Best-selling author and political commentator Douglas Murray published a column on Friday in The New York Post in which he outlined the way Hamas uses children and the elderly as tools in their war against Israel.
Murray blasted critics of Israel who claim Israelis deliberately target civilians and commit war crimes. He pointed out the intellectual dishonesty of those who pillory Israel for stripping Hamas terrorists (who might have worn suicide bombs under their clothes) down to their underwear, but remain silent about the brutal rape of scores of Israeli women by Hamas.
‘His unit spotted an old lady in a wheelchair alone on a street corner in Gaza. As they approached her they were suddenly fired on by a Hamas terrorist. He had placed himself under her wheelchair in order to fire on the Israeli soldiers.’ @nypost https://t.co/FJxuxioojV
— Douglas Murray (@DouglasKMurray) December 29, 2023
“Earlier this week The Post published a story about Hamas hiding explosives in toy boxes,” Murray wrote. “That is absolutely true and the tip of the iceberg.”
Murray quoted an American, whom he referred to as “Major Y,” who returned to Israel after the October 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis to serve with the IDF and has been fighting in Gaza.
Murray quoted Major Y and other witnesses who said roughly one in every two or three homes in Gaza they entered had military weaponry, including AK-47s, grenades, and rocket launchers, as well as entrances to Hamas terror tunnels, and the tunnels were most often found in children’s rooms.
According to Major Y, every single mosque the IDF entered in Gaza as well as every U.N. school had Hamas weapons, violating the rules of war.
“Hamas use places of worship — while pretending to be such ‘devout’ Muslims — because they know the Israelis will not target their places of worship,” Murray wrote. “They use schools as arms dumps because they know that if Israel targets an empty school the world will go berserk.”
In one reported incident, an IDF unit saw an old lady in a wheelchair on a street corner. When they approached her a Hamas terrorist who had hidden under the wheelchair fired on them.
Another IDF unit near an UNWRA school reportedly saw a 13-year old boy running with a bag; he left the bag on the ground and fled. It exploded, severely wounding an Israeli soldier.
“When people ask how Israel could treat even some children as potential terrorists, this is why,” Murray commented.
Another reported incident found “a group of old women and old men” exiting a building with a white flag; then a terrorist popped out from within the group and fired at IDF soldiers, who didn’t fire back because of the other civilians.
“In other words, the Israelis expressed more care for the Palestinian civilians than this Palestinian terrorist,” Murray noted.
“This, then, is the Hamas way of war. And the Israeli way of war,” Murray wrote. “One side uses civilians as human shields. The other tries to locate terrorists.”
“It is Hamas that started this. And Hamas that is the real enemy not just of Israel but of the Palestinian people,” he concluded.