Ahead of the IDF’s planned takeover of Gaza City, Hamas has begun preparing to thwart the operation. In Hamas’s Gaza Division, efforts are underway to prevent civilians from leaving the city in order to foil the IDF’s plan.
Hamas terrorists in the city are threatening Gaza residents and instructing their operatives to block every possible exit route from the city.
This, like their use of journalists as human shields in a civilian building being used by them as a strategic military location, is a war crime.
A Hamas war crime.
Details are furnished here surrounding the death of “journalists” embedded with Hamas inside a Gaza warzone in an elevated position overlooking IDF movements down below.
IDF soldiers spotted a surveillance camera Hamas had positioned on the hospital’s roof.
A Hamas surveillance camera on a hospital? Who would have thought? No one seems to ask how Hamas could place a camera on the roof of a hospital - making a military target out of the people they are supposedly defending.
Under the rules of war, as defined by the Geneva Conventions, hospitals, schools and religious venues are protected only if they are used solely for their prescribed civilian purpose, but if they are used for military purposes, they lose that protection and can be targeted. And if there is a kinetic military action, even legitimate journalists put themselves in danger and should not become human shields for an Islamic terror organization.
The world’s media are, of course, lamenting the death of the "journalists" in this strike, but perhaps we should identify some of the so-called "journalists":
Mohammed Salama of Al Jazeera was a terrorist who invaded Israel on October 7. On October 7, Mohammed Salama uploaded scores of pictures and videos from inside Israel.
We know he took them because of the watermark bearing his name. The videos were not ‘news’ videos. Many of them were staged - videos of terrorists posing at the site of their attack while Mohammed Salama himself chanted “Allahu Akbar”.
He wasn’t reporting on terror... he was participating and glorying in it.
Mariam Abu Daqqa did work for the Associated Press. She also taught “journalism” courses for the Hamas “information ministry.”
It’s also alleged that she was the driver for Hasam Aslih, a supposed news photographer who filmed Jews being slaughtered on October 7.
A third journalist killed in the strike was Ahmed Abu Aziz who celebrated the October 7 massacre in which women were raped and babies burned alive in front of their parents, calling it “the greatest day of our generation.”
According to a Channel 12 report, Golani Brigade troops first identified a surveillance camera installed by Hamas on the hospital grounds, which they determined was being used to monitor Israeli troop movements. Southern Command approved a drone strike — not a tank shelling — to neutralize the device.
Shortly afterward, the troops spotted what they believed to be a rifle scope near the site, assessed it as an immediate threat, and requested urgent authorization to strike. The division commander then approved tank fire. Two shells were fired initially, followed by two more after armed men were identified, for a total of four.
The IDF reported that the hospital’s camera had been used by Hamas to track troop movements and direct attacks.
Hamas has turned hospitals into command centers, weapons depots, and places to hold hostages.
A Hamas war crime.
Hamas war crimes are ongoing to the utter shame of the United Nations and the utter shame of the world.
Testimony from courageous Israeli hostage Ilana Gritzewsky who recently spoke to the UN Security Council led to no action on the part of the UN and the world:
"They grabbed me by the hair, hit me in the stomach, causing me to lose my breath. They dragged me across the floor, lifted me, and threw me against the wall."
"They pointed guns at me, hit me, tried to film me with my phone. I raised my hands, told them I was Mexican, begged them not to hurt me, not to rape me, not to shoot me, just to let me go. The only thing I could think of was having my family see me end my life like this.
The terrorists beat me, humiliated me, touched me all over, threw me on a motorcycle, and took me into Gaza.
On the way to Gaza, when they started to touch me and sexually abuse me, I passed out physically and mentally, I couldn't handle it anymore. I guess my body preferred to shut down. They kept beating me because, for them, I was a prize.
I woke up in some ruined house, lying half-naked on rocks, surrounded by Hamas terrorists. I had to beg not to be raped, telling them I was on my period. At first they didn’t understand if I was on my period or pregnant, but nevertheless that made them leave me alone. They threw a hijab and dress at me and ordered me to get dressed.
I didn’t know exactly what had been done to my body in those lost minutes when I wasn’t conscious. But my soul already knew: nothing would ever be the same.
I was suffering from a fractured jaw, a broken pelvis, ear damage from the explosions, and a burned leg. In 55 days in captivity, I lost 12 kilograms, which is around 24 pounds. They did not give me any medicine, no doctor came to see me, even though I told them I was suffering from colitis and anemia.
The terrorists dictated everything: when we could talk, when we could go to the bathroom, when we could get up. They woke us up in the middle of the night for cruel interrogations.
From the moment I was captured, the guards were with me all the time. They did not wear Hamas uniforms. They dressed like civilians. They told me that one of them is a math teacher and the other one is a lawyer.
For 50 days, they made sure I could not escape. They told us all the time that we would be hostages for five, or even ten years.
When it was time to eat, they took a lot of food to their room. They had meat, rice, and vegetables. At the same time, they left us with our meal, which contained sometimes as little as 10 chickpeas or a piece of dry flatbread, which wasn’t always well cooked.
They transferred us to a hospital, now I know it was the Nasser hospital.
They took us through the back entrance and walked us past all the civilians. In the hospital there was an area which was closed off and used only by Hamas, with an armed guard. They locked us in a room, where we met a third hostage...
...I’m calling on human rights groups, and everyone who claims to care: Stand with us. Speak up. Demand the truth. Because silence is betrayal."
She told a tale of a heinous Hamas war crime.
What did the United Nations do after Ilana’s testimony? What will they do?
Nothing.
This is what they have done for over 660 days and nights. Nothing!
Except, of course, for criticizing Israel very day. And preparing for next month’s session of the General Assembly when they will reward Hamas by recognizing a Palestinian Arab state - while our remaining starved and tortured hostages hopefully somehow keep a tentative grip on surviving unless Israel takes over Gaza City, for which they will again be condemned.
Why should Hamas release the hostages that brave Ilana begged the UN to help before they die if there is no response from that irrelevant body?
Hamas sees the world doing their bidding. They are celebrating, making no concessions as they show the world, in gruesome videos, how these warriors and martyrs have stood firm in Auschwitz-like figures in their dark dank dangerous dungeons.
And in September the UN plans to crown them with statehood. The United Nations represents the world. The world needs to hang its head in shame!
Barry Shaw is with the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.