spokesman in Arabic, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, Hamas was in contact with educators to advance their terrorist infrastructure in these areas.

[https://www.srugim.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Fj8sKD5XwAAne7s-640x432.jpeg]

According to the IDF, the rocket launchers were placed in pits dug near three schools throughout the Gaza Strip. Among other things, it was reported that pits were dug near a school in the Shahja'a neighborhood shortly before the start of the "Guardian of the Walls" operation - when the school's principal, Muhammad Abu Aun, was in contact with the Hamas operatives responsible for firing the rockets at Israel. Apparently, the director gave Hamas the permission to launch the rockets from the compound of his educational institution during the operation.

[https://www.srugim.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%A1-2-640x431.jpeg]

Another photo showed an educational institution in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, which according to the IDF was used as a terrorist infrastructure by Hamas to launch rockets in recent years. to launch rockets," Adraee said.

[https://www.srugim.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%A1-1-640x431.jpeg]

Records were also presented of additional pits dug near the "Al Furkan" school, which were used by Hamas during Operation "Guardian of the Walls" as well as in Operation "Breaking Dawn" a year later. "Hamas' reasoning, which has been revealed once again, suggests that the organization is using the population of the Gaza Strip, and in these cases innocent children, as a human shield," it was claimed. "In these schools, over 1,000 students study normally, and Hamas consciously chooses to endanger them."

https://www.srugim.co.il/?p=741736

_____

Documentation from the activity in Nablus: "There is a child behind the gunman, I do not shoot"

The IDF published documentation from the intensive activity against the terrorists who were involved in the murder of the fighter Adu Baruch hy"d in Nablus.

Channel 7, Adar 1, 5783. 22.02.23.

One of those terrorists who barricaded himself in the house that was destroyed was Husam Aslim (24), a member of the squad that carried out the attack in which the Givat patrol soldier Sgt. Bachar (24), and Walid Dahil (24), members of the "Lion's[sic] Den" who carried out shooting attacks against IDF forces in recent months.

According to "lions[sic] den", six operatives of the organization were killed in the exchange of fire as mentioned - the three who were killed in the house, and with them also Muhammad Anbusi, Tamer Minawi and Musab Uweis.

https://www.inn.co.il/news/593326

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IDF waited 2 days to kill Islamic Jihad leader who was using human shields

IDF spokesman says military held off on striking deputy commander of Islamic Jihad rocket launching force until he wasn't with family.

Israel National News, May 11, 2023.

This afternoon, the IDF announced that it had killed Ahmed Abu-Deka, the deputy commander of the rocket launching force of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, in an airstrike in Gaza. However, the military could have gotten Abu-Deka two days earlier, and held off on attacking due to the presence of human shields.

Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, the head of the IDF's Southern Command. told reporters this afternoon (Thursday) “We started with the [senior] command in the opening strike. From there we continued for a second attack last night where we killed the head of the rocket array. And now we killed his deputy."

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/371299

_________

Pits with weapons, explosives found in Jenin mosque

Terrorists use mosque to store weapons and explosives in Jenin.

Israel National News, Jul 3, 2023, 6:49 PM

(Jenin Mosque - IDF July 2023. Jenin Operation - one of the pits used to store weapons and explosives [https://www.israelnationalnews.com/static/pictures/781x439/1125366.jpg])

Multiple pits containing weapons and explosives were found in the floor of a mosque during the counter-terrorism operation in Jenin Monday, the IDF announced.

"Over the last few hours, exchanges of fire between Israeli security forces and Palestinian gunmen took place in the Jenin Camp at a mosque that is affiliated with terrorist organizations in the area. Following ISA and IDF intelligence, IDF soldiers searched the underground floor of the mosque, in which armed assailants had barricaded themselves, and located two pits that contained explosive devices, weapons and military equipment affiliated with the terrorist organizations. The soldiers are currently confiscating and neutralizing the weapons," the military statement said.

The IDF also stated that "a number of operational situation rooms used by terrorist groups in the Jenin Camp were located by the ISA and the IDF. The situation rooms were used by terrorist organizations in the camp to observe and monitor Israeli security forces during their activity in the camp. In a joint IDF and ISA activity, the forces operated to dismantle a number of operational situation rooms. The dismantling of the operational situation rooms represents serious damage to the terrorist infrastructure in the area."

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/373622

IDF uncovers bomb factory in Jenin

July 3, 2023

Troops also located weapons and explosives stored underground inside a mosque in the city.

Israeli forces located an explosives workshop in the Jenin refugee camp on Monday containing hundreds of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) as well as mines intended for use against armored vehicles.

The fighters also confiscated radios and military equipment and an instruction manual on how to prepare IEDs.

A second workshop was also located containing means for preparing explosives. The forces confiscated all weapons.

Separately, troops located weapons and explosives stored underground inside a mosque in the city.

https://www.jns.org/israel-news/idf/23/7/3/299734/

Israel Discovers/Destroys Tunnel Linking Jenin Terror Mosque to Kindergarten

By Pesach Benson / TPS, 15 Tammuz 5783 – July 4, 2023.

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0Lpnp0XoAAoLl4?format=jpg&name=small].

([https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Jenin-Terror-Tunnel.jpg] The opening of a terror tunnel discovered underneath the al-Ansar mosque in the Jenin refugee camp on July 4, 2023).

https://www.jewishpress.com/news/terrorism-news/israel-discovers-destroys-tunnel-linking-jenin-terror-mosque-to-kindergarten/2023/07/04/

______

IDF finds IEDs in childrens' bedroom

Several suspects, as well as arms and munitions, were captured during a raid in the town of Aqabah.

Israel National News, Sep 1, 2023.

The IDF reports that a short while ago, IDF and Israel Border Police forces conducted counterterrorism activity in the town of Aqabah. During the activity, the forces surrounded a wanted suspect’s building, and used shoulder-fired missiles and grenades. Furthermore, exchanges of fire between the soldiers and gunmen took place in the area, a hit was identified on one of the gunmen.

At the end of the searches in the building, two improvised explosive devices were located in a children’s room, and military equipment, a handgun and magazines were additionally located. Two wanted suspects were apprehended in the town of Aqabah.

In addition, in the towns of Beit Ummar, Wadi Siman, and in the city of Nablus, the forces apprehended seven wanted suspects.

During the counterterrorism activity in the town of Wadi Siman, the forces confiscated an M-16 rifle and ammunition.

Furthermore, during the counterterrorism activity in the city of Nablus, suspects fired and hurled rocks at the soldiers.

The suspects and weapons were transferred to security forces for further processing. No IDF injuries were reported.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/376409

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CNN Omits Context & Distorts the Facts on Recent Violence in Israel | CAMERA

David Litman, Sep 21, 2023

... The article begins by stating, “Six Palestinians have been killed and dozens injured by Israeli military fire in three separate incidents…” The next sentence reiterates: “Four people were killed…as a result of a Tuesday evening Israeli military incursion into the Jenin refugee camp…” Yet not once does the article mention that all four of those Palestinian fatalities have been claimed by either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both U.S.-designated terrorist organizations.

Later in the article, the authors reference a "video [which] appeared to show a mosque minaret in the camp taking direct fire." They omit that the same video also clearly shows a Molotov cocktail being thrown from the minaret.

https://www.camera.org/article/cnn-omits-context-distorts-the-facts-on-recent-violence-in-israel/

The Mossad (parody acct): Satirical, Yet Awesome @TheMossadIL

Just another day in Jenin using a minaret like a clock tower for deranged gunmen.

Sep 19, 2023

https://twitter.com/TheMossadIL/status/1704229027244917167

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The White House

OCTOBER 10, 2023 Remarks by President Biden on the Terrorist Attacks in Israel

BRIEFING ROOM SPEECHES AND REMARKS State Dining Room

2:24 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon.

You know, there are moments in this life — and I mean this literally — when the pure, unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world.

The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend. The bloody hands of the terrorist organization Hamas — a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews.

This was an act of sheer evil.

More than 1,000 civilians slaughtered — not just killed, slaughtered — in Israel. Among them, at least 14 American citizens killed.

Parents butchered using their bodies to try to protect their children.

Stomach-turning reports of being — babies being killed.

Entire families slain.

Young people massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace — to celebrate peace.

Women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies.

Families hid their fear for hours and hours, desperately trying to keep their children quiet to avoid drawing attention.

And thousands of wounded, alive but carrying with them the bullet holes and the shrapnel wounds and the memory of what they endured.

You all know these traumas never go away.

There are still so many families desperately waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones, not knowing if they’re alive or dead or hostages.

Infants in their mothers’ arms, grandparents in wheelchairs, Holocaust survivors abducted and held hostage — hostages whom Hamas has now threatened to execute in violation of every code of human morality.

It’s abhorrent.

The brutality of Hamas — this bloodthirstiness — brings to mind the worst — the worst rampages of ISIS.

This is terrorism.

But sadly, for the Jewish people, it’s not new.

This attack has brought to the surface painful memories and the scars left by a millennia of antisemitism and genocide of the Jewish people.

So, in this moment, we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel. And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack.

There is no justification for terrorism. There is no excuse.

Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination. Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the State of Israel and the murder of Jewish people.

They use Palestinian civilians as human shields.

Hamas offers nothing but terror and bloodshed with no regard to who pays the price...

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/10/10/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-terrorist-attacks-in-israel-2/#:~:text=They%20use%20Palestinian%20civilians%20as,respond%20%E2%80%94%20to%20these%20vicious%20attacks.

Hamas again using human shields in Gaza

"To mitigate harm to noncombatants, the IDF carries out surgical strikes," said the army.

(October 10, 2023 / JNS)

Hamas continues to use Gazan civilians as human shields by building its terrorist infrastructure in densely populated civilian areas, the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday, sharing evidence of the Islamist group’s facilities located near medical clinics, schools and U.N. buildings.

“Hamas infrastructure is deliberately embedded within civilian areas and in proximity to international assets, using the population as human shields,” said the report by the IDF International Cooperation Division.

“In order to mitigate harm to noncombatants, the IDF carries out surgical strikes,” it added.

The report included aerial maps of Gaza City’s Rimal residential neighborhood, showing Hamas facilities in or near commercial buildings, pharmacies, welfare offices, mosques and other public facilities.

Hamas’s well-documented use of its own civilians as human shields, as well as its use of mosques, hospitals, schools and private homes as weapons storage facilities and firing platforms, violates international humanitarian law...

https://www.jns.org/hamas-again-using-human-shields-in-gaza/

_____

Palestinian Media Watch

Hamas calls on Gazans to be human shields

Nan Jacques Zilberdik | Oct 11, 2023

Hamas’ Interior Ministry: “We again call on [Gazan] citizens not to cooperate with the recorded phone messages that the occupation (i.e., Israel) is sending at random, asking people to leave their homes”

Using civilians as human shields, Hamas has called on Gazans not to leave their homes when Israel warns about bombings.

While the Israeli army has been notifying Gazan civilians to leave their homes and seek safety elsewhere before Israel attacks terrorists or terror infrastructure in their apartment buildings, Hamas’ Interior Ministry is calling on Palestinians to remain in their homes to serve as human shields:

Headline: "The Interior Ministry calls on citizens not to cooperate with the recorded messages the occupation (i.e., Israel) is sending at random”

“Important notice:

We again call on [Gazan] citizens not to cooperate with the recorded phone messages that the occupation (i.e., Israel) is sending at random, asking people to leave their homes. Their goal is to arouse panic and fear as part of the psychological warfare accompanying the occupation's aggression against our people.

Media Office, Ministry of Interior and National Security

Tuesday, October 10, 2023”

[Website of Hamas' Ministry of Interior and National Security,

Oct. 10, 2023]

It has always been Hamas' policy to use the civilian population in Gaza as human shields. Palestinian Media Watch documented that in the 2014 Gaza war, Hamas also demanded that Palestinians “return to their homes”. [https://palwatch.org/page/6600].

Even Fatah has mocked Hamas for its use of civilians as human shields [https://palwatch.org/page/29206] and criticized them for storing explosives among the civilian population. [https://palwatch.org/page/26044]

[Website of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Aug. 29, 2021]

https://palwatch.org/page/34641

Blinken: Cruelty of Hamas onslaught ‘defies comprehension,’ Gazans used as human shield

By Lazar Berman, October 12, 2023

Speaking in Tel Aviv, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the images from Hamas's shocking massacres are "overwhelming," expressing sympathy to Israel in the face of the terror group using Gazan civilians as "human shields."

Reacting to images shown to him by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken says it’s hard to find words.

"A baby riddled with bullets, a soldier beheaded, young people burned in their cars… It's simply depravity in the worst imaginable way. It almost defies comprehension," he says as he chokes up, adding that it hearkens back to the Islamic State terror group. "When you see this, you can’t help but imagine yourself, your family, your loved ones, your friends in that situation."

"Maybe the best word for it for me is overwhelming. I think what it’s done is united a country in profound grief but also in resolve. It’s imperative that we all join in that resolve."

"This is a moment for moral clarity," he continues.

"Images are worth a thousand words. These images may be worth a million."

Blinken stresses that Hamas continues to use civilians as human shields. "That’s one of the basic facts that Israel has to deal with." He emphasizes that civilians “are not the target of Israel’s military operations.”

Blinken adds that he discussed safe passage and other humanitarian means for Gazan civilians with Israel.

Blinken says that he does not know what Hamas’s goals were in the attack, but "the simplest explanation might be the most compelling. This is pure evil."

He adds that it is possible that other interests include getting in the way of normalization with Saudi Arabia.

Blinken also says he will meet with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Qatar, after meeting Jordan’s King Abdullah and PA President Mahmoud Abbas this week.

Blinken says that he brought with him his special representative for hostage affairs, who participated in his meetings with US citizens who have lost loved ones who were killed or taken hostage. The official will stay in Israel to keep working for the hostages' release.

"In my meetings with the prime minister, with President Herzog, with the ministers in Israel’s newly formed national unity government, we discussed in detail what Israel needs to defend itself," says Blinken. "We are delivering on those needs as we speak."

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/blinken-cruelty-of-hamas-onslaught-defies-comprehension-gazans-used-as-human-shield/

___

Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani At a Joint Press Availability

REMARKS

ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE.

AMIRI DIWAN.

DOHA, QATAR, OCTOBER 13, 2023

Let’s not lose sight of why this is happening. Israel is conducting operations in Gaza because Hamas carried out terrorist attacks that killed – in the most horrific – way 1,300 of its people. Hamas terrorists slaughtered, raped, mutilated, tortured, burned innocent civilians – from babies to the elderly, men, women, boys, and girls.

Now, efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza are complicated by the fact that Hamas continues to use innocent civilians as human shields, and is reportedly blocking roads to prevent Palestinians from moving to southern Gaza, out of harm’s way. We know the humanitarian situation is urgent. We’re actively engaged with partners, including Qatar, to get aid to those who need it.

https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-with-qatari-prime-minister-and-minister-of-foreign-affairs-mohammed-bin-abdulrahman-al-thani-at-a-joint-press-availability/

___

Hamas terrorists use Gaza hospital as shield

Palestinian terrorist group Hamas uses hospitals to escape Israeli bombardment amid war

Reporting from Sderot, Journalist Yeshaya Rosenman said that the Hamas leadership is hiding in a bunker underneath Al Shifa Hospital.

Kamal Joshi, Updated October 11th, 2023 at 23:31 IST

https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/west-asia/hamas-using-gaza-hospital-as-shield.news

________

Muslim Doctor Shot and Held Hostage By Hamas, Used as Human Shield, Rescued By IDF

By Hana Levi Julian - 26 Tishri 5784 – October 11, 2023.

The Jewish Press

On Saturday morning, United Hatzalah volunteer physician Dr. Tarek Abu Arar was held hostage for several hours and shot twice by Hamas terrorists who had infiltrated southern Israel.

Dr. Abu Arar, a resident of Arar’a BaNegev, was driving to his shift in the Emergency Room at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon on Saturday morning when at a junction near Sderot he came across a person who seemed injured on the side of the road next to a 4×4 vehicle. “At that moment, there had been no reports of any infiltration,” recounted Dr. Abu Arar. “Thankfully, we had just had a Red Alert siren about 20 minutes earlier so I had decided to wear my bulletproof vest. But I initially thought it was a routine car accident so I stopped on the side of the road in order to help”

“Suddenly as I got closer to the car I saw about 50 meters away what looked like an Israeli soldier in uniform. He gestured to me to come to him. As I walked to him and was just 10 meters away, he suddenly shot me in the chest. I started shouting and praying, convinced that I was about to die. I thought he was a soldier who had mistaken me for a terrorist. Then I heard someone say in Arabic ‘Stop, stop, he is an Arab’. This is when I understood they were Hamas terrorists. As I looked back, about 10 additional men in military attire came out from behind the bushes and started interrogating me in Arabic. They asked me questions to check my knowledge of Islam. They had Kalashnikovs and very advanced military equipment and were wearing green uniforms that looked similar to IDF uniforms.”

“They attached me to a pole in the center of the junction and said ‘That’s it we have a hostage, the IDF cannot eliminate us from the air anymore’ and began shooting at every car that passed by the junction, making sure to kill every occupant of the cars. It was horrific. This continued for two hours until the army arrived at the scene and there was a shootout between the terrorists and the soldiers, with me in the middle.”

“Then one of the terrorists shot me in the leg from point blank and signaled with his hand that the next bullet would be in my head. I started bleeding pretty massively. During this whole time, I was praying for a miracle. I was convinced that I was about to die. The IDF forces retreated and 45 minutes later a Yamam commando force arrived at the scene. They succeeded in eliminating all of the terrorists and rescued me. They put a tourniquet on my leg and an ambulance came to transport me to Soroka Hospital where I was treated and released a few hours later.”

https://www.jewishpress.com/news/health-and-medicine/muslim-doctor-shot-and-held-hostage-by-hamas-used-as-human-shield-rescued-by-idf/2023/10/11/

Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 @Israel

Tarek Abu-Arar, an Arab- Israeli doctor was on his way to his shift at the hospital when he stopped to help a person who appeared to be injured.

This person was a Hamas terrorist who took Tarek hostage while shooting at civilians. He and a group of Hamas terrorists used Tarek, who was bleeding from a gun wound, as a human shield against the IDF soldiers who came to stop the terrorists.

Tarek miraculously survived.

These blood thirsty murderers go after innocent men, women and children.

Oct 13, 2023

https://twitter.com/Israel/status/1712893310501626171

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13 Oct 2023

‘Hamas wants to use people as human shields’, says White House National Security spokesperson

Matt Frei

Europe Editor and Presenter

We spoke to John Kirby, the White House National Security spokesperson.

https://www.channel4.com/news/hamas-wants-to-use-people-as-human-shields-says-white-house-national-security-spokesperson

Newsweek, Oct 13, 2023

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas is allegedly blocking roads and preventing civilians from evacuating Northern Gaza. Israel warned 1.1 million Gazans to flee to the south ahead of an anticipated ground invasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=gcjBLVrsntg

[Journalist]

Yoni Ben Menachem @yonibmen:

Hamas leadership hiding in bunkers in Gaza under pressure!

Calls on the residents of the northern Gaza Strip not to evacuate the area, wants to continue using them as a human shield.

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F8SqvjfWsAAfZ_T?format=png&name=360x360]

Oct 13, 2023

https://twitter.com/yonibmen/status/1712681498745147596

Hamas militants using civilians as human shields to stop evacuation: IDF

Published By

PGurus Newsdesk

Oct 14, 2023

[https://www.pgurus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Hamas-militants-use-civilians-as-human-shields-jpg.webp].

https://www.pgurus.com/hamas-militants-using-civilians-as-human-shields-to-stop-evacuation-idf/

CHUCK DEVORE: The U.N. shames Israelis for evacuating Palestinian - while Hamas uses the innocent as human shields. When will the world see that these vicious terrorists - not Israel - are Gaza's worst enemy?

By Chuck Devore For Dailymail.Com

14 Oct 2023

Israel is pleading with more than one million Palestinian civilians to flee Gaza City. The vile terrorists in control of that doomed metropolis are telling innocent people to stay put.

Hamas has used the Palestinian people as pawns for decades. It's no surprise they're now using them as human shields.

On Thursday, the Israeli Defense Forces, massing 360,000 troops on the border of Gaza in preparation for the grim task of rooting out and dismantling Hamas, dropped fliers from planes instructing non-combatants to get out.

'Civilians of Gaza City, evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families and distance yourself from Hamas terrorists who are using you as human shields,' the IDF said.

Hamas responded: 'Our Palestinian people reject the threat made by the leaders of the occupation and its call for Gazans to leave their houses and leave to the south or to Egypt.'

Like clockwork, the United Nations and America's left-wing, anti-Israel media took up the Hamas narrative.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12630551/gaza-evacauation-hamas-israel-chuck-devore.html

_____

In CNN interview: President Herzog reveals Hamas "Captive Taking Handbook"

In the booklet terrorists are advised in detail on how to carry out the kidnapping.

Israel National News, Oct 15, 2023

President Isaac Herzog on Sunday, in an interview with CNN, presented evidence found on Hamas terrorists following the barbaric attack on the people of Israel a week ago. He showed viewers a booklet entitled "The Warrior's Guide - Jihad Version", issued and distributed by Hamas to terrorists in the field.

In addition, the President presented shocking photos of atrocities in the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, which he visited this morning.

In the booklet, recovered on the battlefield from a Hamas terrorist who was killed after taking part in the attack on Israel, terrorists are advised in detail on how to carry out the kidnapping. According to the description, the kidnappers are required to create chaos and intimidation, coercing and blindfolding captives, using electric shocks, and instructing them to execute any person who may pose a threat or distraction. They were also instructed to collect the captives and use them as human shields, if necessary, without distinction of religion, race, or sex.

According to the barbaric text, similar to the terrorist organization ISIS, the terrorists are required to document their actions by livestreaming and executing hostages.

Also in the manual was a chapter explaining IDF ranks and their importance, as well as an explanation of the IDF’s means of warfare and technological capabilities.

Like – and even worse than ISIS – the text places cruel brutality at the heart of Hamas’ actions.

In his interview, the President said, “We are faced with an extremely cruel, inhumane ending enemy which we have to uproot with no mercy. This was found on the body of one of the terrorists, this booklet is an instruction guide on how to go into a civilian premises, into a kibbutz, a city, a moshav, and how to break in. And first thing, what do you do when you find the citizens? You torture them? This is the booklet - it says exactly how to torture them, how to abduct them, how to kidnap them. So therefore, the story is not Israel versus Palestinians or Judaism versus Islam - God forbid - the story is about humans, humanity, are we with the good or with evil, that's where humanity should stand. And the battle that we are carrying out now, as a nation rising up as a lion, is against evil, and we will uproot evil so that there will be good for the entire region and the world”.

He added, “There is no justification. It is simply an ISIS-type ideology that wants to eliminate us off the ground, and therefore, they need to be eliminated off the ground.”

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/616914

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Sky News Australia -

Hamas want civilians to be their 'human shields', attempts to stop evacuation of northern Gaza.

16 oct 2023.

https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/global-affairs/hamas-want-civilians-to-be-their-human-shields-attempts-to-stop-evacuation-of-northern-gaza/video/7c649912f913d78390faca06bc2953c8

_____

US intelligence shows Islamic Jihad rocket misfired on Gaza hospital, but Tlaib still blames Israel

By Jon King - October 19, 2023

https://michiganadvance.com/2023/10/19/us-intelligence-shows-islamic-jihad-rocket-misfired-on-gaza-hospital-but-tlaib-still-blames-israel/

Gaza hospital blast: Biden says "rocket fired by terrorist group" to blame for explosion | FULL

Global News. Streamed live on Oct 18, 2023

During a press conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden claimed that the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital explosion which killed hundreds in Gaza City on Tuesday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Y4h_nxxhHSY

Don’t ‘Rush to Judgement’: British PM Tells Parliament Errant Palestinian Missile, Not Israeli Air Strike, Responsible for Gaza Hospital Blast

by Ben Cohen, October 23, 2023

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak revealed on Monday that his country’s intelligence services had concluded that the explosion last week near the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was caused by an errant missile fired by terrorists, and not an Israeli air strike.

“The UK government judges that the explosion was likely caused by a missile or part of one that was launched from within Gaza towards Israel,” Sunak told a session of the House of Commons.

The assessment concurs with similar conclusions drawn by Israel and the US that an air strike was not the cause of the blast.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/10/23/dont-rush-judgement-british-pm-tells-parliament-errant-palestinian-missile-not-israeli-air-strike-responsible-gaza-hospital-blast/

French military intelligence says Israeli strike not behind Gaza hospital blast

By John Irish

October 20, 2023

https://web.archive.org/web/20231021001926/https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-france-intelligence-7be0d59b9ceb58bbf2f03c5dc8222356

https://www.reuters.com/world/french-military-intelligence-says-israeli-strike-not-behind-gaza-hospital-blast-2023-10-20/

Video Analysis Shows Gaza Hospital Hit By Failed Rocket Meant for Israel"

A video analysis by the Wall Street Journal using security cameras and live feeds inside Israel and Gaza shows how a failed rocket caused the deadly explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. Photo illustration: Ryan Trefes

21 October, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/video/video-analysis-shows-gaza-hospital-hit-by-failed-rocket-meant-for-israel/120A1C22-BA32-418E-8837-BC4141FEFB00.html

"The New York Times offers a limited mea culpa for how it initially presented news of the Gaza hospital blast

By Joshua Benton

Oct. 23, 2023,

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/10/the-new-york-times-offers-a-limited-mea-culpa-for-how-it-initially-presented-news-of-the-gaza-hospital-blast/

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Hamas 'are using civilians and children as human shields and placing rocket launch sites beside a kindergarten, schools and a mosque', according to Israeli satellite images

By David Averre, 23 Oct 2023

... A series of satellite images, shared on the IDF's official website and social media accounts, shows what they claim are launch pits dug into the ground right next to the civilian structures - something Israel says backs up their claims that Hamas is using the Palestinian people as human shields.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12660873/Hamas-Israel-satellite-images.html

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'They are shooting at people,’ Gazan says Hamas preventing evacuation to safety

IDF releases recording of call urging civilians to move southward to safety ahead of Israeli strike as part of military intelligence effort to minimize civilian casualties.

Yoav Zitun | published: October 26, 2023

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bjqk4hpft

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N12 - The IDF spokesman revealed in a statement: "Hamas is using the hospital in Gaza as a terrorist headquarters"

During a briefing to the international media, Brigadier General Daniel Hagari showed intelligence information from the security system - according to which the central terror headquarters of Hamas is located under the central hospital in the Gaza Strip • "The hospital has several underground complexes, and a control center of Hamas," he said • A recording with a senior member of the system was revealed The energy in the Gaza Strip, which clarified: "It is certain that there is at least half a million liters of fuel underground"

N12| Posted 10/27/23 17:04

The IDF spokesman, Brigadier General Daniel Hagari, today (Friday) gave a special statement to the international media - in which he showed intelligence information from the IDF and the Shin Bet that proves that the central terrorist headquarters of Hamas is located under the al-Shifa ["Shifaa"] hospital, the main one in Gaza City.

[https://img.mako.co.il/2023/10/27/grafics1_autoOrient_i.jpg]

The hospital has several underground compounds used by the leaders of the terrorist organization Hamas to direct their activities and a tunnel that reaches the hospital, which allows entry to the Hamas headquarters without going through the hospital," he said. He said that from the existing set-up in the hospitals, the intention is to fire rockets, store IEDs, weapons and ammunition.

The hospital is a human shield for the leaders of Hamas," he emphasized. "The hospital's energy infrastructure that is supposed to be used by its patients is actually used at the same time by the terrorist organization's underground terrorist infrastructure." Brigadier General Hagari added: "The heads of the terrorist organization are using this shelter while endangering the civilian population."

In a conversation revealed by the IDF spokesperson between an IDF officer and a senior official in the energy sector in the Gaza Strip, it is shown that there is still diesel and gasoline in the Gaza Strip. "Those who have protection go to the station and there is fuel," said the senior in the energy industry to the officer. "There is even gas, someone who has gas fills a tank and brings me gas" when in favoritism. He added to the IDF officer that "Hamas has diesel, at least a million liters. Now the stations are full and diesel is taken from them and brought to the hospitals."

Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו

@netanyahu:

Hamas-ISIS is sick.

They turn hospitals into headquarters for their terror.

We just released intelligence proving it.

Here it is:

Oct 27, 2023

[https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/1717916845859078531]

https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/6361323ddea5a810/Article-811bc0998617b81027.htm

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IDF: Hamas’s terror command center built under Gaza’s main hospital.

The Israeli military shares detailed information on how Hamas has turned hospitals into terror command centers and hideouts.

Yaakov Lappin.

(October 27, 2023 / JNS)

[https://cdn.jns.org/uploads/2023/10/Gaza-hospital.jpg]

Hamas has systematically turned hospitals in the Gaza Strip into terror command centers and hideouts, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday, as volleys of rockets fired by Hamas targeted central and southern Israel.

Four people were injured in a direct rocket strike on a residential building in Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon, ranging from moderate to light injuries. Half an hour after that attack, central Israel was again targeted by rockets.

According to IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military is affixing a red flag to the world about Hamas’s war crime of using hospitals in Gaza as human shields and revealed intelligence for that purpose.

“Hamas has turned hospitals into command-and-control centers, and hideouts for terrorists and commanders,” he stated. “According to intelligence in our hands, there is fuel in hospitals in Gaza, and Hamas is using it for its terror infrastructure.”

The IDF shared this information and more with intelligence agencies from allied countries, he said.

Addressing Shifa Hospital in Gaza City—the largest in the Strip, with more than 1,500 beds, 4,000 staff and people arriving in recent weeks around the hospital grounds—Hamas is “cynically using” such places as a “shield for its underground terror complex,” said Hagari.

The Gazan network of underground combat tunnels, dubbed “the metro” by the IDF, is often placed right next to sensitive sites like hospitals, mosques, schools and UNRWA sites as part of a deliberate doctrine by Hamas to limit IDF airstrikes.

Pointing to a map of the Shifa Hospital, Hagari said that Hamas conducts its command and control out of places like the X-ray room for terror activities like launching rockets.

“It is here in Shifa Hospital where Hamas operates its command-and-control cells. Hamas terrorists operate inside and under Shifa Hospital, with a network of terror tunnels. It also has an entrance to the tunnels from different places in the hospital,” said Hagari. “Right now, terrorists move freely at Shifa Hospital.”

‘Hamas’s use of hospitals is systematic’

Hundreds of terrorists flooded the Shifa hospital after the Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,400 Israelis by Hamas, stated Hagari.

“Hamas not only endangers the lives of Israeli civilians but also exploits the lives of innocent Gazans as human shields. Hamas’s use of hospitals is systematic. They do so precisely because they know Israel distinguishes between terrorists and civilians,” he said. “We already exposed that Hamas stole fuel from UNRWA—and UNRWA confirmed it.”

He was referring to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.

Hagari played an audio recording between an IDF officer and a senior Gazan energy official, who stated that Hamas uses very large quantities of fuel for its underground tunnel activities, in addition to oxygen and electricity.

When medical facilities are used like this, they are liable to lose protection under international law, Hagari warned.

“For over two weeks, the IDF has called and continues to call the civilians of northern Gaza and Gaza City to temporarily move south for their own safety,” he stressed. “We continue to back efforts by Egypt and the United States to get food medicine and water to south Gaza. We will increase this humanitarian effort.”

Terror targets struck, Palestinian commander killed

Meanwhile, in recent hours, the IDF conducted a ground raid in the Gaza Strip and struck dozens of terror targets belonging to Hamas, it said.

IDF ground forces, accompanied by Israeli Air Force fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), conducted the raid in the central Gaza Strip early on Friday.

As part of the activity, IDF aircraft and artillery struck terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Shuja’iyya area and throughout the Gaza Strip, the military said.

The troops exited the area at the end of the activity. No IDF injuries were reported.

During the activity, the IDF identified and struck numerous terror targets, including anti-tank missile launch sites, military command-and-control centers, as well as Hamas terrorists themselves.

Overnight on Friday, the IDF killed Madhath Mubashar, commander of the Western Khan Yunis Battalion of the Hamas terrorist organization. Madhath took part in explosives and sniper attacks against Israeli civilian communities and IDF soldiers, the military said in a statement.

https://www.jns.org/idf-intelligence-a-terror-command-room-in-the-hospital-x-ray-room/

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Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh: We Need The Blood Of Women, Children, And The Elderly Of Gaza – So It Awakens Our Revolutionary Spirit.

October 27, 2023

Palestine | Special Dispatch No. 10911

Hamas leader Isamil Haniyeh called in an October 26, 2023 address upon all the "free people of the world" to stop the bombing of Gaza, which he referred to as the "new holo...st." He said: "The blood of the women, children and elderly […] we are the ones who need this blood, so it awakens within us the revolutionary spirit, so it awakens with us resolve." He said that the demise of the Israeli occupation is "inevitable," and therefore, preparations must be made for the post-occupation phase. The address was aired on Mayadeen Network (Lebanon), and other TV networks.

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F9dZy2nXMAQHEf6.jpg]

https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-leader-ismail-haniyeh-we-need-blood-women-children-and-elderly-gaza-%E2%80%93-so-it-awakens

Hamas Leader: ‘Women, Children, Elderly’ Must Die In Gaza To Help Our Fight Against Israel

By Daily Wire News

Oct 28, 2023, DailyWire.com

Hamas leader Isamil Haniyeh called for Palestinian civilians to die in Israel’s strikes against Hamas terrorists inside of Gaza.

The remarks come as Hamas commits war crimes by using civilians as human shields and lies about events that have unfolded during the three-week war, including its false claims that Israel bombed a hospital.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/hamas-leader-women-children-elderly-must-die-in-gaza-to-help-our-fight-against-israel

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Hamas officials admit its strategy is to use Palestinian civilians as human shields

By Natalie Ecanow

Published Nov. 1, 2023, 7:29 p.m. ET

An interviewer recently posed a logical question to Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior member of the Hamas politburo: “Since you have built 500 kilometers of tunnels, why haven’t you built bomb shelters where civilians can hide during bombardments?”

Abu Marzouk said the tunnels are “meant to protect us” from Israeli aircraft and facilitate attacks on Israeli targets.

“Us” meaning Hamas. Not civilians.

Hamas chooses not to build bomb shelters in Gaza because that would undercut its ability to use the population as human shields.

By putting civilians in or above its military positions, Hamas knows it cannot lose.

Either it will prevent Israel from attacking, since the Israeli military tries to minimize harm to civilians, or if Israel does attack, the use of human shields will ensure high civilian casualties.

Hamas can then hold the death toll against Israel while generating sympathy for itself.

Hamas uses its hundreds of miles of tunnels for military purposes: to transport weapons and ammunition, store supplies and train its members without exposing them to enemy surveillance and fire.

Hamas leader shows why no cease-fire is possible if Israel is to survive

Equally important, the tunnels are a convenient way for Hamas to hide its military assets underneath civilian infrastructure. That is a textbook use of human shields, which international law prohibits.

Reliant on civilians to protect it from Israeli counterattacks, Hamas cannot afford to let Gaza’s civilian population seek refuge from clashes with the Israel Defense Forces.

Accordingly, Hamas leadership ordered civilians in northern Gaza to defy the IDF’s advice to “evacuate south for your own safety” in advance of Israel’s ground invasion.

Eyad al-Bozom, a spokesman for Hamas’ interior ministry, encouraged Gaza’s residents to “stay put in your homes and your places.”

To its credit, the Biden administration has called out Hamas for employing a strategy whose essence is the commission of war crimes against the same people Hamas supposedly represents.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby explained on CNN, “Hamas actually gave a counterorder telling Palestinians in Gaza to stay at home. Why? Because having human shields, they think, protects them.”

Hamas’ use of human shields is not new. Hamas has come close to confessing its exploitation of civilians before.

During an organized 2016 uprising at the Gaza border, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar admitted the group “decided to turn that which is most dear to us — the bodies of our women and children — into a dam blocking the collapse in Arab reality.”

After acknowledging Hamas builds tunnels to protect fighters but not civilians, Abu Marzouk ventured that it is the job of the United Nations, not Hamas, to protect civilians.

It might have been hard to say that with a straight face, since Hamas also has a long record of turning UN facilities into part of its wall of human shields.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose mission is to provide relief for Palestinians, has repeatedly found stores of Hamas rockets hidden in tunnels beneath its schools.

In 2018, Congress passed the Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act, which has lain dormant since becoming law.

The Shields Act, which specifically calls out Hamas, requires the president to impose sanctions on individuals determined to be using human shields, but neither Biden nor his predecessor designated any Hamas leaders. Now would be a good time to start.

Doing so is unlikely to change Hamas’ behavior, but it would send an important message both to Americans and leaders in other democratic nations.

It is not Israel but Hamas that bears moral responsibility for the death of civilians in this war. [https://nypost.com/2023/10/29/news/gaza-receives-largest-aid-shipment-so-far-as-deaths-top-8000-and-israel-widens-military-offensive/]

Hamas seeks to win by generating enough pressure on Israel from its allies to force an end to Israel’s military operations. Washington should make clear it will never fall for this ruse; nor should anyone else.

https://nypost.com/2023/11/01/opinion/hamas-officials-admit-its-strategy-is-to-use-palestinian-civilians-as-human-shields/

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In battle for Gaza stronghold, 100 women and children pushed forward by Hamas to act as human barrier

IDF troops met with a disturbing tactic at base of Hamas's Force 17 near Jabaliya; 'We stand ready to face more instances of such cynical and brutal use of civilians,' Israeli officer says

Yoav Zitun | published: November 1, 2023. 16:00

IDF troops who engaged in fierce combat with Hamas terrorists for control over an operations base in the Gaza Strip were met with a disturbing tactic: roughly 100 women and children were pushed forward by Hamas to act as a human barrier.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bk4yhmlq6

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The criticism in Gaza: "All this happened because of the dogs of Hamas" | Watch the video.

A resident of Gaza who was documented among the ruins, decided to condemn the terrorist organization in an unusual step - but she was immediately silenced and removed from the scene • Protests are also on social networks: "Hamas is hiding in the tunnels and uses residents as human shields" • The Green Prince claims: "Hamas must be reckoned with"

Sapir Lipkin | N12 | Published 22:59 02.11.23

Since the beginning of the war, Hamas continues to use the residents of Gaza as human shields and uses the humanitarian infrastructure for terrorist purposes - at their expense. In the document that was published today (Thursday) and caused a stir, an unusual criticism of the terrorist organization is heard that is usually only heard in private rooms.

"All this happened because of the dogs of Hamas, enough!", a resident of Gaza can be heard shouting among the ruins, while the victims of the attack were being evacuated. However, in a short time - she was already silenced and removed from the place.

The condemnation that the Gazan heard spread on social media and drew many responses from surfers in the Arab world who used the hashtag #dogsofhamas [كلاب_حماس] and expressed sympathy with her, while criticizing Hamas.

"Hamas launched the attack against Israel, hides in the tunnels and uses the residents of Gaza as human shields," attacked one of the social-media users. "The reality is that many residents of Gaza do not want Hamas, but the fear motivates them because anyone who criticizes Hamas will find his death within days," another user added.

In the meantime, the Green Prince Mossab Hassan Yousef (son of a senior Hamas official in Judea and Samaria), who was one of the most important Shin Bet agents, published a video in which he claimed that "We must come to terms with Hamas. He planned something dangerous and no one listened to it. We cannot continue to live in the same denial."

"These voices calling for a ceasefire mean that Hamas should be allowed to escape punishment for its crimes. Escape with the strategy that aims to destroy the State of Israel and endanger the lives of the Palestinians while using them as human shields," added the Green Prince. "No. We must take power from Hamas. This is a war imposed on Israel."

https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/6361323ddea5a810/Article-0c42579a7e09b81026.htm

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Israel Defense Forces on X:

"A Hamas terrorist cell was identified using an ambulance. In response, an IDF aircraft struck and neutralized the Hamas terrorists, who were operating within the ambulance.

We emphasize that this area in Gaza is a war zone. Civilians are repeatedly called upon to evacuate southward for their own safety.

Nov 3, 2023

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1720510816930157050

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Horrific video purportedly shows Gaza street strewn with at least a dozen bodies gunned down by Hamas

By Chris Nesi

Published Nov. 3, 2023, 5:32 p.m. ET

WARNING: Graphic and distressing content.

A horrifying new video purportedly shows at least a dozen Gaza residents shot dead in the streets by Hamas terrorists as they were attempting to flee from the north to the south of the Hamas-controlled region.

In the video posted on X, a man films the carnage as he rides a bicycle down the Al Rasheed beach road, crying out in anguish the camera focuses on the dead bodies, many of them lying in pools of blood.

In a separate post, author and journalist Amjad Taha said the victims were among “dozens” killed by Hamas snipers, including women and children, because “they do not want citizens to leave.”

“They want to use them as human shields and will kill anyone who attempts to leave. Hamas terrorists in Gaza will, as usual, blame #Israel because it is easy and there is media that accepts this propaganda,” he wrote.

[https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-03-at-35836-PM.jpg?resize=768,1389&quality=75&strip=all]

In a separate post, author and journalist Amjad Taha said the victims were among “dozens” killed by Hamas snipers, including women and children, because “they do not want citizens to leave.”

The video is fueling disturbing speculation that Hamas has been killing Gaza citizens and attempting to blame their deaths on Israeli airstrikes.

Taha says the man shooting the video from the bicycle is saying “Airstrikes? Does this look like airstrikes?” in Arabic.

Israel has faced mounting pressure to broker a temporary ceasefire with Hamas in recent days, including from President Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, following a prolonged military campaign in Gaza that began when terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people.

https://nypost.com/2023/11/03/news/video-reportedly-shows-gaza-residents-gunned-down-in-streets-by-hamas/

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Hamas using Qatar-funded hospital for terrorism, IDF says.

The Israeli military also presented evidence of terrorist activities at the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza.

The Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital in Gaza. Source: X/Qatar Fund for Development.

... in a briefing for international media showed visual proof of a terrorist tunnel entrance that was exposed by Israeli soldiers at Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital, located along the coast north of Gaza City.

Hagari also presented a video of Hamas terrorists firing at Israeli soldiers from inside the hospital, which was established in 2016 by its namesake, the former emir of Qatar. The facility specializes in physical rehabilitation and providing prosthetic limbs.

Hagari also showed evidence that the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, which was funded by NGOs from Indonesia and was also inaugurated in 2016, was built on top of Hamas terror infrastructure. There were underground terrorist facilities there before the hospital was constructed, he demonstrated.

The IDF spokesman showed a rocket launch pad located some 245 feet (75 meters) from the hospital.

“Hamas launches rockets on Israel 75 meters from a hospital,” he said.

The evidence from the Qatari and Indonesian hospitals builds upon the case presented earlier about Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza, that Hamas uses these medical centers for terrorism and their patients and staff as human shields.

Hamas’s headquarters is located under the massive Shifa complex in Gaza City, the IDF said.

"Hamas is hiding behind hospitals, sickly behind hospitals to hide its war machine,” Hagari said. “We will not accept Hamas’s cynical use of hospitals to hide their terror infrastructure. It must come to an end. It is a war crime."...

https://www.jns.org/hamas-using-qatar-funded-hospital-for-terrorism-idf-says/

IDF reopens Gaza humanitarian corridor despite Hamas attacks

Over 2,500 targets have been hit since the start of ground operations in the Strip, according to the IDF.

Joshua Marks, November 5, 2023 / JNS

https://www.jns.org/idf-reopening-gaza-humanitarian-corridor-despite-hamas-attacks/

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IDF shows Hamas rockets next to children’s pool, playground.

“This is further proof of the terror organization’s constant use of the civilian population as a human shield for terror purposes.”

[https://cdn.jns.org/uploads/2023/11/F-Kf9icXUAALqZ2-1320x880.jpeg].

November 5, 2023 / JNS

https://www.jns.org/idf-shows-hamas-rockets-next-to-childrens-pool-playground/

Israel Uncovers Hamas Rocket Launchers Next to Children’s Pool, Playground

By TPS / Tazpit News Agency - 22 Heshvan 5784 – November 5, 2023

https://www.jewishpress.com/news/eye-on-palestine/hamas/israel-uncovers-hamas-rocket-launchers-next-to-childrens-pool-playground/2023/11/05/

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The Jerusalem Post -

IDF reveals evidence Hamas used hospitals in Gaza, faked fuel crisis.

5 nov 2023

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-771800

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Dozens of Hamas rockets found inside youth center, mosque.

Over 50 rockets found inside youth center in Gaza together with launchers, rocket launching sites found inside mosque.

Israel National News, Nov 6, 2023, 6:32 PM (GMT+2).

[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/static/pictures/781x439/1137290.jpg]

rocket launchers found in youth center

IDF Spokesperson

During combat operations in the Gaza Strip, IDF forces located and uncovered additional evidence of Hamas' use of civilian sites for terrorist purposes and especially for launching rockets at the State of Israel.

During activity by a team of soldiers of the 460th Brigade to locate terrorist infrastructure and clear the area, rocket launch pits found by the soldiers in a mosque were destroyed.

In addition, during several activities in the past day, the soldiers found over 50 rockets ready to be launched into Israel from inside a youth movement compound in Northern Gaza.

Earlier, it was announced that overnight, an IAF fighter jet, directed by ISA and IDF intelligence, killed the Commander of Hamas’ Deir al-Balah Battalion in the Central Camps Brigade, Wael Asefa. Asefa, together with other commanders of the Central Camps Brigade, was responsible for sending Hamas “Nukhba” terrorists into Israeli territory during the barbaric massacre on October 7th. Following the massacre, he planned additional terrorist attacks.

Wael Asefa was imprisoned between 1992-1998 for his involvement in terrorist attacks against Israeli communities and has been involved in the incitement and promotion of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers for decades.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379831

Hamas tunnels, weapons found near amusement park and university

By Jerusalem Post Staff Published: November 6, 2023 20:11

[https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_428,w_640/562345]

IDF soldiers operate near an amusement park in the Gaza Strip.

A weapons warehouse containing chemicals, RPGs, and explosives, among other objects, was found near a university in Gaza.

Tunnels and weapons warehouses used by Hamas were found near an amusement park and a university in the Gaza Strip during the IDF's ongoing operations in the coastal enclave, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit revealed on Tuesday.

The Paratrooper Brigade found a tunnel opening near an amusement park in the Strip. The opening was destroyed by the IDF.

Maj. Roi, a commander in Sayeret Tzanhanim, stated "we found a logistic tunnel. The tunnels didn't pass over this area. We blew it up now, the opening has been destroyed and we intend to do this in every place we get to."

Explosives, RPGs found near university

The Paratrooper Brigade and the 7th Brigade also found a tunnel opening and a weapons warehouse near a university, uncovering chemicals, RPGs, and explosives, among other objects.

[https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_428,w_640/562346]

Weapons found in a tunnel near a university in the Gaza Strip.

The commander of the 202nd Battalion, Lt.-Col. Almog, stated "we uncovered a very significant tunnel opening seemingly leading to a tunnel system. We'll continue destroying infrastructure."

"All of this is further evidence of the Hamas terrorist organization's cynical use of facilities and the civilian population as a human shield for the terrorist organization's needs," said the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-772155

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Hamas terrorists’ last stand at Gaza hospital.

In showdown witnessed by a Telegraph reporter, Israeli warplanes, tanks and infantry corner last remains of 1,000-strong battalion

By Paul Nuki in Gaza, 7 November 2023 • 10:25pm

(Hamas terrorists were making a “last stand” in a hospital in northern Gaza on Tuesday night in a showdown witnessed by a Telegraph reporter).

[...]

“They talk the talk, but they don’t walk so good,” said Lieutenant Colonel Blick of the Israeli 551 Reserve Paratroop Battalion, which escorted The Telegraph to the front line on Tuesday.

Pointing to the plumes of dust rising about 2km to the south, Lt Col Blick said fewer than 100 Hamas fighters were taking shelter in the Indonesian Hospital, the last survivors of a thousand-strong unit.

“They fought when we came in but folded after a day. Their command lines were cut. Now, where you can see the dust rising, in the hospital, they are making their last stand,” he said.

Until five weeks ago, Beit Hanoun was home to more than 50,000 people. About half would have been under 20. Now it is broken, the devastation total.

The Telegraph was driven in by open-top Humvee, whipping down a dirt track with a gunner poised above our heads. The city’s perimeter was a jagged mess of shattered homes. The convoy stopped at what would have been a communal area but now houses Israeli tanks, heavy armour and a platoon of troops.

One of the soldiers took reporters to see a Hamas rocket launcher, dug into the garden of a house just a few yards from a pool where children would have played. The launcher was so hidden that it would have been close to impossible to spot by drone.

The commanding officer of the 551 Battalion, Lt Col Ido, said booby-trapped houses, tunnels and alleyways were the biggest threat when soldiers first entered the area. Air strikes took out most of the improvised explosive devices (IEDs), but he and his men have cleared more than 150 themselves.

“They are buried in the ground, some in the woods, some in the kindergarten rooms, some in the schools”, he said, adding that some of the charges were designed to pierce armour with technology imported from Iran.

“The biggest threat was the IEDs. But luckily, we didn’t lose anyone,” he said. “Some of these guys are engineers, some of them doctors. They’re reservists. They are mature. They’re specialist. They’ve got life experience. So they work slow and secured.”

Lt Cols Ido and Blich struck a measured tone as they addressed reporters. Lt Col Ido was one of the first into the kibbutzim on the Gaza border on Oct 7 – the “Black Sabbath” – and saw some “very tough sights”.

His concern now, he said, was how to guide his men. “They saw. We all saw it. A massacre. Bodies that were mutilated... We saw bodies of little kids that have been abused.”

But he emphasised that his troops must maintain a level head in combat, adding: “When I did my last brief the night before we came in here, my last sentence was that we are not like them and must not become like them.”

The 551 say they did not find civilian corpses in Beit Hanoun when they came in. People had moved south, and only dead animals and Hamas terrorists lay strewn on the ground.

Asked about the thousands of civilian casualties in Gaza, Lt Col Ido said that, for the most part, those people had nothing to do with Hamas.

Choking back emotion, he said: “The people of Gaza are not our enemies. I’m telling you, these houses are ruined but we’re not touching any personal stuff. We’re not taking things from the kitchens here. Because this is not our mission.

“I don’t have any business with the population here. I’m a father. I’ve got three kids. But I know my mission – my mission is to protect Israel.”

As the battle in the Beit Hanoun hospital raged, the IDF said it was pushing into “the heart of Gaza City” for the first time since its withdrawal from the territory in 2005.

Israeli troops have conducted routine counter-insurgency operations here in the past – cynically described by politicians as “mowing the lawn” – but this latest operation aims to wipe out Hamas and its military infrastructure for good. It’s a war aim around which the Israeli public is united, but one that could yet prove difficult to achieve.

... describing the ongoing offensive as “a complex and difficult war”.

Despite the firepower being deployed, he said his troops had the 240 hostages held by Hamas uppermost in their mind, and that “returning them is our compass”...

“They’re watching a train wreck, and they can’t do anything about it, and the trains are speeding up,” a person familiar with the US administration’s thinking told The Washington Post earlier this week. “The train wreck is in Gaza, but the explosion is in the region.”

Israeli forces appear to be in control of the coastal road inside Gaza City, and only about a mile from the Al Shifa hospital, where Israel says senior Hamas commanders are hiding in underground bunkers.

Hospitals...

The IDF counters that the facilities are being “cynically” used as military bases by Hamas in a flagrant abuse of the conventions of war.

Most agree that the Indonesian Hospital is empty now of patients and is simply being used by Hamas to wage war. Taking it down with an air strike to finish the fighting must surely be tempting, but the IDF knows that would hand its enemy a propaganda coup.

In the past week, Israeli commanders have produced video evidence showing how hospitals around Gaza are connected to the Hamas “Metro” – the network of underground tunnels and bunkers the group has built...

On Tuesday, it released footage of an air strike on a building close to the Al Quds hospital, where it claimed a number of Hamas operatives had hidden. The strike set off a major secondary explosion, which the IDF said indicated that a Hamas weapons store had been hit.

([https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2023/11/07/TELEMMGLPICT000355869764_16993947953340_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqwBwu1L2eorE4h8CgqGiF4AD1aM0zGkmKQ8g-2fVrias.jpeg?imwidth=680]

A Hamas tunnel unearthed by Israeli forces. Many such tunnels have been booby-trapped by the terror group, Israel says)

Meanwhile, Hamas said the Al Rantisi hospital in Gaza City was being evacuated after heavy shelling of nearby roads.

At one point on The Telegraph’s embed, the tempo of gun and mortar fire coming from the Indonesian Hospital increased and was answered with a massive blast from a nearby tank.

None of the soldiers flinched. They’re inured to it. “We’re making tapes so we have them to fall asleep with after the war,” joked one.

Lt Col Ido pressed home the asymmetric nature of the war, saying: “They are hiding inside schools. Just 10 minutes ago, we had a serious battle with a group of Hamas inside the school that they built tunnels in. They fill it with the IEDs. Now the leadership of this battalion is hiding inside the hospital.”

The hospital is empty, something Israeli forces have verified with drones and other “tactical measures”, he said, adding: “They are firing on us from this hospital. So I think the world should understand what we are dealing with … they are terrorists. Can you imagine the Israeli state or England or Germany putting rockets inside their cities, in the City of London?”

His colleague Lt Col Blich, reflected that, ultimately, the terror of Oct 7 and the war in Gaza may bring a lasting peace. He said it had deeply shocked everyone, Israelis and Palestinians alike.

“My hope is that out of all this tragedy people would come together and rebuild and finish all this,” he said. “Israel is not going anywhere. Jews are not going anywhere. Palestinians are not going anywhere. We need to find a way to coexist, otherwise it’s a nightmare for everyone.

“So hopefully out of this tragedy – and it is a tragedy – what we’ll see is a new Middle East or a new Israel or a new Palestine, whatever you want to call it. Something [positive] like what happened to Europe after the defeat of the Third Reich.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/11/07/hamas-fighters-last-stand-gaza-hospital/

_________

Terror tunnel shafts, weapons found near Ferris wheel, university.

IDF continues to find more proof of Hamas' exploitation of civilian areas for military purposes, use of human shields.

Israel National News, Nov 7, 2023, 7:16 PM (GMT+2)

As part of the ground operations in the Gaza Strip, the Paratroopers Brigade led a targeted operation in northern Gaza, during which the soldiers completed taking control of the area.

During the operation, soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade exposed the shaft of an underground tunnel adjacent to an amusement park. The soldiers then destroyed the shaft. In addition, in cooperation with soldiers of the Armored Corps from the divisional combat team of the 7th Brigade, an underground tunnel shaft and a weapons warehouse were found near a university, containing chemical materials, RPGs, Claymore mines and more.

"This is all further evidence of Hamas’ cynical use of the civilian population and various facilities as a human shield for its needs," the IDF stated.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379889

_________

Terrorists reveal: This is how Hamas exploits hospitals and ambulances.

In a recorded conversation, a Hamas terrorist operative can be heard telling a Gazan resident: 'I can leave with any ambulance I want.'

Israel National News, Nov 8, 2023, 8:42 PM (GMT+2)

The IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) have released evidence that shows how the Hamas terrorist organization exploits ambulances, hospitals, clinics, mosques, and schools for terrorist purposes.

The evidence also shows how Hamas uses ambulances to transfer weapons and terrorist operatives in the Gaza Strip.

In a recorded phone conversation revealed by the Military Intelligence Directorate, a Hamas terrorist operative can be heard telling a Gazan resident: “I can leave with any ambulance I want.”

In addition, the Shin Bet has released footage of interrogations of Hamas “Nukhba” terrorists who took part in the October 7th massacre in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip, who discuss the organization's use of hospitals and ambulances to benefit military activity.

In the footage, the terrorists describe how “Al-Qassam (Brigades) have their own ambulances, some of which are located on the military base. The appearance of the ambulances is similar to the civilian ambulances so that they will not arouse suspicion or be bombed by Israel.”

One of the terrorists adds: “During combat, the ambulances are used, among other things, to evacuate fighters – commanders and operatives. They also transport food, cargo, and weapons in them because that is the safest way to transport them.”

They explain how “Most senior Hamas political and military officials are hiding in the hospitals, especially the Shifa Hospital. They take advantage of the hospitals so that they will not be bombed,” and how Hamas stores weapons and ammunition under schools.

"This is another example of how the Hamas terrorist organization exploits civilian infrastructure and uses civilians as human shields," the IDF stated.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379973

______

IDF uncovers weapons manufacturing site next to children's room.

IDF soldiers locate weapons production facility inside residential building, next to little girls' bedroom.

Israel National News, Nov 9, 2023, 10:37 AM

IDF soldiers located a Hamas weapons production and storage facility inside a residential building, right next to a children's bedroom, an IDF source said

While operating in Gaza, the soldiers discovered a Hamas weapons manufacturing and storage facility used to produce and store UAVs and weapons.

The site was located in a residential building, in close proximity to schools in the center of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza.

In the building, Hamas’ explosives and operational plans were found right next to a children's' bedroom.

([https://a7.org/albums/781x1397/177898.jpg]

Children's room next to weapons manufacturing site).

([https://a7.org/albums/781x1397/177899.jpg]

Weapons manufacturing - near a children's bedroom).

([https://a7.org/albums/781x1397/177900.jpg]

Weapons parts - near a children's bedroom).

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379997

____

Week 5 - Live updates:

IDF troops destroy terror tunnel shaft near UNWRA school.

Israel National News

Nov 9, 2023, 9:58 AM

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379734

__________

IDF finds Hamas weapons factory next to Gazan children's bedroom.

By Tzvi Joffre. Published: November 9, 2023.

The IDF found a Hamas tunnel entrance placed near a kindergarten in northern Gaza on Thursday.

The IDF said that it had found a rocket and drone production site in the middle of a residential building in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza.

The building where the weapons productions site was located was also near schools. The IDF published footage showing the weapons storage site next to rooms where children sleep.

Israeli forces from the IDF's Nahal Brigade succeeded in taking over Hamas's Outpost 17 in western Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday morning, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/article-772389

IDF online @idfonline:

In a building in the heart of the Sheikh Radwan residential neighborhood in the north of the Gaza Strip and near schools, IDF soldiers located a site for the production and storage of remotely piloted aircraft and a weapon belonging to the terrorist organization Hamas...

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F-ei3hzWEAATQHx?format=jpg&name=small]

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F-ei3h0XwAACWVE?format=jpg&name=small]

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F-ei3hyW8AAe9qf?format=jpg&name=small]

https://twitter.com/idfonline/status/1722524884599713897

___

U.S. News and World Report -

Israel Military Says Misfired Militant Projectile Hit Shifa Hospital.

By Reuters

Nov. 10, 2023

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's military said on Friday that a misfired projectile launched by militant groups in Gaza had hit Shifa Hospital earlier in the day, dismissing reports that the blast was caused by an Israeli air strike.

"An examination of IDF operational systems indicates that a misfired projectile launched by terrorist organizations inside the Gaza Strip hit the Shifa Hospital," the military said in statement.

"The misfired projectile was aimed at IDF troops operating in the vicinity," it added.

(Reporting by Maytaal Angel; Editing by Crispian Balmer).

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-11-10/israel-military-says-misfired-militant-projectile-hit-shifa-hospital

_______

GLZRadio

Galley Zahal @glzradio IDF spokesman in Arabic: A failed missile by the terrorist organizations in Gaza hit Shifa Hospital.

@Doron_Kadosh.

Nov 10, 2023

https://twitter.com/GLZRadio/status/1723063426761519107

_____

The Messenger -

Hamas Commander Holding 1000 Hostages as Shields in Gaza Hospital, IDF Says.

8 nov 2023

https://themessenger.com/news/hamas-commander-holding-1000-hostages-as-shields-in-gaza-hospital-idf-says

Hamas’s human shields: ‘Terrorists left the hospital with civilians’.

IDF allows terrorists to leave Rantisi Hospital in Gaza to avoid harming Palestinian noncombatants, but later kills Hamas commander.

Yaakov Lappin

(November 11, 2023 / JNS)

The Israel Defense Forces evacuated Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City and chose not to target Hamas terrorists leaving it with civilians on foot and in cars and ambulances, military officials said on Saturday. The decision was made to avoid harming Palestinian noncombatants.

The IDF said it worked with the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) to later kill the terrorist who held hostage approximately 1,000 Gaza residents at the same hospital.

“Based on precise IDF and ISA intelligence, and with the direction of IDF ground troops, IDF aircraft struck Ahmed Siam, a commander of the Naser Radwan Company of the Hamas terrorist organization. Two days ago, the IDF spokesperson exposed that Siam held hostage approximately 1,000 Gaza residents at the Rantisi Hospital and prevented them from evacuating southwards for their safety,” said the Israeli military.

“Ahmed Siam was killed while hiding in the Al Buraq school, where additional terrorists were found and were killed. Siam demonstrates once again that Hamas uses the civilians of the Gaza Strip as human shields for terror purposes,” added the IDF.

The head of the IDF’s Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza, Col. Moshe Tetro, said on Saturday that “there is no shooting at [Shifa Hospital] and there is no siege. The east side of the hospital remains open. Additionally, we can coordinate [with] anyone who wants to leave the hospital safely.”

Nevertheless, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. (res.) Peter Lerner said on Saturday that hospitals would have to be evacuated in order to go after Hamas.

Maj. (res.) Shay, an operations officer in the Givati Infantry Brigade, stated: “Our mission is to destroy Hamas by reaching its infrastructure and leaders and making sure that Oct. 7 never happens again.

“We’ve seen hundreds of terrorists in underground facilities, in schools, mosques and clinics,” said Shay. “We were in the security quarter in Gaza. We saw a rocket launching site and rocket manufacturing facility along with a tunnel entrance right next to a school.”

A Givati Brigade unit reached Rantisi Hospital this week and had been asking civilians to leave for three full days, calling the hospital director and distributing pamphlets, said Shay. The unit eventually realized Hamas was holding hostages in the facility.

At this point, soldiers approached the hospital, placing themselves at risk, to create an exit route for Palestinian civilians.

“For me, as the operations officer in the command room, I can tell you clearly, we saw terrorists in the hospital and among those evacuating from the hospital. They were using the civilians as a human shield,” said Shay.

“We had a huge dilemma. We looked to identify terrorists in the hospital, trying to figure out if we could use snipers, but we decided not to, firstly to avoid panic and also because it was so hard for us to identify,” he added.

“The overall decision was that attempting to reach terrorists in the hospital would do more harm than good,” said Shay. So the IDF allowed Hamas operatives to leave with civilians.

Terrorists still shot at civilians evacuating the hospital, Shay said.

Meanwhile, IDF ground troops killed numerous terrorists and struck infrastructure and weapons belonging to Hamas’s Zabra Tel Elhua Battalion.

Israeli soldiers also carried out raids that included extensive battles in the southern part of the Sheikh Ijlin neighborhood, in western Gaza City, where a significant number of Hamas terrorists were located.

“Since the beginning of the ground operation, the IDF has taken control of 11 military posts belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization,” the IDF stated Saturday.

Israeli troops identified and neutralized a suspicious vehicle rigged with explosives in a crucial transit area. They also discovered and destroyed an underground tunnel near a school. Forces identified a terrorist cell and directed an aerial strike, eliminating the threat.

The Israel Navy conducted operations against Hamas in northern Gaza, striking infrastructure and weapons depots. IDF infantry identified targets within the Al-Shati Camp, directing naval forces to execute strikes.

Also on Saturday, the IDF and Shin Bet said they killed some 20 Gaza-based terrorists who orchestrated attacks in Judea and Samaria and Israel proper.

On Saturday night, the IDF announced that five additional soldiers had been killed in action in Gaza, bringing the death toll since the launch of the ground operation two weeks ago to more than 40.

In the north, Israel Air Force fighter jets struck terror infrastructure belonging to Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Sirens signaled a possible hostile aircraft intrusion, but no breach was confirmed. A rocket launched towards Moshav Margaliot hit an open area, prompting IDF artillery fire at the source in Lebanon. Additionally, an Israeli drone hit a launch site that had targeted an IAF aircraft near the northern border.

In a televised speech on Saturday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah stated, “There are two incidents that are getting bigger, the first is the Israeli aggression against civilians in Gaza and the second is the heroic and large response by the Palestinian resistance against the enemy forces.

“Those who can stop the aggression are those who manage it—the United States. Those who manage, decide and conduct this battle are in the [Biden] administration. And all of the pressure should be directed at the Americans,” said Nasrallah.

https://www.jns.org/we-saw-terrorists-leaving-the-hospital-with-civilians/

IDF kills Hamas commander who held Gazans hostage at Al Rantisi Hospital.

Ahmed Siam was killed while hiding in a school.

By Jerusalem Post Staff

November 11, 2023

The IDF eliminated Ahmed Siam, a company commander of Hamas's Naser Radwan Company, the terrorist responsible for holding approximately 1,000 Gazan residents hostage in Gaza's Rantisi Hospital preventing them from evacuating south to safety, the IDF said on Saturday.

The assassination succeeded with the efforts of both the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). Ground and air troops participated in the operation.

Siam was struck while hiding in a school

IDF aircraft struck Siam two days ago, the IDF spokesperson said. He was killed while hiding in the "al Buraq" school, where additional terrorists under this command were also hiding and were killed.

"Siam demonstrates once again that Hamas uses the civilians of the Gaza Strip as human shields for terror purposes," the IDF said.

Since the Swords of Iron war started on October 7, the IDF has killed numerous terrorists involved in the massacre and other leaders.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-772742

Gallant: Tonight - the world got to see what we have known for years.

Defense Minister on revelation that Hamas held hostages underneath a Gaza hospital: We will continue operating against Hamas - the ISIS of Gaza.

Israel National News, Nov 13, 2023, 11:24 PM (GMT+2)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday evening commented on the IDF’s revelation that Hamas held hostages under a hospital in the Gaza Strip.

“Tonight - the world got to see what we have known for years. The Hamas terrorist organization has cynically built a terror base underneath the ‘Rantisi’ hospital in Gaza, just as it does in additional hospitals and civilian institutions,” Gallant said.

“IDF troops revealed a Hamas command center underneath the hospital. Instead of finding medical equipment, they found ammunition, explosives, and clear signs that Israeli hostages had been held there - including babies,” he added.

“We will continue operating against Hamas - the ISIS of Gaza, and we will ensure that no terror base will be left untouched across Gaza. Any civilians located near such terror hotspots may be in danger and we call on them to evacuate to the safe zone in the southern region of Gaza,” the Defense Minister stressed.

https://www.inn.co.il/news/380445

WATCH: Video shows Hamas tunnel under Rantisi Hospital.

FOX News Videos

Mon, November 13, 2023 at 3:44 PM EST

https://finance.yahoo.com/video/watch-video-shows-hamas-tunnel-204407120.html

T@)_ @malachovsky:

Only the Jews have to prove every single thing with 50 pieces of evidence and it will still be denied at large. They can provide an MRI, three videos cam with different angles, an explanation, Hamas calling his father to brag about how many people he killed, 20 photos, eyewitness testimony, DNA evidence, and it will still be denied by people like Cassandra McDonald, the filthy Jew hating douchebag.

On the other hand Hamas ministry of health says it and it's gospel across the globe.

Nov 13, 2023

https://twitter.com/malachovsky/status/1724220331919872400

________

EU backs Israel on 'human shields' in Gaza.

Brussels, 13. Nov 2023, 22:18

The EU has backed Israel in saying that its unprecedented killing of civilians in Gaza is partly due to terrorists' use of "human shields", amid intense debate on the morality of the war.

"The EU condemns the use of hospitals and civilians as human shields by Hamas," EU foreign ministers said in a statement in Brussels on Monday (12 November).

https://euobserver.com/world/157687

AP News -

EU nations condemn Hamas for what they describe as use of hospitals, civilians as 'human shields'.

13 nov 2023

https://apnews.com/article/european-union-condemn-hamas-human-shields-2c0d1c04cb38fc4acce37d8d624e1a3f

The Media Line -

EU Nations Jointly Condemn Hamas for Its Use of ‘Human Shields’ in the Gaza Conflict.

14 nov 2023

https://themedialine.org/headlines/eu-nations-jointly-condemn-hamas-for-its-use-of-human-shields-in-the-gaza-conflict/

____

The Sun -

Israel forces wipe out Hamas terror squad holed up in Gaza hospital.

13 nov 2023

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24716336/israel-hamas-war-gaza-weapons-hospital-fuel/

____

Palestinian Media Watch.

Little girl tells the truth: Hamas is “underneath, in tunnels, and we – the victims who are dying – are civilians”.

Nan Jacques Zilberdik | Nov 22, 2023

Civilian in Gaza about Hamas: They are “hiding among the people… Let [them] go hide in Hell”

Hamas terror leader admitted in 2021 that they hide their military bases among civilians “in multistory buildings and in residential buildings”

“Children, the drunk, and the angry tell the truth,” goes the adage. This young Palestinian girl from Gaza certainly did so when she stressed the fact that members of the Hamas terror organization are hiding in tunnels, while they use civilians like her as human shields above ground:

Al-Mayadeen TV reporter: “What do you say to the resistance? They say that you are resistance fighters. You are children and [the Israelis] are killing you, and they say to the world that you are resistance fighters. What do you say to the Palestinian resistance?”

Girl: “They put the Arabs in danger. They are underneath, in tunnels, and we – the victims who are dying – are civilians.”

Posted text: “A reporter of the [Al-Mayadeen TV] channel that is affiliated with Hezbollah and Iran attempts to get a response in favor of Hamas out of the girl, but she told him the truth.”

[“Yalla The Good News,” X (Twitter) account, Nov. 11, 2023]

Another Gazan civilian expressed similar anger at Hamas and the other terror organizations in the Gaza Strip who “hide among the people”:

Palestinian man: “Regarding the resistance hiding among the people – why is it hiding among the people? Let it go hide in Hell.”

The reporter abruptly ends the interview and moves away from the Palestinian man:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnCuYAGX-Mk].

Al-Jazeera TV reporter: “These are the testimonies from the civilians.”

[Karim Gahin, X (Twitter) account, Nov. 14, 2023]

The previous video shows a live broadcast from Al-Jazeera TV, in which an Al-Jazeera TV reporter is interviewing a Palestinian man in a hospital in the Gaza Strip. When the reporter heard the man criticizing “the resistance” – a Palestinian euphemism for terror and the terror organizations – he moved away from the man, who tried to follow him to continue the interview. Apparently, his message is not one Al-Jazeera wants to broadcast.

Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that Hamas as a matter of policy uses civilians as human shields – in this war [https://palwatch.org/page/34641] and in previous ones [https://palwatch.org/page/6600]. Even PA Chairman Abbas’ Fatah Movement has criticized Hamas for endangering civilians by storing live ammunition in popular markets [https://palwatch.org/page/26044].

Truth is also said to come from “the horse’s mouth” – an authoritative source – and indeed, none other than Hamas terror leader Yahya Al-Sinwar admitted in 2021 that Hamas does indeed place “military and security bases among civilian residents,” including in “multistory buildings and in residential buildings and the like”:

Hamas terror leader Yahya Al-Sinwar: “Regarding the [Hamas] military and security bases that are located among civilian residents [in the Gaza Strip], this was a serious problem in the previous stages, and we and the resistance factions made efforts to carry out an operation of gradual movement and transfer of a large number of these bases from among the civilian residents, and we succeeded in carrying out a large portion of it. But there is still a portion that needs to be transferred, and Allah willing this operation will continue... We decided to transfer a large portion of the bases, especially those that are in multistory buildings and in residential buildings and the like.”

[Al-Jazeera Live, YouTube channel, June 6, 2021]

Yahya Al-Sinwar - Palestinian terrorist and senior member of the Hamas terror organization. Al-Sinwar was involved in the kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman in October 1994. Israeli soldier Nir Poraz was murdered during Israel's attempt to rescue Wachsman. Al-Sinwar was sentenced to 4 life sentences, but was released in the exchange deal for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.

Hamas war on Israel October 2023 - At least 1,200 Israelis, including over 1,000 civilians, were murdered and over 4,800 wounded, in addition to at least 244 (including 5 later released or liberated, 1 born in captivity, and 2 found murdered) who were abducted into the Gaza Strip, in a Hamas terror war that began when approximately 3,000 Hamas terrorists broke through Israel's security fence at the Gaza Strip border and launched a surprise attack, taking control of several Israeli towns and attacking a music festival on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which fell on the Sabbath, Oct. 7, 2023. During the massacre the terrorists tortured, raped, shot, beheaded, and burned their victims alive, murdering entire families and leaving at least 21 children without parents. Hamas terrorists also fired at least 5,000 rockets at Israeli population centers. In response, Israel launched Operation Iron Swords to counter the Hamas terror threat. Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon joined Hamas' terror war starting from the following day, attacking Israel from the north. Occasional rocket launches and shootings continued from Lebanon throughout the war.

https://palwatch.org/page/34781

________

WATCH: Gaza resident criticizes Hamas on Al Jazeera, reporter turns away and ignores him.

By Maariv Online, Jerusalem Post Staff. Published: November 15, 2023.

A resident in Gaza publicly criticized Hamas during an interview on the Qatar-run news channel on Tuesday. In response, the reporter turned away and ignored his statement.

Since the outbreak of war since the Hamas terror attacks on October 7, much of the foreign media around the world has covered the war in a biased way and favored reports from the terrorist group. One of the networks that has received the most criticism from within Israel is the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network, which broadcasts non-stop from the Gaza Strip.

In a short interview that was broadcast on Al Jazeera Tuesday from the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza, a Gazan resident publicly criticized Hamas. "Why are the members of the organization hiding among the citizens?" the man asked.

Upon hearing the man’s statement, the Al Jazeera reporter of the network took the microphone and immediately changed the subject – presumably because the elderly wounded man dared to challenge the ruthless Hamas regime, which does not allow dissent against their rule...

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-773289

________

The Hill -

Hamas is murdering Palestinian babies in Gaza hospitals.

15 nov 2023

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4311335-hamas-is-murdering-palestinian-babies-in-gaza-hospitals/amp/

______

Newsweek -

I Was Canceled for a Cartoon About Hamas' Human Shields. I Stand by It.

15 nov 2023

https://www.newsweek.com/i-was-canceled-cartoon-about-hamas-human-shields-i-stand-my-cartoon-its-critics-opinion-1843949

_____

IDF's Duvdevan Unit raids Hamas infrastructures, finds weapons in school.

By Jerusalem Post Staff, 11/18/2023.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-773887

______

The investigation of the terrorist of the Nuh'ba force |

The terrorist reveals in the investigation: "Hamas operatives place civilians on the roof of the house so that the IDF does not shell".

New documentation from the investigation of one of the terrorists who carried out the massacre, shows how Hamas uses the residents of Gaza as a human shield • "Israel will see 20, 30 or 50 civilians - therefore it will not shell the house", he claimed • Former prosecutor Mandelblit explained how the death penalty could be imposed on The captured Noh'ba terrorists.

N12 | Published 11.18.23

New documentation from the investigation of a terrorist: a terrorist from the Nuh'ba force who was caught during the massacre on October 7 in Kibbutz Miflasim. The documentation reveals how Hamas operatives use the residents of Gaza as human shields to save themselves.

In the documentation uploaded to the account of network influencer Yosef Haddad on the social network X (formerly Twitter), the terrorist is seen saying:

[https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1725908870197825538/pu/img/M5YT4KnaDDq_GaFK?format=jpg&name=900x900]

[https://twitter.com/YosephHaddad/status/1725908923654238294]

"Citizens are being taken advantage of. For example, we have heard a lot that the house of a Hamas operative should be bombed, so Hamas operatives place civilians, the 'wretched of the people', on the roof of the house." . The terrorist also says in the documentation, "Israel will see 20, 30 or 50 civilians - therefore it will not bomb the house." Also, the terrorist says in the documentation that he knows of cases in which the residents of Gaza were exploited for the purposes of Hamas.

Another photo was published this evening that shows how Hamas uses civilians: soldiers documented how armed men hide among a group of children so that they would not be harmed. The photo came to News 12 through a military source.

([https://img.mako.co.il/2023/11/18/mechablim_kids_autoOrient_g.jpg]

Terrorists in Gaza are surrounded by children who act as human shields)

Earlier this evening, Avichai Mandelblit, the former Attorney General, spoke on "Meet the Press" regarding the death sentence for the terrorists in the October 7 attack: " This is the most shocking event at the most serious levels of crimes against humanity and it is probably genocide. Therefore, there is no question . I can present four formats of imposing the death penalty. Even in a district court it is possible to reach these crimes."

Mandelblit added in an interview with Amit Segal and Lev Caspit, "If the prosecution asks for the death penalty - and it is justified to ask for the death penalty - the court will impose the death penalty. It is possible to re-establish the military court in Lod that was frozen. If terrible things happen - we will bring it back. This is the worst thing that has happened to us from the beginning of Zionism".

https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/6361323ddea5a810/Article-cbb96176383eb81027.htm

The Times of Israel -

IDF: Some 300 Gaza detainees questioned, give vital details on Hamas bases in hospitals.

20 nov 2023

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-some-300-gaza-terrorists-questioned-give-details-on-hamas-bases-in-hospitals/amp/

New York Post -

Hamas captives spill secrets about operating from hospitals: 'We became their human shields'.

20 nov 2023

https://nypost.com/2023/11/20/news/hamas-captives-spill-secrets-about-operating-from-hospitals-we-became-their-human-shields/amp/

_____

COGAT @cogatonline:

These are Hamas operatives running into the Rantisi during combat.

Hamas released this bit on an official bragging video. No shame.

#FreeGaza from Hamas

#NotATarget

Nov 19, 2023

https://twitter.com/cogatonline/status/1726250814514364497

______

Fortified terror tunnel exposed underneath Gaza's Al Shifa hospital complex.

Yoav Zitun, Nov 19, 2023.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hywtiapep

WATCH: Fortified Terror Tunnel Exposed Underneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

By Jewish Press News Desk - 7 Kislev 5784 – November 19, 2023

https://www.jewishpress.com/news/eye-on-palestine/hamas/watch-fortified-terror-tunnel-exposed-underneath-shifa-hospital-in-gaza/2023/11/19/

Israel: 55-Meter Fortified Tunnel Found Under Shifa Hospital.

November 19, 2023 6:06 PM

VOA News.

An opening to a tunnel that, according to Israel's military, was used by Palestinian militants under Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip as seen in this screen grab taken from a handout video released by the Israel Defense Forces, Nov. 19, 2023.

https://www.voanews.com/a/israel-55-meter-fortified-tunnel-found-under-shifa-hospital-/7361540.html

Israel War Room @IsraelWarRoom:

Joint IDF and ISA announcement: Fortified Terror Tunnel Exposed Underneath the Shifa Hospital Complex Based on IDF and ISA intelligence, IDF troops exposed a 55-meter-long terror tunnel 10 meters deep underneath the Shifa Hospital complex. A deep staircase leads to the entrance of the tunnel shaft, which consists of various defense means including a blast-proof door and a firing hole. This type of door is used by the Hamas terrorist organization to block Israeli forces from entering the command centers and the underground assets belonging to Hamas. The tunnel shaft was uncovered in the area of the hospital underneath a shed alongside a vehicle containing numerous weapons including RPGs, explosives, and Kalashnikov rifles. IDF and ISA forces are continuing to uncover the route of the tunnel.

Nov 19, 2023.

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_UAHImW4AADVgu?format=jpg&name=small]

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_UAHInWIAAKnkx?format=jpg&name=small]

https://twitter.com/IsraelWarRoom/status/1726286176598790429

_________

Detained Gaza terrorist says Hamas hid as hospital staff in Al Shifa.

Yoav Zitun, Ynet.

November 20, 2023:

The IDF reported on Monday that over 300 terrorists from different groups have been apprehended and brought to Israel for interrogation since the beginning of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip.

These interrogations, led by Unit 504 of the Intelligence Corps, which specializes in operating undercover agents, have provided substantial and valuable information aiding forces on the ground and leading to strikes against numerous terrorist targets.

To highlight the significance of these interrogations, the army released footage from the questioning of three detained terrorists. In the footage, one terrorist confesses to Israeli investigators that not only Hamas but also Palestinian Islamic Jihad members were active in Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza. He revealed that some even disguised themselves as medical staff, a fact known to the hospital’s staff, who were “angry about it” but seemingly took no action.

Another terrorist told investigators that terrorists concealed rockets in mattresses in the Palestine Red Crescent building, where a large number of displaced Gazans were staying, and decried Hamas’ practice of using civilians as “human shields.”

A third detainee informed his interrogators of terrorist activities at Al Rantisi Hospital and what he referred to as the “Swedish hospital” in Gaza, likely alluding to a clinic in the city. He observed around 100 “organized” terrorists in several groups near Al Rantisi Hospital. He reported that these terrorists used hospitals as bases for launching attacks while disguised in civilian clothing…

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bybdsbtnt

_________

The New York Times -

U.S. Says Hamas Operates Out of Gaza Hospitals, Endorsing Israel's Allegations.

14 nov 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/us/politics/hamas-hospitals-gaza-israel.html

Hamas has command node under Al-Shifa hospital, US official says.

By Jake Tapper, CNN

Updated 11:22 PM EST, Mon November 13, 2023

02:41 - Source: CNN

Israeli forces surround biggest Palestinian hospital

CNN —

A US official with knowledge of American intelligence says Hamas has a command node under the Al-Shifa hospital, uses fuel intended for it and its fighters regularly cluster in and around Gaza’s largest hospital.

The information comes after comments made Sunday by a top White House official that Hamas is using hospitals and civilian facilities.

“You can see even from open-source reporting that Hamas does use hospitals, along with a lot of other civilian facilities, for command-and-control, for storing weapons, for housing its fighters,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on CNN’s State of the Union. “Without getting into this specific hospital or that specific claim, this is Hamas’ track record, both historically and in this conflict.”

02:09 - Source: CNN

Tapper presses national security adviser about 600 Americans trapped in Gaza

Israel has insisted it is justified in taking military action around the hospital, despite criticism from the UN and other international organizations. The Israeli government announced it has created evacuation corridors and called for the removal of civilians, in addition to providing fuel.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/13/politics/al-shifa-hospital-us-intelligence/index.html

US says it has intelligence Hamas has used Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital to hold hostages

White House spokesman John Kirby made the claim, followed by the Pentagon.

By Justin Gomez, Luis Martinez and Shannon K. Crawford

November 14, 2023

https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-intelligence-hamas-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-hold/story?id=104887035

US says it has intelligence Hamas has used Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital to hold hostages

White House spokesman John Kirby made the claim, followed by the Pentagon.

By Justin Gomez, Luis Martinez and Shannon K. Crawford

November 14, 2023

https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-intelligence-hamas-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-hold/story?id=104887035

U.S. backs Israel's claim that Hamas used Al-Shifa as command center.

The White House says it has intelligence that shows Hamas was using Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital as a "command and control node," according to Warren Strobel, a national security reporter at The Wall Street Journal who joins CBS News with his latest reporting on the Israel-Hamas war.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/us-backs-israel-claim-hamas-al-shifa-command-center/

Hamas has command center at Gaza hospital: White House

San Francisco (AFP) – Palestinian militants have a command center at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, the White House said Tuesday, backing up a key Israeli justification for military moves on the facility.

Issued on: 15/11/2023

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231114-hamas-has-command-center-at-gaza-hospital-white-house

Hamas Stored Weapons, Military Comms Gear in Al-Shifa Hospital, IDF Video Reveals

By Ari Blaff, November 15, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/hamas-stored-weapons-military-comms-gear-in-al-shifa-hospital-idf-video-reveals/

IDF publishes evidence of weapons found inside Shifa Hospital’s MRI center

By Emanuel Fabian, November 15, 2023

[https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp_Image_2023-11-15_at_17.53.35-640x400.jpeg]

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-publishes-evidence-of-weapons-found-inside-shifa-hospitals-mri-center/

IDF finds AK47 hidden behind MRI scanner in Gaza hospital raid

15 November 2023 • 10:03pm

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, spokesman for the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) exhibited the weapons he claimed belonged to Hamas in video footage purportedly taken inside the hospital.

Other pictures show guns, ammunition and body armour which the IDF said were also found in the raid by its elite Shaldag unit and 36th division.

“These findings unequivocally prove that the hospital was used for terror, in complete violation of international law,” spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said...

7:07pm

Watch: IDF 'blows up Gaza government building'

5:04pm

Israel withdraws from Al Shifa hospital

1:57pm

BBC apologises as presenter says Israel is 'targeting medical staff and Arab speakers'

12:41pm

Watch: IDF soldiers on the grounds of Al Shifa hospital

11:55am

UN chief: Hamas must not use hospital as 'shield'

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/11/15/israel-gaza-latest-news-updates-hamas-palestine-day-40-live/

Initial IDF search of Al-Shifa Hospital reveals Hamas weapons, intelligence materials, military equipment.

([https://jewishinsider.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/16052629/WhatsApp_Image_2023-11-15_at_17.53.35-768x432.jpg]

IDF, Weapons found at Al-Shifa Hospital)

By Ruth Marks Eglash, November 16, 2023.

https://jewishinsider.com/2023/11/al-shifa-hospital-hamas-weapons-intelligence-israeli-army/

IDF reveals entrance to Hamas tunnel, weapons cache found in Shifa Hospital complex

Troops also locate a Hamas pickup truck with weapons in it, similar to those used in October 7 attacks; Gallant says military has moved on to 'next phase' of operation

By Emanuel Fabian and TOI Staff

16 November 2023

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-it-has-clear-information-linking-shifa-hospital-to-hamas-held-hostages/

Tunnel Found Under Al Shifa Hospital Complex

Tunnel Found

Plus: Hospital shafts, poetry holes, Osama bin Laden, Randi Weingarten, and more...

Liz Wolfe | 11.17.2023

[https://d2eehagpk5cl65.cloudfront.net/img/c800x450-w800-q80/uploads/2023/11/polspphotostwo093467-800x450.jpg.webp]

Under the hospital: Select journalists were allowed into the Al Shifa Hospital complex yesterday by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), where they were shown what is purportedly evidence of Hamas operations at and underneath the hospital.

On hospital grounds, there was a concrete and stone shaft that reportedly goes deep underground, with stairs and electrical wires. The IDF believes this is evidence of what they've long known—that Hamas operates out of this hospital, using civilians as human shields, and that tunnels beneath it are critical to the terrorist group's plots. IDF troops have not descended into the tunnel, yet, because of fear of booby traps, but have investigated via drones to try to suss out what lies deep beneath the surface.

Col. Elad Tsury, the commander of Israel's Seventh Brigade, "acknowledged the pressure on Israel to show evidence of Hamas activity at the hospital," according to the New York Times, "but said it might be days before troops descended the shaft."

Tsury also said that "soldiers were methodically searching the complex and had discovered weapons, explosives and computers, as well as the body of an Israeli hostage in a nearby building." The body of another hostage was found earlier today on the hospital grounds.

https://reason.com/2023/11/17/tunnel-found/_

US 'still convinced' Hamas used Al-Shifa as command center as Israeli raid continues

By Shannon K. Crawford and Molly Nagle ABC News

Friday, November 17, 2023

https://abc7news.com/us-still-convinced-hamas-used-al-shifa-as-command-center-as-israe/14074619/

Behind the Blast Door: Hamas Terrorist Base Under a Hospital.

Israel Defense Forces.

Nov 22, 2023

IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari reveals a hidden Hamas terrorism base beneath Gaza's largest hospital—stark proof of Hamas' direct threat to innocent lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUBxjB2NFMU

Israel Defense Forces @IDF:

A first look into Hamas’ underground city, underneath the Shifa Hospital complex:

Nov 22, 2023.

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1727387582378688562

'Post' joins Israeli forces in Hamas's Gaza tunnel underworld.

This was the first time a reporter from the Jerusalem Post crossed into Gaza since the IDF withdrawal in 2005.

By Yonah Jeremy Bob, November 22, 2023

The IDF on Wednesday brought The Jerusalem Post and selected other media outlets to view Hamas’s terror infrastructure at Al Shifa Hospital, especially its several-hundred-meter tunnel network, up close.

This was the first time that a reporter from the Post had crossed into Gaza since the IDF withdrawal in 2005, and it brought up close everything the IDF had found since November 15 that Hamas had tried desperately to hide at Shifa Hospital.

Laid out next to the Qatar facility within the Shifa complex was a vast amount not only of Hamas guns and grenades which the IDF found hidden throughout the hospital, but also rocket-propelled grenade launchers, large and small advanced drones for delivering explosives, and a variety of sophisticated intelligence platforms.

JPost enters the depths of Hamas's terror tunnels.

The vastness of the tunnel itself, with the Post viewing a variety of sophisticated rooms and the blast door which the IDF displayed earlier this week, was testimony to how important this location was to Hamas.

Among the rooms was a spacious bedroom with two large beds and a large modern air conditioning unit, a kitchenette, a bathroom, and other facilities, as well as extensive plumbing and electrical wiring to enable all of the infrastructure.

([https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/564958]

The entrance to an underground terror tunnel at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip)

Two members of the IDF’s special Yahalom unit for uncovering tunnels and IDF Chief Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari described the process of discovering the tunnel as a “huge riddle.”

They had intelligence about Hamas’s tunnel network at Shifa Hospital long before arriving at the site. However, not only is the hospital site immense, with an extensive number of spread-out buildings and courtyards, but also, they said, they had found signs that Hamas went out of its way to cover up and fill in the already well-concealed tunnels once they suspected that the IDF might take control of Shifa.

([https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1727387582378688562]

IDF reveals comprehensive footage of Hamas's 55-meter-long tunnel under Al-Shifa Hopsital in Gaza).

This meant that the Yahalom unit had to survey and inspect a large amount of land and courtyards around and between the Shifa Hospital buildings.

An initial breakthrough came on November 17 when the IDF destroyed a small structure that looked suspicious and was able to find one of the shafts and entrances to the greater tunnel network under the rubble of that structure.

The IDF showed the Post where the structure had previously stood and the initial shaft of the tunnel which they found, including the unusual spiral staircase which the IDF had presented at a press conference.

However, only several days later were they able to locate the more important part of the tunnel network, including all of the specialized rooms, likely used by Hamas battalion commanders.

Part of the delay was due to the priority of searching room-to-room for Hamas terrorists, weapons, intelligence, and anything linked to hostages or murdered Israelis.

Another delay came when the IDF announced on November 19 that it had arrived at a blast door whose breach required great care if troops were not to lose the opportunity to follow the tunnel beyond the door.

([https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/564765]

A blast door breached by the IDF in a tunnel under Shifa hospital in Gaza).

The Post was able to see the broken door and the hundreds of additional meters of the Hamas tunnel network beyond that point.

A taste of Hamas's Shifa secrets

The extensive weapons that IDF Col. Elad Tzuri presented were, he said, just a taste of what Hamas had hidden throughout the Shifa Hospital complex, considering that all the displayed weapons were only found in the last 48 hours.

This meant that all of the weapons, military equipment, and intelligence material that the IDF seized and publicized to the world in the early days of the Shifa-Hamas discoveries, including those hidden behind an MRI machine, were located in another area.

Tzuri said, “These items were found both in indoor and outdoor common areas – courtyards of the hospital as well as in patients’ rooms, and some in the vehicles of Hamas’s Nukbeh [elite] unit,” which were found on the hospital’s grounds.

([https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/564955]

Hamas weaponry found in Al-Shifa Hospital by Israeli forces)

Further, Tzuri noted that the IDF had found RPGs, improvised explosive devices, grenades, guns, drones, and materials used by Hamas naval commandos.

The IDF colonel said that Hamas had been completely rooted out of the Shifa area which was once one of its top locations, but that there were still pockets of Hamas resistance in other parts of northern Gaza.

Tzuri admitted that until he was given the order to go into Shifa, he had never imagined he would set foot on such a key Hamas command center, but added that he felt it was an honor to have been given the mission “to allow future generations of our children to live securely.”

In addition, Tzuri emphasized how the initial Hamas tunnel shaft discovered was near the outside of the Shifa complex, whereas the other end of the tunnel with the extensive rooms, was right next to the Qatari facility deep within the complex.

Hagari pointed out to the Post a spot some 50 meters away where the body of hostage Noa Marciano was found concealed after Hamas killed her.

IDF Maj. “D.” of the special forces Maglan Unit described to the Post special orders and training that he and his unit were given for handling medical staff and patients as they took control of the complex.

Senior IDF officials have emphasized that they were deeply involved in ensuring that Maglan soldiers had extra restrictive rules of engagement when entering the complex, which Hagari said on Tuesday had contributed to not a single civilian being killed during the IDF’s operation to take control.

D. said, “On Tuesday we were given responsibility for taking control of Shifa, along with IDF Brigade 7 and other units... the first mission was to take control. He also said that they worked with the Yahalom Unit to uncover tunnels.

The second mission had a technological focus, to bring as much information as possible to our defense establishment” for additional efforts against Hamas and for locating hostages.”

“The third mission was a humanitarian one,” D. said, detailing the provision of medical care, food, and water to patients who have not been able to evacuate, adding that his forces regularly interact with Palestinian civilians in the hospital, appointing a liaison for each facility to ensure orderly responses to the civilians’ needs.

Further, D said, “We enable the IDF to make progress without harming any civilians,” as well as providing specific intelligence to defense officials “to bring the hostages home.”

Asked about fighting related to Shifa, D said that they had not encountered resistance within the hospital, but he revealed that the IDF utilized a mixture of his forces and tanks on site to kill the five Hamas terrorists who tried to prevent the initial IDF intervention as Israeli forces were first entering.

([https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/564954]

The underground tunnel system below Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza).

The Post entered Shifa after crossing five or six checkpoints coming in from Kibbutz Be’eri near the border.

Initially, the journey was in jeeps across the no-man’s land fences between Israel and Gaza, which Hamas had bulldozed to carry out its October 7 massacre.

Next, there was a stage of crossing through the northern Gaza outskirts, with some “built-up” areas, though, since the war, all of these areas were destroyed, with mere shells of houses and buildings left in what has become a wasteland.

No Palestinians were to be seen anywhere in any of these areas, though the Post witnessed around 1,000 IDF troops split mostly into units of 10-50 in a variety of locations, along with tanks, D9s, and many other vehicles.

Eventually, the Post came to the famed Gaza beach area, which clearly once boasted fancy hotels, children’s attractions, and the full range of beach life.

All of that was shattered and steamrolled by the war.

([https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/564956]

Ruins of the area near Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip).

After some minutes driving along the Gaza beach, the Post entered the highly armored “Nimarim” which sources say have been able to take hits by five to eight Hamas anti-tank missiles and continue on their missions.

The armored vehicles have no regular windows for the approximately eight passengers, except one which can be opened on top and which the IDF forces opened once, they said, in order to better navigate a narrow area without crashing.

Mostly, the driver navigates with help from an additional soldier who has a highly sophisticated camera that shows the street ahead and behind.

The noise from the Nimarim was intense, but it felt more secure when entering the heart of Gaza City where Shifa is located.

On the way out of Gaza, the bleakness of what was left of Gaza City stood out starkly since some of the initial fear of what would greet us at Shifa had subsided and it was easier to look directly at the multi-year challenge of what rebuilding Gaza will look like... whenever the war is over and the future fate of Gaza is decided.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/gaza-news/article-774624

______

IDF: Some 300 Gaza detainees questioned, give vital details on Hamas bases in hospitals.

Military says suspects being interrogated at new facility in southern Israel; other Gazans in unprecedented numbers said willingly providing intel on Hamas activities.

By Emanuel Fabian and TOI Staff.

20 November 2023, 7:49 pm

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-some-300-gaza-terrorists-questioned-give-details-on-hamas-bases-in-hospitals/

________

The Sun -

Gaza hospital boss arrested for turning it into terror HQ with human shields.

23 nov 2023

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24835581/idf-arrests-al-shifa-hospital-boss-hamas-israel-salamiyah/

_____

Troops in Gaza find dozens of rockets under UNRWA boxes.

By Emanuel Fabian

December 2, 2023.

([https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2023/12/7b1dfb73-d3ce-4fc7-b3b0-bf2fb92732fd-640x400.jpg]

Dozens of rockets found by Israeli troops inside a residential home in northern Gaza, December 2, 2023).

The Israel Defense Forces says troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip have located dozens of rockets hidden under boxes with UNRWA markings in a residential home, and other weaponry belonging to Hamas.

Troops of the 7007th Reserve Battalion were searching a home in a neighborhood when they found a room full of boxes bearing the logo of the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees.

Underneath the boxes, dozens of rockets, mortars and other explosives were found, the IDF says.

Separately, troops of the 414th combat intelligence collection unit operating in a home in northern Gaza found grenades, weapon parts and other military equipment inside a child’s bedroom, the IDF says.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/troops-in-gaza-find-dozens-of-rockets-under-unrwa-boxes/

______

More 'proof' that Hamas use civilians as 'human shields': IDF releases video showing underground tunnel which it says was found inside a mosque as Israel pounds terror bases

By Perkin Amalaraj, 16:18 03 Dec 2023, updated 16:37 03 Dec 2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12820139/More-proof-Hamas-use-civilians-human-shields-IDF-releases-video-showing-underground-tunnel-says-inside-mosque-Israel-pounds-terror-bases.html

_____

Documentation: IDF forces located and destroyed an operational shaft in a school in the northern Gaza Strip.

The fighters, in cooperation with special forces, worked to neutralize the underground infrastructure, secured and isolated the area north of the Jabalia camp.

Channel 7, 2.12.23, 7:28 p.m

https://www.inn.co.il/news/621812 INN

_______

EXCLUSIVE

US News.

FIENDISH TACTICS Hamas ‘cowards’ stash AK-47s in babies’ cots and ‘send children to the frontline’ in Gaza as they cower under nurseries

Explosives also found in a baby formula tin - as a soldier describes hunt for Hamas as 'like fighting ghosts'.

Nick Parker

Published: 14:43 ET, Dec 5 2023.

Updated: 15:02 ET, Dec 5 2023

HAMAS terror troops have been hiding weapons in babies’ cots and sending children on to the frontline in Gaza, shocked Israeli soldiers told The Sun yesterday.

Terror tunnels have been found under a kindergarten and mosques have been used to store huge stashes of weapons among fiendish tactics.

([https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/idf-handout-pictures-showing-hamas-864229531.jpg?strip=all&w=960]

IDF handout pictures showing an AK47 in a cot Credit: IDS)

[https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/idf-handout-pictures-showing-hamas-864229523.jpg?strip=all&w=960

IDF handout pictures showing Hamas gear in a home. Credit: IDS)

But the most shocking ploy has been the alleged use of children as young as 10 and old folk to scout Israeli positions.

An army captain who has spent weeks in Gaza - and lost a comrade in battle - called The Sun from north Gaza yesterday to describe his daunting task as “like fighting ghosts.”

He described living hour-by-hour on the frontline, never knowing when elusive Hamas fighters might spring from a tunnel to attack before vanishing.

But the 27-year-old reservist officer insisted morale remained high among troops determined to wipe out the terrorist savages behind the October 7 attacks which claimed 1,200 lives.

The soldier - who The Sun agreed to name only as “Captain Daniel” - said: “Our enemy are cowardly - they don’t stand and fight and exposure to them is usually very short.

“It‘s 100 per cent true that it’s like fighting ghosts.

“Since we’ve been on the ground here there is not a single unit, not a single platoon, that hasn’t come across deeply troubling and disturbing signs.

“There was a situation where a very old man and a boy no older than around 10 appeared in front of us.

“They seemed entirely innocent and obviously appeared to be no threat, but it became clear very soon after that Hamas were using them to scout our position.

“Soon after we saw them we came under heavy fire and it’s now a tactic that we have to expect all the time as we move forward.

“Civilians are being used like this to either distract us and get our attention or tell the enemy where we are.”

Captain Daniel, of the Jerusalem Brigade’s 7007th Battalion, told how structures including schools and mosques are also being used as terror bases.

He said: “We went into a kindergarten with a playground with see-saws and slides outside and children’s pictures on the walls painted pink.

“But an entrance to a Hamas tunnel was inside which linked to their underground network and we found weapons, ammunition and explosives inside.

“Tactics like this are troubling but we are learning about our enemy and determined to finish the job here.

“We all appreciate the importance of our mission.”

IDF chiefs yesterday released exclusive images to The Sun which they claimed exposed their enemy’s twisted tactics.

The Israeli Defence Force’s 261st Division said they had unearthed an array of weaponry in “cynical places” during the recent ceasefire.

Pictures showed a Kalashnikov assault rifle hidden under the cot mattress with explosives next to it, said to have been found in the Naveh-Said neighbourhood of Al Atatra in north Gaza.

Other finds - which could not be verified - included explosives hidden in a container of baby formula booby trapped to a grenade.

A 50-foot terror tunnel shaft was also pictured, said to be inside a kindergarten in the same neighbourhood.

A whiteboard normally used by nursery school teachers inside a mosque also appeared to have been used to sketch diagrams depicting rocket-firing tactics.

And large caches of arms and explosives were also reported to have been recovered from two mosques in the same area by the same unit.

Captain Daniel, from Ra'anana, central Israel also told yesterday of the personal dangers he has faced during weeks of fighting - and the pain of losing a comrade in battle.

The officer was listening in on his radio when a firefight erupted nearby and comrade Lieutenant Yuval Zilber, 25.

Captain Daniel said: “Unfortunately, in the first week of our mission, my comrade Yuval Zilber was killed.

“A terrorist appeared from a tunnel shaft and he was killed by gunfire before we engaged and neutralised him.

https://www.the-sun.com/news/us-news/9792221/israel-gaza-hamas-terror-attack-war-weapons/amp/

_________

IDF finds massive weapons cache near Gaza clinic, school.

The stockpile contained "hundreds of missiles and RPG launchers of various types, dozens of anti-tank missiles, dozens of explosive charges, long-range missiles aimed at the center of the State of Israel, dozens of grenades and unmanned aerial vehicles."

([https://cdn.jns.org/uploads/2023/12/Screenshot-2023-12-06-122405-1320x880.jpg]

IDF troops confiscating one of the missiles found among hundreds of other weapons in a large stockpile in Gaza, Dec. 6, 2023. Screenshot: IDF/YouTube).

(December 6, 2023 / JNS)

Israeli forces have located a massive stockpile of weapons near a clinic and school in the Gaza Strip, the IDF said on Wednesday, describing it as “one of the largest found” since the start of the ground invasion on Oct. 27.

The arsenal, discovered by soldiers from the 460th Brigade of the 50th Battalion during operational activity, contained “hundreds of missiles and RPG launchers of various types, dozens of anti-tank missiles, dozens of explosive charges, long-range missiles aimed at the center of the State of Israel, dozens of grenades and unmanned aerial vehicles.”

Troops confiscated or destroyed many of the weapons. Some were transferred for further investigation.

“All of the terrorist infrastructure [was] found near civilian buildings in the heart of a civilian population. This is further proof of the cynical use that the terrorist organization Hamas makes of the residents of the Gaza Strip as a human shield,” the IDF said.

Earlier this month, Israeli soldiers found missiles and military gear hidden among U.N. relief supplies in the northern Gaza Strip.

More than 100 rockets, including 30 “Grad” rockets, were found hidden among boxes belonging to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the IDF said.

In November, the IDF’s 401st Brigade found a large number of weapons in bedrooms and under children’s beds in a building linked to a senior Hamas operative on the outskirts of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.

The military also discovered four tunnel shafts in Jabalia of significant depth from which heavy mortar fire had been directed towards Israel. The shafts connected to a central tunnel located in a building linked to another senior Hamas operative.

https://www.jns.org/idf-finds-massive-weapons-cache-near-gaza-clinic-school/

______

Terrorists fired rockets from humanitarian zone in Gaza.

"The rockets were launched near the tents of Gazan citizens who were evacuated to the south of the Gaza Strip for their protection."

([https://cdn.jns.org/uploads/2023/12/GAu5UJcWcAAjn_G-e1701944064179-1320x880.jpeg]

Rockets fired at Israel from Gaza's humanitarian zone near tents for displaced residents and a U.N. facility. Credit: IDF.Rockets fired at Israel from Gaza's humanitarian zone near tents for displaced residents and a U.N. facility. Credit: IDF).

(December 7, 2023 / JNS)

Hamas terrorists on Wednesday launched rockets at Israel from the humanitarian zone in southern Gaza near displaced civilians and a United Nations facility.

The Israeli military on Thursday published visual evidence of the launch site where, around 3:59 p.m., a barrage of 12 rockets was fired at the city of Beersheva.

“The rockets were launched near the tents of Gazan citizens who were evacuated to the south of the Gaza Strip for their protection and near the U.N. facilities,” the IDF said.

Earlier on Wednesday, at 12:52 p.m., Hamas attempted a rocket launch at Israeli territory from the humanitarian zone; it hit in the Gaza Strip, endangering local residents.

Another rocket launch from the humanitarian zone took place at 2:12 p.m.

Palestinian terrorists have fired more than 11,500 rockets towards Israeli territory since Hamas launched a war against the Jewish state on Oct. 7, when thousands of terrorists stormed the border, murdered more than 1,200 persons, mostly civilians, wounded over 5,000 others and took approximately 240 hostages back to Gaza.

Three people were lightly wounded in Israel on Tuesday by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

Israel has long noted that Hamas fires rockets from civilian areas, including next to schools, hospitals, mosques and U.N. buildings, and has found evidence of this during its ground operation that began on Oct. 27.

Israeli soldiers found missiles and military gear hidden among U.N. relief supplies in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said on Dec. 2.

One hundred ten rockets, including 30 Grad projectiles, were found hidden among boxes belonging to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which supports Palestinian refugees and their descendants, the IDF said.

The rockets were found inside a home in a densely populated area.

https://www.jns.org/hamas-fired-rockets-at-israel-from-humanitarian-zone-in-gaza/

________

Baby doll? weapons and ammunition were found inside Teddy bear in Gaza.

IDF forces located a teddy bear, and inside it sniper weapons and ammunition. Also, in a nearby school, weapons were found that were disguised inside classrooms, some of them were hidden in UNRWA bags

12/9/2023

https://www.maariv.co.il/news/military/Article-1058362

America Reports,

December 09, 2023.

CLIP.

IDF finds sniper rifle, ammunition hidden inside teddy bear.

The Israel Defense Forces said troops in the 551st Division found weapons and ammunition inside of schools in Gaza, including a sniper rifle that was stashed inside a teddy bear. (Credit: Israel Defense Forces)

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6342674760112

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As IDF ups ops in Gaza, Hamas targets troops from schools, mosque.

Palestinian terrorists opened fire on Israeli soldiers from an UNRWA school in Beit Hanun.

Charles Bybelezer

(December 9, 2023 / JNS)

Israel Defense Forces troops continued to operate deep inside the Gaza Strip on Saturday as fighter jets struck Hamas assets across the Palestinian enclave.

In one operation, terrorists holed up in a school in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City ambushed Israeli soldiers, who responded with fire to eliminate the threat.

The IDF on Saturday published video of Hamas terrorists in Shejaiya beating Palestinian civilians and stealing their supplies.

“The Hamas terrorist group deprives Gaza residents of food and equipment, delivering them instead to its members to satisfy their needs,” said IDF Arabic-language Spokesman Avichay Adraee. “Hamas is the enemy of the people in Gaza.”

[https://twitter.com/AvichayAdraee/status/1733475789008519360]

The IDF also said Hamas was continuing to fire rockets at Israel from humanitarian safe zones in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Palestinian terrorists on Saturday opened fire on troops from an UNRWA school and a mosque in Beit Hanun, in the northeastern Strip.

[https://www.jns.org/as-idf-pushes-deeper-into-gaza-hamas-targets-troops-from-schools-mosque/

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Terrorists armed with shoulder-fired missiles struck by the IDF.

Israel National News

Dec 11, 2023, 10:21 AM

IDF locates truck containing long-distance rockets near a school in Gaza, explosive devices inside UNRWA-labeled bags in civilian residence.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/381763

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IDF troops find weapons concealed in incubators at Gaza hospital.

Army IDF completes large-scale operation at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya; firearms, anti-tank missiles, explosive and valuable intelligence recovered; 90 terror suspects apprehended

Ynetnews | Dec 16, 2023

IDF forces found weapons concealed in incubators inside a Gaza Strip medical center, the army revealed on Saturday, highlighting the use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes by Palestinian terrorist groups.

In a statement, the IDF said recently completed, in cooperation with the Shin Bet security agency, a large-scale operation at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya, which had been utilized by Hamas as a command and control center.

The IDF reported the apprehension of approximately 90 individuals suspected of terrorist activities, including some implicated in the October 7 massacre.

The operation, extending over several days, led to the discovery and destruction of extensive terror infrastructure. A variety of weapons were located, including AK-47s, anti-tank missiles, explosive devices, military equipment of Hamas' Nukhba force, technological devices and documents linked to Hamas intelligence.

([https://ynet-pic1.yit.co.il/picserver5/crop_images/2023/12/16/BJgUQ00s8T/BJgUQ00s8T_0_0_1600_1200_0_x-large.jpg]

Combat gear uncovered by IDF forces at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya).

([https://ynet-pic1.yit.co.il/picserver5/crop_images/2023/12/16/HJYz7uj86/HJYz7uj86_0_0_900_1600_0_x-large.jpg]

Terror suspects apprehended by IDF forces at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya).

A notable aspect of the operation was the IDF and Shin Bet's interrogation of hospital staff, who revealed that weapons were concealed in incubators within the NICU – incubators meant for the care of premature infants. This led to the subsequent discovery of additional weapons, classified documents and tactical communication devices hidden in the hospital.

The IDF emphasized the complex nature of the operation, particularly due to the hospital's dual use for civilian healthcare and terrorist activities. The military has highlighted its efforts to minimize civilian harm while targeting Hamas infrastructure.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b15f0ps8p

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Tunnel shaft found in children's room in Gaza.

Israel National News

Dec 17, 2023, 11:53 AM

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382081

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Gaza hospital director describes how Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes.

Ahmed Kahlot, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya, details how Hamas had private ambulance and phones in his hospital.

Israel National News, Dec 19, 2023.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382211

Gaza hospital director admits Hamas used medical complex as operational hub

Ahmed Kahlot says doctors, nurses were members of al-Qassam Brigades and Islamic Jihad's Quds Brigades; three soldiers killed in northern Gaza, IDF kills top Hamas money launderer

By Emanuel Fabian and TOI Staff

19 December 2023.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/gaza-hospital-director-admits-hamas-used-medical-complex-as-operational-hub/amp/

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Books and guns: IDF raids school in northern Gaza and uncovers Hamas weaponry, terrorists.

Troops discover school in the Gaza City neighborhood of Sheikh Radwan houses a wide array of rifles, grenade launchers and explosive charges, and eliminate a nearby terrorist squad.

Yoav Zitun | published: 12/24/2023 11:01

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rjki00kupp

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IDF kills Hamas terrorists hiding in Gaza schools.

The Islamist gunmen were operating inside two UNRWA facilities in Gaza City.

Israeli troops operating in the

(December 25, 2023 / JNS)

Israeli soldiers fought Hamas terrorists operating inside two United Nations schools in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday.

The military said the terrorists were hiding inside the Al Rafaa and Zavaha schools in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City.

“This is further evidence that Hamas uses the civilian population and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip as human shields for its terrorist activity,” added the IDF.

After killing the terrorists, IDF Nahal Brigade troops located dozens of explosive devices hidden inside UNRWA bags, along with Kalashnikov rifles and 15 suicide belts.

The IDF said that some of the terrorists in the schools were members of Islamic Jihad. Several had participated in the Oct. 7 massacre of some 1,200 persons during Hamas’s attack on Israeli communities near the Gaza border.

The use of the sacks belonging to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) raises further questions about its role in supporting Hamas.

Earlier this month, Israeli soldiers discovered more than 100 rockets hidden in UNRWA boxes inside a home in northern Gaza.

In October, UNRWA reported that fuel and humanitarian aid was stolen from one of its compounds by people purporting to be from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

One released hostage told Israeli Channel 13 reporter Almog Boker that he was held captive by a UNRWA teacher. The hostage said the teacher locked him away and barely fed him or provided him medical treatment.

Also on Monday, Israeli soldiers in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis raided a complex featuring a weapons-making facility and a concrete factory producing material that Hamas used for the construction of tunnels.

Combat engineers destroyed the compound along with a lathe and a large quantity of munitions.

According to the IDF, the Armored Corp’s reserve Kiryati Brigade, which located and destroyed the complex, has destroyed more than 100 Hamas sites in the area of Khan Yunis, including underground facilities and tunnel shafts.

Khan Yunis, the second largest city in Gaza, is a personal stronghold of Hamas leader in the Strip Yahya Sinwar, whose family lives there.

On Sunday night, the IDF announced the completion of a “large-scale operation to dismantle the northern underground headquarters of Hamas in Gaza.”

Troops retrieved the bodies of five hostages earlier this month after discovering the subterranean tunnel network during activities in the Jabalia camp, the largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight refugee camps.

https://www.jns.org/idf-kills-hamas-terrorists-hiding-in-gaza-schools/

Terrorists, weapons found hiding in 2 more Gaza schools.

IDF soldiers located dozens of explosive devices in UNRWA bags, Kalashnikovs and 15 explosive belts; Hamas terrorist fired an anti-tank missile at Israeli troops.

Yoav Zitun | published: 12/25/2023 10:47

[...]

([https://ynet-pic1.yit.co.il/picserver5/crop_images/2023/12/25/rybAaQbvD6/rybAaQbvD6_18_20_1175_1355_0_x-large.jpg]

Weapons found inside a school during an encounter with terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip)

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h100durdpa________

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IDF arrests terrorists who hided in a school, used women and children as shields.

Yoav Zitun | published: 12.30.23 |

The 188th Brigade has been operating in the Al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip since the beginning of the week. In their operations, the brigade's soldiers have encountered numerous terrorists launching attacks from buildings and civilian areas. Since the commencement of their mission in the camp, the troops have discovered and destroyed four rocket launchers, exposing nine explosive devices.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjzhscava

IDF Rescues Palestinian Civilians from School Used by Hamas for Attacks.

Joel B. Pollak. 30 Dec 2023.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) evacuated Palestinian civilians from a school in central Gaza that was being used by Hamas terrorists to fire at Israeli soldiers, and arrested and interrogated the terrorists from the building, Israel announced Saturday.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/12/30/idf-rescues-palestinian-civilians-from-school-used-by-hamas-for-attacks/

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ANI News

Ex-Hamas operatives confirm terror group uses Gaza civilians as human shields: IDF.

January 2, 2024

https://www.aninews.in/news/world/middle-east/ex-hamas-operatives-confirm-terror-group-uses-gaza-civilians-as-human-shields-idf20240102114135/

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IDF uncovers, destroys explosive devices in UNRWA kindergarten in West Bank. Jerusalem Post Staff, January 4, 2024.

Israeli security forces located and found and confiscated weapons and hundreds of explosive devices in the West Bank Nur Shams refugee camp inside a building that also housed a kindergarten run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), according to a Thursday IDF statement.

In addition, many weapons and other pieces of military equipment were confiscated and destroyed, besides those found in the kindergarten.

The operation was a joint effort between IDF reservist teams, the Shin Bet, and the Border Police and was the result of a 40-hour-long counter-terrorism operation in which hundreds of buildings were searched and hundreds of suspects were questioned, leading to 11 arrests.

Trapped building, car, and explosives surrounding

Forces searched a booby-trapped building, the lower floor of which housed a UNRWA-run kindergarten. The building also contained an operating system connected to explosives surrounding the building as well as on access roads leading to it.

A booby-trapped vehicle was also found near the building. It was destroyed along with the infrastructure inside the building and the explosives in the surrounding area….

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-780826

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Children, women and the elderly: Hamas observers who pass info to Sinwar.

By Amur Bohbot. Published: January 7, 2024 14:03

Updated: January 7, 2024 14:26

([https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_428,w_640/569974]

A boy wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh takes par in a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian children in Gaza Strip, Istanbul, Turkey, December 23, 2023. photo credit: REUTERS/DILARA SENKAYA)

Sinwar has a massive network of people who seem like innocent civilians but are actually passing information to him. The planner of the October 7 massacre uses children in his network.

Khan Yunis has been visited recently by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar, with intentions of helping to concentrate the military's efforts in the Gaza Strip. They are hoping to help forge the path to finding the hideouts of the Hamas military leadership, who are using hostages as their "human shields."

One of the challenges the forces face in the Gaza Strip is a branched system of tunnels. The tunnels and shafts are used for several purposes, including logistics (food, water, medicine, etc.), ventilation, electricity, and the entry and exit of activists and senior officials from area to area during battle. The deeper they went, the greater the passage of the activists in the tunnels...

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-781148

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"We are a human shield": the investigation of a terrorist reveals more of Hamas' working method.

Investigations by Unit 504 in the Intelligence Division reveal the terrorist organization's cynical exploitation of the civilians in the Gaza Strip • "When the soldiers entered, the terrorists sat among the civilians they forced into the hospital," the terrorists told the investigation.

Lilach Shoval, 1/1/2024, 11:26, updated 1/1/2024,

[...]

"If you don't like it, I'll put the explosive between you and your wife." This is how the Islamic Jihad terrorist tells the investigation about a case in which Hamas threatened a citizen after placing an explosive near his house...

When a Hamas terrorist placed an explosive device near the door of a civilian's house, Muhammad Darwish Amara, an operative in the Islamic Jihad recalls, emwhen the resident came to the terrorist and asked him why he did it, because if the bomb explodes, 'me and the children will blow up,' in response, the terrorist threatened him to put the charge between him and his wife.

https://www.israelhayom.co.il/news/defense/article/15031717

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Rocket launchers found near kindergarten and mosque.

Rocket launchers near a kindergarten and an underground tunnel route beneath a civilian water station.

[https://a7.org/files/pictures/000/1146185.jpg]

Israel National News

Feb 9, 2024, 2:35 PM

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/384952

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Hamas uses civilians as human shields, Gazan journalist states.

By Jerusalem Post Staff Published: February 15, 2024.

Saftawi says it's the first time in a decade that he's been able to speak on this publicly.

Gaza-based journalist Jehad Saftawi said on Tuesday that the Hamas terrorist organization indeed uses civilians as human shields in the war against Israel.

"Hamas terrorists used my family and hundreds of our neighbors as human shields. Hamas continues to hold the people of Gaza captive," Saftawi posted on X. "There should be no reconstruction of my family's home while a stockpile of weapons lies underneath.

"Goals rather than causes are what is behind Hamas's masterminds' wars. The case for removing Hamas is not to fuel escalation but to prevent it, which is why they should never be allowed to retake control of Gaza," he continued to say. Saftawi then admitted that it was the first time in more than 10 years that he's "been able to speak about this publicly," stating that it's "a cry for realignment for our Palestinian society as well as an appeal to the international community."

In a piece he wrote for Time magazine, the Palestinian journalist began by saying that the terrorist organization "built tunnels beneath my family's home in Gaza. Now it lies in ruin." He also states that it's been seven years since he escaped Gaza, and later fled to the United States.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-787028

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IDF: 100 terror suspects apprehended in Nasser Hospital.

IDF activity in central Gaza, Khan Yunis, and Nasser Hospital continues; at least 100 terror suspects arrested thus far in Nasser Hospital.

Israel National News, Feb 17, 2024.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/385344

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Israel uncovers heavy weapons cache at Gaza’s largest hospital — including in maternity ward.

By Ronny Reyes, March 25, 2024.

[https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/activity-idf-nahal-patrol-targeted-78995261.jpg?resize=768,842&quality=75&strip=all]

https://nypost.com/2024/03/25/world-news/idf-uncover-weapons-cache-at-al-shifa-hospitals-mri-center/

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Hamas fired rockets toward Ashdod from inside humanitarian shelter.

By Tzvi Joffre, Jerusalem Post Staff, March 25, 2024.

[https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/f_auto,fl_lossy/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_428,w_640/587360]

Hamas weapons were found by forces from Sayeret Nahal in the MRI complex and maternity ward at Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-793600

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‘Hamas is firing mortars at Shifa’: IDF reveals Hamas abuse of Gaza hospital

By Sam Halpern. Published: March 25, 2024.

Shortly after midnight on Monday, Hamas admitted on its Telegram channel that it had fired mortar shells at IDF troops in the vicinity of Shifa Hospital.

Hamas is holding civilians, including medical staff, as human shields in Gaza’s Shifa Hospital while simultaneously targeting the medical institution, Israeli military officials reported on Sunday and Monday.

Reportedly, Hamas fired mortars at the hospital on Sunday.

During his Sunday evening public address, IDF spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari stated, “Terrorists hiding around the hospital fired mortars at our forces, causing extensive damage to the hospital buildings. I repeat: Hamas is firing mortars at the Shifa hospital.”

Shortly after midnight on Monday, Hamas admitted on its Telegram channel that it had fired mortar shells at IDF troops in the vicinity of Shifa Hospital.

“Al-Qassam Brigades, in conjunction with the al-Quds Brigades, are attacking enemy forces penetrating the vicinity of al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City with mortar shells,” Hamas wrote.

Hagari added that the Gaza-based Islamist terror organization was destroying the hospital and had caused “extensive damage” to hospital infrastructure as it attempted to target IDF troops operating in the area.

According to the IDF spokesperson, one such attack had resulted in the hospital’s generator failing, after which Israeli forces helped to return electricity to the building.

Despite the damage caused to the hospital, Hagari stated that the thus-far six-day IDF operation in the area of Shifa Hospital, which has resulted in the elimination of 170 terrorists and the arrest of hundreds of others, has been one of the most successful since the start of the war.

More proof that Hamas uses human shields

“Our operation at Shifa Hospital proves once again: Hamas systematically uses hospitals to wage war and consistently uses the people of Gaza as human shields,” Hagari concluded.

The following morning, Maariv, citing estimates from IDF sources, reported that terrorists within the Shifa Hospital complex were likely holding civilians and medical staff as human shields.

In response, Israeli forces have reportedly escalated pressure on the hospital compound, urging those hiding within to come out to turn themselves in.

Maariv added that loud explosions were reportedly heard in the area.

Also, on Monday morning, the IDF published an update on the Israeli military's activities in Shifa Hospital and the Al Amal area.

According to the report, the IDF has arrested 500 terrorists in the area with affiliations to either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The IDF troops also recovered weapons in the area...

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-793576

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Holding human shields: IDF's Hagari reveals Hamas abuse of Shifa.

By Sam Halpern.

03/25/2024 — Hamas is holding civilians, including medical staff, as human shields in Gaza's Shifa Hospital while simultaneously targeting the medical institution.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-793576

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Interrogated Hamas official: Al Shifa Hospital was extensively used for terror.

A member of Hamas intelligence wing that was apprehended by the IDF, has detailed the various branches of the Palestinian terror organization that utilized Al Shifa Hospital as a terror base, contrary to pro-Palestinian sources and media outlets previously denying it

Yoav Zitun, Gilad Meiri | published:04.03.24 |18:33

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rjyvxrj1r

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Senator Vance Blasts President Biden’s “incoherent” Handling Of Israel-hamas War.

May 12, 2024:

... ‘why are Palestinian civilian casualties so high?’ It’s because Hamas started the war and now, they hide behind Palestinian civilians. So if you want to learn the lessons of the last 40 years, the most important thing is we have to defeat Hamas as a viable military organization. You’re never going to defeat the ideology of Hamas, but you can root out those commanders, those final military-trained battalions, and I think you should empower the Israelis to do it.

https://www.vance.senate.gov/press-releases/senator-vance-blasts-president-bidens-incoherent-handling-of-israel-hamas-war/

State Dept stresses no conclusion on Israel's possible international law. violations after critical report

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel rips Hamas' track record of "co-locating' with infrastructure, 'using civilians as human shields'.

By Danielle Wallace. Fox News.

May 13, 2024.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/state-dept-stresses-no-conclusion-israel-possible-international-law-violations-critical-report

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Watch: Hamas terrorists firing at civilians at UNRWA compound near Rafah.

IDF conveyed the findings to UN officials

i24NEWS, May 14, 2024

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel-at-war/artc-watch-hamas-terrorists-firing-at-civilians-at-unrwa-compound-near-rafah

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Hamas denies patients treatment, Gazans don't support them, foreign volunteer doctor reveals

Dr. Baxtiyar Baram, who volunteered in northern Gaza says only 10% of people back Hamas, but the group continues to have control.

By Seth J. Frantzman. JPost.

05/29/2024

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-804116

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In A Child's Bedroom:

IDF locates rocket and mortar cache in Rafah.

Israel National News.

Jun 3, 2024, 5:29 PM

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/391008

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Rafah operation: IDF finds tunnel shaft in child's bedroom | PHOTOS.

The Israeli army released pictures of weapons found during its counter-terror operation in Rafah.

i24NEWS, June 06, 2024

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel-at-war/artc-rafah-operation-idf-finds-tunnel-shaft-in-child-s-bedroom-photos

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WATCH: IDF soldiers find weapons in baby crib in Rafah.

By Jerusalem Post Staff, June 7, 2024

Nahal Brigade soldiers discover weapons in a house in Rafah, Gaza Strip, June 7, 2024. (IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

The soldiers fought in close-quarter battles with armed terrorists above and below ground.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-805359

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Gaza Chief’s Brutal Calculation: Civilian Bloodshed Will Help Hamas.

Yahya Sinwar’s correspondence with compatriots and mediators shows he is confident that Hamas can outlast Israel

Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas military leader in Gaza, greeted supporters at a 2021 rally. Ahmed Deeb for The Wall Street Journal

By Summer Said and Rory Jones. WSJ.

June 10, 2024.

For months, Yahya Sinwar has resisted pressure to cut a ceasefire-and-hostages deal with Israel. Behind his decision, messages the Hamas military leader in Gaza has sent to mediators show, is a calculation that more fighting—and more Palestinian civilian deaths—work to his advantage.

“We have the Israelis right where we want them,” Sinwar said in a recent message to Hamas officials seeking to broker an agreement with Qatari and Egyptian officials.

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/gaza-chiefs-brutal-calculation-civilian-bloodshed-will-help-hamas-626720e7

Hamas’s Sinwar said to laud high civilian death toll in Gaza as ‘necessary sacrifice’

Wall Street Journal report details. messages to interlocutors in which Gazan terror chief exalts Palestinian deaths as helping increase pressure on Israel

By ToI Staff. Times Of Israel.

11 June 2024.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamass-sinwar-said-to-laud-high-civilian-death-toll-in-gaza-as-necessary-sacrifice/

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IDF identifies terror launches from humanitarian shelters in Gaza Strip.

Jerusalem Post Staff, June 15, 2024.

Terror organizations in the Gaza Strip launched five projectiles from a Humanitarian Area in central Gaza toward the area of Kibbutz Kissufim on Friday, the IDF revealed on Saturday.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-806315

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Israel rejects UN explanation for 'Hamas’ use of human shields’ excluded from report.

Virginia Gamba, special representative to the U.N. secretary-general, told JNS that word count limits left no space to mention that the terror organization embeds deliberately among civilians.

Israel National News, Jun 19, 2024, 2:01 PM (GMT+3)

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/391780

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IDF says it struck rocket launcher stationed inside Gazan ‘humanitarian zone.’

2 reservists killed fighting in Strip * Blinken stresses Lebanon de-escalation during meet with Hanegbi, Dermer * Top US diplomat said to suggest Israel poised to attack Hezbollah.

By TOI Staff.

21 June, 2024, 4:41 am

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hosting-pms-aides-blinken-stresses-need-to-surge-gaza-aid-plan-for-post-war-governance/

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IDF destroys launch site placed in humanitarian zone, escalates operations in Rafah.

Jerusalem Post, June 21, 2024:

The IDF destroyed a launch site on Thursday that was placed inside a humanitarian zone in Khan Yunis by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and has continued its operations in Rafah, the IDF announced on Friday morning.

The launch site was placed inside a shelter located in the humanitarian zone. The Israeli Air Force then struck it from an aircraft. The IDF emphasized that before the strike, various measures were taken to mitigate harm to civilians.

“Terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip continue to place weapons and terrorist infrastructure amid the civilian population, endangering them and using them as a human shield,” the IDF said.

Additionally, the IDF said that troops have been continuing to operate in the area of Rafah and have been working to eliminate terrorists there in close-quarters combat, conducting “precise, intelligence-based” actions in the area.

Residents in the area said that Israelis appeared to be trying to complete their capture of Rafah, the city on the enclave’s southern edge that has been the focus of an Israeli assault since early May….

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-807149

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IDF attacks terrorists based in a school in Khan Yunis.

By Jerusalem Post Staff, June 27, 2024.

The IDF attacked terrorists who were in a school complex in Khan Younis, which served as a command center for Hamas terrorists, the IDF announced Thursday.

Israel Air Force fighter jets, directed by the Southern Command, attacked terrorists who were in the "Al-Hasana" school complex in the Khan Younis area. Hamas terrorists planned, directed, and executed numerous terrorist operations while based at the school.

According to the IDF, the attack used precise ammunition, and several efforts were made to avoid, as much as possible, harming uninvolved civilians.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-807983

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A kilometer-long tunnel and a mosque full of firecrackers were destroyed in the Gaza Strip. Documentation.

The only reserve division in the Gaza Strip has been fighting for the past few months in the area of the central corridor of the Gaza Strip.

By Tzipora Simantov • 01.07.24 • 25 Sivan, 5784.

([https://www.now14.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/WhatsApp_Image_2024-06-27_at_12.29.30-768x513.jpeg]

A kilometer-long tunnel was destroyed: dozens of terrorists killed and more than 100 terrorist infrastructures destroyed | Photo: IDF spokesman).

Terrorism under the auspices of religion:

Division 99, the only reserve division in the Gaza Strip, has been fighting for the past few months in the area of the central corridor of the Gaza Strip. During the fighting, a kilometer-long tunnel was destroyed, dozens of terrorists were eliminated and more than 100 terrorist infrastructures were destroyed. In addition, the forces attacked a mosque, which was a place of stay and fortification for the terrorists.

During the division's fighting, the "Alexandroni" and "Hazaken" brigade combat teams eliminated dozens of terrorists and destroyed more than 100 terrorist infrastructures, military depots, observation posts, launch pits and underground tunnel routes. In cooperation with the forces of the Yahalom unit, the forces destroyed a terrorist tunnel with a length of one kilometer which included branches that were used for the movement of terrorists in the area.

https://www.now14.co.il/?p=973054

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IAF strikes terrorists operating in UNRWA schools.

IDF says Hamas terrorists used 2 schools in Gaza City area as hideouts from which its operatives planned, directed, and carried out numerous terror attacks against IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip.

Israel National News.

Jul 4, 2024, 4:11 PM

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced Thursday afternoon that earlier today, the IAF struck terrorists who operated from UNRWA schools in the area of Gaza City- the "Alqahirah" School in Al-Furqan, and the "Musa" School in Daraj Tuffah.

The IDF stated that the schools were used as hideouts for terrorists and as an active operational infrastructure of the Hamas terrorist organization, from which its operatives planned, directed, and carried out numerous terror attacks against IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip.

Prior to the strike, a number of steps were taken to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians, including conducting aerial surveillance, using precise munition, and additional intelligence measures.

"The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violated international law, exploiting civilian structures and populations as human shields for its terror attacks against the State of Israel," the IDF stated.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/392555

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IDF kills dozens of terrorists hiding in UNRWA schools, increase attacks in Shejaia.

The IDF found dozens of terrorists to be hiding in UNRWA schools and eliminated the facilities along with other Hamas.

By Jerusalem Post Staff.

06/28/2024.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-808147

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IDF issues evacuation orders, strikes Khan Yunis after Hamas rocket barrage.

The IDF took preventive measures to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians, enabling civilians to evacuate from the area on time, the military said.

By Rikki Zagelbaum. JPost.

07/02/2024.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-808648

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IDF strikes Hamas terrorists operating from UNRWA school in central Gaza Strip.

By Jerusalem Post Staff.

07/06/2024 09:59 PM

Earlier on Saturday, the Israel Air Force (IAF) struck several terrorists operating in structures located in the area of UNRWA's Al-Jaouni School in the central Gaza Strip, the IDF announced on Saturday.

The IDF noted they operated based on IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) intelligence.

They also noted that the location served as an operational infrastructure and hideout from which attacks were carried out against IDF soldiers.

The IDF stated that prior to the strike, they carried out steps to mitigate risk to civilian harm, including use of precise aerial surveillance and intelligence.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-809178

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Hamas hiding among civilians in Gaza to protect itself, ambush IDF troops, NYT reports.

Terror group uses children to lure soldiers into false sense of security as it hides underground, waiting to spring carefully laid traps; tunnels have landline phone network.

By TOI Staff.

13 July 2024, 11:31 pm

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-hiding-among-civilians-in-gaza-to-protect-itself-ambush-idf-troops-report/

@ElderOfZiyon:

It only took 8 months for the @NYTimes to report what anyone who watches Hamas' own videos has seen from the start.

And it was nice enough to mention that this is a violation of international law.

Buried in PARAGRAPH 56.

Newspaper of record, folks.

July 13, 2024.

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSaXqckWAAAhhEb?format=jpg&name=small]

https://twitter.com/elderofziyon/status/1812302767521689923

How Hamas Is Fighting in Gaza: Tunnels, Traps and Ambushes.

By Patrick Kingsley, Natan Odenheimer, Aaron Boxerman, Adam Sella and Iyad Abuheweila, New York Times, July 13, 2024.

Hamas overwhelmed Israel’s border in October with a coordinated, large-scale maneuver before committing atrocities. Now, it acts as a guerrilla force, its fighters often disguised as civilians.

They hide under residential neighborhoods, storing their weapons in miles of tunnels and in houses, mosques, sofas — even a child’s bedroom — blurring the boundary between civilians and combatants.

They emerge from hiding in plainclothes, sometimes wearing sandals or tracksuits before firing on Israeli troops, attaching mines to their vehicles, or firing rockets from launchers in civilian areas.

They rig abandoned homes with explosives and tripwires, sometimes luring Israeli soldiers to enter the booby-trapped buildings by scattering signs of a Hamas presence.

Through eight months of fighting in Gaza, Hamas’s military wing — the Qassam Brigades — has fought as a decentralized and largely hidden force, in contrast to its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which began with a coordinated large-scale maneuver in which thousands of uniformed commandos surged through border towns and killed roughly 1,200 people….

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/world/middleeast/how-hamas-is-fighting-in-gaza.html

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Who's to blame for civilian casualties in Gaza yesterday AND EVERY DAY SINCE OCT. 7?

Nan Jacques Zilberdik | Jul 14, 2024.

Hamas, and only Hamas, is to blame for every death since Oct. 7.

July 14, 2024.

Even PA Chairman Abbas' advisor criticizes Hamas for using Palestinians as human shields.

When Israel managed to rescue 4 hostages held by Hamas in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in June 2024, the PA cried “massacre on civilians” because some Palestinian civilians were killed along with numerous Hamas terrorists who attacked the Israeli soldiers during the rescue operation. (See below)

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, has since admitted that Hamas were using Gazan civilians as human shields when they chose to hide the Israeli hostages in a “simple civilian infrastructure”:

Abbas’ advisor Al-Habbash: “The Israeli occupation forces committed an additional massacre at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip (ie., refers to Operation Arnon in which 4 Israeli hostages were freed). Hundreds of civilians fell as Martyrs and wounded... This is a refugee camp. The infrastructure there is a simple civilian one. It has a very large population density…”

BBC Arabic TV host: “The Israeli army spokesperson and senior Israeli officials all claimed that the killing of the civilians in Nuseirat is Hamas’ responsibility. They say that Hamas is the one that hid the Israeli detainees (i.e., hostages) in a crowded refugee camp, therefore it is the one that bears the responsibility.” ...

Al-Habbash: “Let no one understand me as defending Hamas’ policy, I’m the first who criticizes it... The responsibility falls first of all and before everything [else] on the cause for all these disasters that are befalling the region, and it is the existence of the Israeli occupation. If there were no occupation (i.e., no Israel) there would be no Hamas, there would be no resistance, and there would be no violence... Releasing the Israeli hostages or Israeli captives is an excuse. Just like everything that happened on Oct. 7 was an excuse for Israel to spill the Palestinian people’s blood... The Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is unfortunately between the rock of Israel and the hard place of Hamas.”

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page,

June 9, 2024]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA’s criticism of Hamas, accusing them of serving their “Iranian masters” and not caring one bit about the Palestinian people in general and the civilians in Gaza in particular as long as the war serves Hamas’ and Iran’s goals.

BBC Arabic TV placed text on screen during the interview with Al-Habbash:

Text on screen: “The Israeli army announced the ‘release’ [quotation marks in source] of four living hostages in a special operation in the Gaza Strip”

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page,

June 9, 2024]

Hamas’ war crime is not merely that it uses civilians as human shields. But that Hamas’ entire military strategy is built on hiding its terrorists in civilian infrastructures and to only fight behind civilian shields. Hamas is responsible and must be condemned for every Israeli and every Palestinian killed since October 7.

https://palwatch.org/page/35288

______

Hid inside UNRWA complex:

Hamas military intelligence officer eliminated in Gaza.

Israel National News.

Jul 19, 2024, 9:01 PM

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/393325

_____

Ambulances with terrorists: Hezbollah's 'Medical Corps'.

Ynetnews.

5 Oct 2024 — Hezbollah utilizes tactic similar to Hamas in Gaza and hijacks civilian medical complexes to carry out terror attacks and smuggling operations.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1jrvbkyje

____

IDF footage shows tunnel shafts in Rafah homes.

Military reveals troops operating in Rafah found hidden tunnels and passageways between civilian homes used to ambush and carry out attacks on troops.

Yoav Zitun, Einav Halabi|08.08.24

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hjui6vgqc

_____

Philadelphi Corridor:

Launch pits near Gaza's largest fuel storage facility.

Troops located rocket launch pits along the Philadelphi Corridor that were situated a few dozen meters away from the Gaza Strip’s largest fuel storage facility for civilian use.

Israel National News.

Aug 8, 2024.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/394336

_______

Hamas terrorists use Gaza schools as refuges, and refugees as human shields.

Thousands of Palestinians have found refuge in Gaza's schools, despite poor conditions and severe overcrowding; however, the increasing use of UN facilities by Hamas operatives for terror activities has led to a corresponding rise in IDF airstrikes.

Ynet | published:08.11.24

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bkyhnpiq0

______

WATCH: Hamas official storms off CNN after being pressed on Oct. 7, blame for Gazan deaths.

Danielle Greyman-kennard, Jerusalem Post, August 18, 2024

[...]

"I have covered…I have been coming to this part of the world for more than 20 years," Scuitto told Hamdan, "and I have personally covered terror attacks by Hamas that killed Israeli civilians…More than 20 years… So, I am asking you this, just looking at the last 10 months of this conflict…Does Hamas accept any responsibility for the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza? Because, as you know, Hamas tunnels, Hamas military units are based under and around homes, mosques, and schools in Gaza. Do you accept any responsibility for any of the deaths in Gaza?"

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-815165

_____

IDF strikes terrorists operating from within Gaza school.

Uzi Baruch.

Aug 20, 2024, 12:03 PM

IAF strikes Hamas command and control center hidden within the Mustafa Khaft school in Gaza City.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/394899

_____

Days before school resumes: IDF strikes school used by Hamas as terror compound.

IDF conducts precise strike on Hamas command and control center embedded in the 'Jaafer Ali Bin Abu Taleb school in Zeitoun, Gaza. 'Hamas brutally exploiting the Gazan civilian population for its terrorist activities.'

Israel National News. Aug 23, 2024.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/395086

_____

IDF confirms: Missiles towards Tel Aviv launched from humanitarian route.

Hamas fired missiles from adjacent to humanitarian route in Khan Yunis, IDF strikes back, exposes terror group's use of Gazan civilians as human shields.

Israel National News, August 14, 2024.

([https://a7.org/files/pictures/781x439/1163174.jpg]

Aerial photo of Khan Younis with launch site and humanitarian route demarked).

On Tuesday, the Hamas terrorist organization launched rockets from Gaza towards central Israel.

Following the launches, the IDF reported that one rocket landed in the Mediterranean Sea and the other landed in within Gaza...

Hamas claimed that the rockets were of the M-90 model, a new model that was unveiled in December 2023 and has a reported range of 90 kilometers.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/394605

______

IDF clears out Hamas terror base in northern Gaza hospital.

Ynetnews

28 Oct 2024 — Army says completed raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya, used as Hamas command center, seizing weapons, funds and documents tied to terror group, with 60 suspects arrested inside linked to October 7 attacks.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ryvl11wae1l

_____

Operating in humanitarian area.

IDF strikes Hamas terrorists in Khan Yunis.

Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional means.

Israel National News

Sep 10, 2024.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/395934

_______

During elimination attempt.

Hamas commanders take shelter among Gaza civilians.

Three senior Hamas commanders took cover in a humanitarian area while attempting to escape a targeted IDF strike, report says.

Israel National News.

Sep 10, 2024, 10:31 AM

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/395949

______

IAF strikes Hamas control center in UNRWA school compound.

By Jerusalem Post Staff. 09/11/2024 04:39 PM

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-819720

______

Hamas tries to prevent civilians fleeing danger in northern Gaza.

As troops urge Gazans to leave, many remain fearing travel through areas under IDF control and after threats from Hamas that seeks to use them as human shields while forces hunt them down.

Einav Halabi | Ynet. 10.10 24 |

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b1co5ubjkx

_____

IDF says rockets fired at south on Friday were launched from aid warehouse area.

Rocket launchers were placed 50 meters from aid sites, army says; terror cell targeted at former Gaza City school, with Palestinian medics reporting 7 dead

By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies.

December 14, 2024.

([https://static-cdn.toi-media.com/www/uploads/2024/12/WhatsApp_Image_2024-12-14_at_13.04.23-e1734186855152-400x250.jpeg].

An infographic released by the IDF on December 14, 2024, shows a rocket launching site in Gaza near a humanitarian aid warehouse. Israel Defense Forces)

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-rockets-fired-at-south-friday-were-launched-from-aid-warehouse-area

______

IDF reports attacked terrorist operation from Gaza humanitarian zone.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reported on Sunday that Israeli Air Force jets targeted a Hamas terrorist operating out of a humanitarian zone in Khan Younis. “Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.” the military said.

Yoav Zitun|12.22.24.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bketal8bkx

____

Palestinian Authority: Hamas is using hospitals for military purposes

Ephraim D. Tepler and Itamar Marcus | Dec 30, 2024

The Palestinian Authority itself has revealed that Hamas turns hospitals into military interrogation facilities. As proof, on Facebook, the PA posted a summons issued by Hamas to a Gazan to report to Nasser Hospital to be interrogated by Hamas' military intelligence.

The post was made by the former official spokesman of the PA Security Forces, Adnan Al-Damiri. Moreover, Al-Damiri criticized Hamas for continuing to use hospitals for "summonses, interrogations, and extortions":

https://palwatch.org/page/36787

____

Watch:

Hamas footage shows terrorists planting explosives near hospital.

Israel National News.

Dec 30, 2024, 7:07 PM.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/401542

_____

Senior Hamas Official Khalil Al-Hayya Upon Signing Ceasefire Agreement: October 7 Will Continue To Be A Source Of Pride; Our People Served As An 'Impenetrable Shield' For The Resistance...

MEMRI, January 16, 2025.

https://www.memri.org/reports/senior-hamas-official-khalil-al-hayya-upon-signing-ceasefire-agreement-october-7-will

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Palestinian Authority: Hamas disguised as civilians caused civilian deaths and destruction of Gaza.

PA: Hamas only wears uniforms for show during ceasefire.

January 23, 2025

https://palwatch.org/page/36841

Palestinian Authority Daily Mocks Hamas' Armed Operatives In Gaza: Throughout The War They Hid Among Civilians And Caused Many Deaths, Yet Now They Parade Around In Uniform.

January 24, 2025.

Palestinians | Special Dispatch No. 11794

The January 22, 2025 editorial of the Palestinian Authority (PA) daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida slammed Hamas for the fact that its militants have now resurfaced and are parading around Gaza in uniform again, after, for 15 months, they hid among civilians wearing civilian clothing, and fought the Israeli forces from among the people's homes, thus increasing the number of civilian deaths. The editorial also condemned Hamas and its supporters, including "the channel of deception," namely the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel, for peddling the false and "idiotic" narrative that Hamas has won the war.

https://www.memri.org/reports/palestinian-authority-daily-mocks-hamas-armed-operatives-gaza-throughout-war-they-hid-among

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Gaza health official threatened after calling out terrorists using hospital.

Hospital official in Khan Younis criticizes Palestinian Islamic Jihad, urges operatives to leave facility—terror group issues threat: 'You’ve crossed the line'.

Einav Halabi|04.13.25 |

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/byax2sfayg

_______

Rafah:

Weapons found in civilian buildings near hospital and school

Israel National News

May 4, 2025, 4:05 PM

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/407814

Trump Admin Eyes Fresh Hamas Sanctions Under 'Human Shield' Law That Biden Admin Ignored.

'The Treasury Department is proud to use every tool available to us' to target Iran-backed terrorists, spokesman says.

Adam Kredo. Washington Free Beacon

April 18, 2025.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/trump-admin-eyes-fresh-hamas-sanctions-under-human-shield-law-that-biden-admin-ignored/

____

HJS.

Hamas’s Human Shield Strategy in Gaza

4th May 2025.

Andrew Fox and Salo Aizenberg.

Since 7 October 2023, the UN has issued 367 reports that are filed under the subject of “Gaza Strip”. A search of these reports reveals that the UN has rarely acknowledged and never asserted the use by Hamas of “human shields”. The phenomenon of “human shields” has only been mentioned four times, in each case in only a single sentence, as either an “allegation”, an Israeli “claim” or an unverified “report” that this practice occurred. The UN has never dedicated a single paragraph, let alone an entire report, to analysing how Hamas has fought the war in Gaza.

In contrast, the UN has issued at least ten reports critical of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, from accusations of “indiscriminate attacks” to illegal “attacks on hospitals”. A November 2024 investigative report by the UN accused Israel of committing genocide, but the document makes no mention of Hamas’s fighting tactics in Gaza, let alone provides an analysis. The NGOs (non-governmental organisations) Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch each released reports in December 2024 accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. Over hundreds of pages of text, the reader would struggle to realise that Hamas even exists in Gaza. Neither report provides any discussion or analysis of Hamas’s human shield strategy.

This report by the Henry Jackson Society represents the “missing chapter” in all the UN and NGO reports. It provides a comprehensive analysis of Hamas’s systematic use of human shield tactics during the 7 October Israel–Hamas war and the broader Gaza conflict. Drawing on extensive evidence from international media, military assessments, legal frameworks and firsthand accounts, the report outlines how Hamas has embedded its military operations within civilian infrastructure, weaponising Gaza’s population and urban landscape to achieve both tactical and strategic objectives

(The report:

[https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/HJS-Hamass-Human-Shield-Strategy-in-Gaza-Report-WEB.pdf]).

https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/hamass-human-shield-strategy-in-gaza/

___

IDF reveals intel on Hamas terror activity within civilian sites

The intelligence underscores the terrorist group's “cynical exploitation” of civilian environments to carry out attacks, according to the military.

JNS Staff.

(May 15, 2025 / JNS)

The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday released intelligence indicating that Hamas continues to conduct terrorist operations from within and around civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, including hospitals, schools and other public facilities.

According to the IDF, the intelligence underscores the “cynical exploitation” by Hamas of civilian environments to carry out attacks, using non-combatants as human shields and putting civilian lives at risk.

Amid the ongoing operation in Gaza, the IDF on Wednesday issued a warning to residents in the southern Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, an area it said contains terrorist strongholds embedded within the civilian population.

https://www.jns.org/idf-reveals-intel-on-hamas-terror-activity-within-civilian-sites/

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Human shields - 'dead baby strategy' by Arab "Palestinians" since early 1980s

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