At the beginning of the Gaza war, I posted a list of things the media gets wrong every single time there is a war there. And for the most part, that post remains correct even today.
Very little of what they report is a surprise for anyone following the war, and it is mysterious why they took over nine months to mention all of these things, most of which they admit could be seen in Hamas' own videos taken months ago.
Virtually all of those tactics violate international law. And that point is almost completely ignored.
An analysis of battlefield videos released by Hamas and interviews with three Hamas members and scores of Israeli soldiers, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, suggests that Hamas’s strategy relies on:Using hundreds of miles of tunnels, the scale of which surprised Israeli commanders, to move around Gaza without being seen by Israeli soldiers;Using civilian homes and infrastructure — including medical facilities, U.N. offices and mosques — to conceal fighters, tunnel entrances, booby-traps and ammunition stores;Ambushing Israeli soldiers with small groups of fighters dressed as civilians, as well as using civilians, including children, to act as lookouts;Leaving secret signs outside homes, like a red sheet hanging from a window or graffiti, to signal to fellow fighters the nearby presence of mines, tunnel entrances or weapons caches inside;Dragging out the war for as long as possible, even at the expense of more civilian death and destruction, in order to bog Israel down in an attritional battle that has amplified international criticism of Israel.
- Dressing as civilians while fighting is a war crime.
- Using civilian homes for military purposes is a war crime.
- Purposefully hiding among civilians and firing rockets from civilian neighborhoods is a war crime.
- Recruiting children to do military activities is a war crime.
- Hiding soldiers in hospitals is a war crime.
Astoundingly, the article gives one paragraph to Israel pointing out that this intentional use of civilian clothing and buildings is the reason why there is so much destruction in Gaza, and five paragraphs to Hamas officials defending their war crimes.
And not a single international law expert is consulted to see which side is correct.
One soldier said Hamas used chained dogs to entice soldiers toward a booby-trapped building, hoping that the soldiers would try to free the dogs.Another soldier recalled spotting a dead Hamas fighter inside an apartment block and making his way toward the body. As he drew closer, he realized the corpse had been rigged with an explosive, he said. When his squad fired at the body, it blew up and set the building ablaze, he said.
There is, surprisingly, no international law that specifically protects animals from being abused in war, but there is such a law against mutilating the dead.
While the NYT describes all of these violations of the laws of war, the only time it mentions that fact is saying more than 50 paragraphs into the report that "International law requires combatants to avoid using 'civilian objects,' which include homes, schools, hospitals and mosques, for military objectives."
The article should have been written many months ago, and it should have emphasized that Hamas' actions are not only illegal but also the cause of so much suffering of the innocent in Gaza.
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