Israel again accuses Hamas of preventing the evacuation of civilians from the northern Gaza Strip
In his daily situation report broadcast at 7 a.m. (6 a.m. French time) this morning, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, English-speaking spokesman for the Israeli army, pointed out that rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and southern Israel had taken place again last night. He added that fighting is still taking place in and around the Gaza Strip and that Israeli forces continue to conduct raids in Gaza against military targets linked to Hamas.
The Israeli army spokesman reiterated his order for residents of the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south and also accused Hamas of “actively preventing” these evacuations. He therefore presented aerial or satellite images showing trucks parked on Gaza’s main road, Salah Ad Din Street, and claimed that they were Hamas vehicles blocking the motorcade. Civilians who wanted to evacuate south. Actions that, in his opinion, reveal “the absolute lack of respect for all human life” on the part of Hamas leaders.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, English-speaking spokesman for the Israeli army. Twitter screenshot
Jonathan Conricus also criticized journalists for giving too much importance to information that he considers to be false or misleading coming from Gaza. He showed video of an explosion that occurred on a street occupied by civilians and reiterated that Israel had not carried out any attacks there and that it was possibly an action by Hamas to, in turn, deter civilians from evacuating. This explosion on Salah Ad-Din Street killed 70 people on Friday.
“Be careful and skeptical about the Gaza authorities’ numbers, the injured, the number of dead, the women and children among the victims… There is only one government in Gaza: the Ministry of Health speaks when it speaks,” with the authorization and under the control of Hamas. “Any information he gives you is for Hamas propaganda,” he explained. The Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza said yesterday that the death toll from the clashes and bombings was 2,215, including 724 children.