During the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, Gaza suffered a considerable amount of damage to property and infrastructure. There were also a substantial number of casualties.
But fighting a war against the likes of Hamas, an organisation having similarities in ideology to ISIS and other extreme Islamic groups, isn’t simple. Israel went to extraordinary lengths to avoid the loss of innocent civilian life, but Hamas made it almost impossible due to their now proven policy of embedding rocket launchers, weapons caches, and fighters deep in the civilian population.
As the dust settles, and the damage is assessed, numerous interesting facts are coming to light showing just what a formidable and morally corrupt enemy Hamas is for the Jewish State.
There have been a number of reports suggesting that the death toll of civilian casualties on the Palestinian side was greatly exaggerated by Hamas sources, as it was in similar previous conflicts. The IDF says that at least 50 percent of the dead were Hamas members.
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Saturday night, Fatah’s Central Committee , which is headed up by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, issued a scathing condemnation against Hamas, with whom they are in a unity government, accusing them of stealing massive amounts of humanitarian aid sent into Gaza by Israel.
That fact alone raises a huge question mark over Hamas’ morality. After all Israel is the only country in history to send humanitarian aid and supply electricity and water to its enemy in time of war. An enemy which uses schools , mosques and, even, U.N. facilities for protection.
During the recent war, which sparked-off when Hamas started bombarding Israeli cities and villages with thousands of short and long-range missiles, Fatah and Hamas refrained from criticizing each other and continued to insist that their reconciliation deal, which was signed last April, had not been affected by the war.
But the statement issued by Fatah over the weekend accused Hamas “militias” of committing the ugliest crimes and encroachments during the war against Fatah members in the Gaza Strip. It claimed Hamas representatives shot and beat dozens of Fatah members, some of whom were transferred for medical treatment to Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus.
In addition, the statement continued, Hamas also placed more than 300 Fatah members under house arrest, exposing them to Israeli air strikes.
Fatah also claimed that Hamas took the unprecedented step of confiscating food and medicine sent to the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and other countries, via Israel, and distributed the aid among its own people in mosques, with some of the humanitarian aid being sold on the black market.
If Fatah’s claims against Hamas are true, and there’s no reason to doubt them, it proves, once again what a cynical, cowardly and corrupt organization Hamas is , adding to the need for the west to replace it in Gaza with a more moderate regime.