Before strikes on buildings in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces call residents of those buildings to give them a chance to evacuate and preserve their lives. A new video shows the IDF pleading with a Gazan man on the other end of the line to evacuate a targeted building, saying he had a responsibility for children’s lives. The man responded, “If the children need to die then they’ll die.”
In the video, aired by Sky News (below), the Gazan man initially tries to stall for time, saying, “I can’t get all of the people out; I need at least two hours to get them out.”
The IDF stated, “Listen, we are going to bomb the building.”
This exchange followed:
Gazan man: You want to bomb? Bomb whatever you want.
IDF: No, brother. We need to do everything we can so you don’t die.
Gazan man: We want to die.
IDF: But you have a responsibility for children’s lives.
Gazan man: If the children need to die then they’ll die.
IDF: God forbid. God forbid. What do you want? To die?
Gazan man: This is how we reveal your cruelty.
Shocking phone call of IDF calling to warn a building owner where children are present. A heartbreaking response.
Watch:
H/t @YosephHaddad pic.twitter.com/M8MenSGpHZ
— Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר (@emilykschrader) May 19, 2021
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “If Hamas thought they could just fire rockets and sit back and enjoy immunity, that’s false. We are targeting a terrorist organization that is targeting our civilians, and hiding behind their civilians, using them as human shields.”
In May 2018, The Times of Israel reported:
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon on Sunday called on the Security Council to condemn the Hamas terror group for its use of children as human shields during mass protests along the Gaza border fence. Danon sent a letter to the top UN council calling on it “to condemn Hamas’s use of civilians and children.”
Danon wrote: “[D]uring these protests, expected to escalate as part of the ‘Days of Rage’ declared by the Palestinian leadership, Hamas, the internationally recognized terrorist organization, plans to exploit innocent Palestinian children as human shields and place them directly in harm’s way. … Hamas is committing grave violations of international law. Their terrorists continue to hide behind innocent children to ensure their own survival and their leaders incite the people of Gaza to violence.”
In February 2018, Congressman Joe Wilson introduced H.R. 3542, the Hamas Human Shields Prevention Act, which he noted was “designed to condemn and sanction Hamas for turning its own citizens, including children, into human shields.” The bill was passed unanimously 415-0.
The bill stated, “H.R. 3542 would require the President to identify and impose sanctions on foreign people or entities affiliated with Hamas that he determines have used civilians as human shields or have provided, tried to provide, or facilitated the provision of material support to that terrorist organization. The bill also would require the President to direct the United States’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice and vote of the United States to secure support at the United Nations Security Council for multilateral sanctions against Hamas for their use of human shields.”
A previous version of this article misstated a word in the exchange. The man said this is how we reveal “your” cruelty, not “our” cruelty.