Is it really peace they want?Palestinian banner. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock
Following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in previous weeks, new reports from Hamas operatives captured by Israel are telling a troubling tale of Hamas using hospitals and mosques in their fight with Israel. A press release from the Israel Security Agency said that Hamas operatives admitted in interrogation that Hamas officials hid in hospitals.
Muhammad Alqadra was paraphrased as saying that “it was well known that senior Hamas leaders and their armed bodyguards, usually in police uniforms, openly hide in hospitals.”
Furthermore, Alqadra assessed that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah, as well as other Hamas leaders, hid in Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Hospitals weren’t the only civilian locales used.
Another Hamas operative said that a kindergarten was to be the rendezvous point if he managed to kidnap Israelis. Israel had also determined separately that the attack that killed a four-year-old Israeli was launched from a school in Gaza, according to an IDF Blog report.
Mosques were also used to attack Israel. Alqadra admitted that the religious order phentermine and topiramate locations “serve as sites to conceal war materiel such as RPGs, heavy PKC machine guns and AK-47s.” He said hospitals and schools were also used to store weapons.
The Israeli press release said that another Hamas operative said that a mosque was “used as a lookout from which orders are passed along to terrorists regarding where to plant IEDs [explosive devices].”
The overall picture isn’t pretty. “During the various investigations a disturbing picture was put together regarding Hamas’s use of the civilian population and public buildings to carry out military actions on the assumption that Israel would refrain from attacking them,” said the Israeli press release.
Hamas also received a disturbing “benefit” if Israel did attack the sites used for military activities.
Said the Israeli press release, “It is clear from the foregoing that Hamas knowingly and intentionally operates in and adjacent to civilian areas… During fighting, Hamas deliberately operates in these locales, thus turning the civilian population into human shields on the assumption that Israel will be blamed for any injury and loss of life.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, August 26, 2014)