In an era when terrorists live-stream their atrocities, the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2024 is arguably the most well-documented attack in history. The meticulously choreographed spectacle of savagery and sadism saw Hamas mercilessly murder, butcher, rape and burn Israeli families alive — documenting their crimes with GoPros and cellphones. The terrorists even live-streamed their atrocities on their victims’ social-media accounts.
That was only the first phase of Hamas’s media strategy. When the fighting shifted to Gaza, Hamas went from massacring Israeli civilians to hiding behind Gazan civilians. For the past 16 years, Hamas has systematically embedded its terror infrastructure inside and under civilian areas in Gaza as part of its human-shield strategy. IDF troops discovered that most homes in Gaza have terror tunnels underneath or weapon caches inside, and the majority of schools, mosques, hospitals and international institutions have been used by Hamas for their military operations.
Hamas has forced Gazans to stay in active combat zones by blocking their attempts to move out of harm’s way. When civilians manage to reach the safer areas to which we guide them, Hamas then moves to those areas, turning humanitarian zones into staging areas for further attacks. By embedding itself among civilians, Hamas conceals itself from the cameras covering the conflict. By instructing terrorists to dress in civilian clothes, Hamas camouflages its terrorists as innocents. By waging war from inside and underneath hospitals, Hamas hopes that international law and public sympathy will provide a shield for their military activities.
And remember that Hamas has stated that they will repeatedly conduct the atrocities of October 7 any time they get the chance.
So let’s push Israel to accept a lengthy cease fire and let Hamas regroup.