(JNS) The Israeli army has clear rules of engagement—rules that are the very opposite of those followed by Hamas and its apologists. The IDF does not release information or comments until facts are fully verified. That restraint, however, often works to Israel’s disadvantage. While Jerusalem waits for evidence, those who are quick to condemn win the propaganda war.
Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement on Monday expressing its deep regret for the inadvertent killing of civilians in back-to-back IDF airstrikes in Gaza, including several journalists and health workers, at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, saying, “Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff and all civilians. The military authorities are conducting a thorough investigation.”
We have seen this pattern before. When children in Gaza were reported as starving, it later emerged they were sick. When casualties were blamed on Israel, it turned out Hamas had caused the deaths.
Even the missile that killed dozens outside a hospital in Gaza more than a year ago was ultimately proven to be Palestinian, not Israeli. Yet none of that mattered. The entrenched antisemitic narrative had already cemented itself.
What is beyond dispute is how Hamas has systematically weaponized hospitals since the war began. A few weeks ago, 12 survivors of a Hamas attack on humanitarian workers were dragged to a Gaza hospital gate—only to be left outside until they died.
On the fourth floor of Nasser Hospital, a man with a towel over his head to hide his camera was caught filming Israeli troop movements, supplying Hamas with vital intelligence.
For Hamas, hospitals have never been sanctuaries of healing. They are underground command centers, weapons depots, staging grounds and hiding places for hostages. Ambulances are used to ferry terrorists. Wards are used to treat fighters. And civilians—including the sick—are deliberately turned into human shields.
This is the simple equation the world refuses to face: in Hamas’s Gaza, “civilian” equals human shield and “journalist” too often equals Hamas operative.
The same cynical disregard for human life was on display when Hamas executed four Gazans in the streets, branding them “traitors.” Their method? Kicking, torture and bullets.
The link between these stories is clear. As the assassinated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar himself admitted, the jihad requires as many dead civilians as possible.
Israel, unlike Hamas, is a democracy. It takes responsibility for its actions. When it errs, it acknowledges its mistake and apologizes. That is why its word is worth heeding—and why Hamas’s word is not. For Hamas, there is only one “truth”: the victory of jihad at any cost.
It is high time the world recognized this reality.
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