The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday accused the Hamas terror group in Gaza of building military infrastructure in civilian areas and next to schools, mosques and shops in an apparent attempt to pre-emptively justify collateral damage from future attacks in the densely populated enclave.
The effort follows strict international scrutiny of Israel’s actions during last year’s war with Gaza, which included dozens of civilian deaths and a major airstrike on a building used by international media.
Officials with the IDF Southern Command briefed members of the foreign press corps in Israel on a number of locations where the army claims Hamas has built military infrastructure near civilian areas.
These included a tunnel that runs next to a Pepsi soft drink factory and a United Nations-funded school in Gaza City. The IDF said the tunnel was used by Hamas to store weapons and mobilize fighters.
Several other Hamas arms manufacturing and storage facilities, as well as tunnels near schools, universities, mosques and other civilian facilities were also introduced to reporters, including an arms factory near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The military also released the identities of several Hamas fighters living in buildings above tunnel entrances.
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Israel argues that Hamas’ use of civilian areas for military activities, including launching rockets at Israel, amounts to a war crime.
Released by the military on July 27, 2022, this illustration shows a red line where a Hamas tunnel is said to be next to a Pepsi factory and a UN-funded school in Gaza City. (Israeli Defense Forces)
“The whole world should be exposed to the crimes committed by Hamas, and there should be a heavy price for that today,” said Secretary of Defense Benny Gantz, who also visited the Gaza Strip border on Wednesday.
But military officials admitted that trying to explain every Israeli action to the world while waging war has been a difficult task.
Immediately after last year’s war, the military began to better coordinate its public advocacy efforts with its operational actions. Wednesday’s briefing was part of a new military effort to maintain its freedom of operation in Gaza, which officials say hinges heavily on international legitimacy.
The timing of the briefing was not of major importance, according to IDF officials, since the Southern Command plans to regularly update foreign media on Hamas activities in Gaza throughout the year, not just during a war.
Israel has fought four major wars and numerous shorter rounds of fighting in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas terrorist group took power in a violent coup in 2007.
This illustration released by the military on July 27, 2022 shows a red line where a Hamas tunnel is said to be located, next to the Islamic University of Gaza. (Israeli Defense Forces)
In the most recent conflict in May 2021, the Hamas-led Gaza Ministry of Health said at least 243 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children and youth, and 1,910 people were injured in the violence. It did not discriminate between terrorist group members and civilians, and the Israeli military claimed to have killed about 225 terrorists.
The civilian death toll has drawn fierce international criticism, and the International Criminal Court in The Hague has launched an inquiry into Israeli battlefield tactics dating back to the events leading up to the previous major Gaza conflict in 2014, which it says was a war could amount to crime.
Israel dismisses the criticism and says it is taking numerous precautions to prevent unnecessary civilian casualties.
This illustration released by the military on July 27, 2022 shows a red line where a Hamas tunnel is said to be next to a school and mosque in the Gaza Strip. (Israeli Defense Forces)
It says its targets are based on sophisticated intelligence and cleared by legal advisers and other experts, and it often warns residents to evacuate before their homes are attacked. It says it has refined its guided missiles, delivering small payloads that minimize damage beyond the precise target.
Israel argues that civilian casualties are inevitable in the densely populated urban environment of the Gaza Strip. Terrorists often fire rockets from crowded residential areas, leading to Israeli retaliation, and Israel accuses the terrorists of using civilians, including their own families, as human shields.
“Hamas is firing on and off the civilian population [Israeli] civilian population. As Israel is determined to bring about peace and stability, we will also be determined to hit every Hamas military target and [other] Terrorist organizations that threaten the citizens of Israel,” Gantz said on Wednesday.
Despite the rhetoric, Israel has often struggled during the war to justify its actions to the world in real time.
Fire and smoke billow from al-Jalaa Tower, which housed the offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera when it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike after the IDF warned occupants to exit a building they were leaving said it was a Hamas asset in Gaza City, May 15, 2021. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)
During the May 2021 conflict, the IDF destroyed a 12-story building that housed media organizations such as The Associated Press and Al Jazeera. The Israeli military, which gave AP journalists and other tenants about an hour to evacuate, claimed just months later that the tower was used by Hamas to set up GPS signal-blocking equipment to protect Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system used to intercept the rockets, mortar shells and drones launched from Gaza.
A former Israeli general said the bombing was an “own goal” that did more damage to Israel’s reputation than it brought operational benefits.
Although IDF officials have since conceded that the military should have done a better job of explaining its reasons for attacking the building, no one has said publicly that the bombing was a mistake.
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