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Hiding Terrorists in Schools Is a Fundamental Hamas and Palestinian Authority Strategy
Several days ago, the Israeli military conducted an airstrike on a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command center located within the Taba’een school in Gaza City.
Hamas originally claimed that more than 90 people were killed in the strike. However, after the IDF posted a picture of 19 terrorists killed there, Hamas revised its numbers to say that only 40 had been killed. Subsequently, Israel listed the names of 38 terrorists who were killed. In all likelihood, there were no civilian casualties.
This does not change the fact that for years, Hamas has boasted about its use of human shields. The organization’s officials have taken pride that the Palestinians have “created a human shield of women, children, the elderly, and the jihad fighters”:
Hamas Political Bureau member Fathi Hammad: “For the Palestinian people, death became an industry at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly, [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire death, as you desire life.” [emphasis added]
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), February 29, 2008]
Hamas officials have called for more Palestinians to become human shields as a strategy:
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri: “The people oppose the Israeli fighter planes with their bodies alone … I think this method has proven effective against the occupation. It also reflects the nature of our heroic and brave people, and we, the [Hamas] movement, call on our people to adopt this method in order to protect the Palestinian homes.” [emphasis added]
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 8, 2014]
The late Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh put it in other terms, literally asking for the blood of Palestinians:
The blood [spilled] in the Gaza Strip, alongside the resistance and the Al-Qassam [Brigades] will defeat this occupier, will defeat this enemy … As I said, and I repeat every time, the blood of the children, women, and elderly — I do not say that it shouts out to you, but rather we need this blood so that it will ignite within us the spirit of revolution, so that it will arouse within us persistence, so that it will arouse within us defiance and [a forward] advance. [emphasis added]
[Website of Al-Jazeera TV, Oct. 26, 2023]
However, the ideal of dying for Allah either actively or passively is by no means exclusive to Hamas.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) also openly advocates for the use of human shields and civilian deaths. Many PA leaders often extol the value of Martyrdom.
One example is from PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, who has said that whomever seeks Martyrdom will be given that status even if he dies in his bed.
Other examples can be found in statements such as this one, made by a senior leader of the PA’s ruling party:
Fatah Revolutionary Council member Tayseer Nasrallah: “The Palestinians’ iron will is revealed when our people accompany a Martyr. The entire Palestinian public unites around the choice of Martyrdom — Martyrdom is a sacred value for us.”
[Official PA TV, April 24, 2024]
Both the PA and Hamas have turned the Islamic religious idea of dying for Allah — Martyrdom — into the central component of their PR strategy. By embracing tactics such as using children to perpetrate terror attacks and having them get killed in the process, they give ammunition to biased international organizations that can then blame Israel for civilian and children’s deaths.
Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.
The post Hiding Terrorists in Schools Is a Fundamental Hamas and Palestinian Authority Strategy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.