[Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center] At least 709 of the 1,166 Palestinians who died in the Gaza war belonged to terrorist organizations. 609 took orders from Hamas and about 100 were from Islamic Jihad and other organizations. During the war Hamas adopted the policy of concealing its own casualties to prevent morale from flagging and to serve the "victory narrative" which Hamas has been carefully constructing. Hamas, which controls all information originating in Gaza, issued exaggerated numbers for "civilians" killed, while feeding the media false data and selective, biased reports about the number of armed operatives killed. Armed terrorists are represented as civilians or harmless policemen deliberately killed by the IDF. Total casualty figures reported by the Palestinians have also been inflated by the addition of those who died of natural causes.
2009-04-24 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive