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Hamas and Its Enablers
Hamas terrorists carry grenade launchers at the funeral of Marwan Issa, a senior Hamas deputy military commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the conflict between Israel and Hamas, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
In the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, one narrative dominates hostile media exchanges: civilian casualties — especially children.
It strikes a deep emotional chord — and rightly so. The death of any innocent person is a tragedy. But the death of a child should transcend politics.
Yet in Gaza, the innocents are victims of Hamas, which deliberately brought war to their doorsteps when it invaded Israel on October 7, 2023 — and then used them as human shields throughout the war by fighting in civilian areas.
We must also be honest: there is no such thing as a “clean” war. From ancient times to modern warfare, civilians have always been caught in the crossfire. The real question is not whether civilians die — but why and how, and who made it inevitable.
What Hamas is doing in Gaza isn’t just reckless — it’s criminally malicious. Hamas has embarked on a calculated strategy to maximize not only Israeli deaths, but Palestinian ones too. Hamas launches rockets from apartment blocks, stores weapons in schools, uses hospitals as command centers, and hides beneath UN facilities.
Each of these is a war crime — and every one of them is committed with intent.
To Hamas, every civilian death is a strategic victory. Why? Because it knows — and tragically, it is right — that images of Gazan casualties will be weaponized to turn public opinion against Israel and smear its name on the world stage.
And it’s working.
In war, mistakes happen — sometimes tragic ones. Israel is no exception. But crucially, when mistakes occur, Israel admits them, investigates, and takes corrective action. That is what democracies do.
Hamas, by contrast, deliberately endangers its own civilians — because that serves its narrative.
There is no moral equivalence between a country trying to protect civilians and a terror group using them as shields and human sacrifices.
Yet the failure of much of the international community to recognize this is a moral collapse — resulting in empty gestures and virtue-signaling, like the recent joint statement signed by 28 countries, including Australia, calling for an unconditional ceasefire that would leave Hamas in power.
That statement completely ignored the work of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has delivered more than 95 million meals and bypassed corrupt UN aid systems that Hamas routinely exploits to feed its fighters and fund terror.
Is it any wonder Hamas praised the statement?
Hamas knew that its October 7 invasion and massacre would set off a chain reaction leading to Gaza’s devastation and tragic loss of life. It correctly calculated that as images of carnage circled the globe, international pressure would mount on Israel to stop the war — even as Hamas vowed to repeat the attacks of October 7 again and again.
So to expect Israel to stop fighting while Hamas remains in power is absurd and unprecedented.
Would the UK, France, or the US ever allow such a threat to exist on their doorstep? Of course not. So why would — or should — Israel?
This is where the hypocrisy lies. Israel is expected to:
- Fight a war unlike any other in history;
- Feed its enemy’s population through corrupted international bodies;
- Avoid all civilian casualties — something no military has ever achieved;
- Provide exact, real-time casualty figures on the local population while still engaged in house-to-house combat.
During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, neither the US nor the UK could provide reliable figures on civilian deaths.
Back then, even Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner admitted: “I have nothing on Iraqi civilian casualties.” (2004)
And then British Foreign Minister Jack Straw dismissed media estimates entirely: “This is an estimate relying on media reports, and which we do not regard as reliable … It relies on media reporting to decide who is a civilian and who is not.”
Sound familiar?
Today, many of those same governments and media outlets treat Hamas’ Health Ministry numbers as gospel — even though Hamas refuses to distinguish between civilians and combatants. They claim roughly 58,000 deaths. Israel estimates it has killed about 25,000 terrorists.
Even if we take Hamas’s figures at face value — which is generous — that would mean something like a 1:1 civilian-to-terrorist ratio. That is far lower than in Afghanistan (3:1) or Iraq (4:1), according to former British Armed Forces Commander Col. Richard Kemp.
And unlike the US and UK in Iraq and Afghanistan, which delivered aid primarily after combat zones were secured, Israel is facilitating humanitarian assistance in real time — even as it fights an enemy embedded among civilians. That level of restraint and risk is virtually unprecedented in modern warfare.
Chastising Israel for failing to meet impossible standards no other nation has met — while ignoring Hamas’ atrocities — is not just hypocritical. It is complicity.
We must stop pretending this war is being fought between equals. It isn’t.
One side fights to defend its people. The other fights behind its people.
One side seeks peace. The other seeks only destruction and endless conflict.
If the world wants peace, it must start with truth.
And the truth is this: Israel isn’t just fighting Hamas terrorists, tunnels, and rockets. It’s fighting a global campaign of lies.
Justin Amler is a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.