Hamas’s Human Shields
According to various reports, Hamas has been sending some of its members for military training in Iran. One such report, in the New York Times last year, noted that
Israel is watching as Hamas, in control of Gaza, is building an army there on the model of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, said the deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, in a wide-ranging interview conducted 10 days ago at his office in Tel Aviv. He said Hamas was constructing positions and fortifications, building tunnels for fighting and smuggling in explosives, antitank weapons and more sophisticated rockets through the Egyptian desert.
But Hamas’s emulation of the Hezbollah model seems to extend beyond just fortifications and weaponry. Like the Lebanese terror organization, Hamas is cynically using its constituents’ lives and property as a shield for the group’s militant activity.
The Palestinian Fatah website describes (via Ma’ariv and IMRA) how one family’s apartment turned into a base of operations by Hamas. Beit Hanun resident Abu Rajah is quoted saying
Scores of masked men rushed to the area. Most of them carried large bags full of weapons. They invaded our apartment buildings and demanded that the resident leave. In response the women asked the gunmen to distance themselves from the buildings and children. The atmosphere became tense and some of the residents were beaten by the gunmen, who were mostly from Hamas. In the end most of the residents left the buildings. We left the buildings in their hands. They brought sandbags into our bedrooms and living room. They set up heavy machine guns in the windows and planted large explosive devices in the sidewalks.
For examples of Hezbollah behaving the same way during its war with Israel, click here.
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