As Israel begins its offensive in Gaza City, Hamas is preventing the city’s civilian population from evacuating in order to “exploit” the Israeli military’s efforts to avoid civilian casualties, according to a Tuesday report.
“Hamas is preparing for the IDF’s entry into Gaza City by threatening Gazans in the area and ordering its fighters to block exit routes,” Israel’s Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal reported, citing his colleague Nitzan Shapira.
Shapira added that after an Israeli airstrike accidentally struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and caused civilian casualties on Monday, Hamas “has further recognized that it can exploit the IDF’s attempts to avoid civilian casualties to its own advantage—and increase its cynical exploitation of the civilian population,” according to Segal’s report.
Hamas has a long record of using civilian residences and infrastructure to shield its terrorist activity. The group has built tunnels and command centers beneath the European Gaza Hospital, Al-Shifa Hospital, U.N. Relief and Works Agency schools, and even the U.N. offices in Gaza City—knowingly putting civilian lives in danger.
Hamas terrorists also planted mines among children’s toys inside a civilian building and stored rockets inside a child’s bed in a Gaza apartment, according to videos referenced in an April report by the Henry Jackson Society’s Centre for the New Middle East, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The terror group’s blockade on civilian evacuations comes as Israel has launched an offensive, known as “Operation Gideon’s Chariots II,” to take control of Gaza City and dismantle Hamas’s last stronghold. President Donald Trump has signaled his backing for the offensive, saying that Hamas “can’t stay” in Gaza and that “we will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!”
Israel has vowed to bring home all remaining hostages and disarm Hamas. Israeli intelligence estimates that around 20 hostages are still alive in Gaza, alongside the bodies of up to 30 others killed in captivity.
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Author: Matthew Xiao
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