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How Hamas Exploits Gaza Hospitals

(Jerusalem Post) Jude Taragin - "From the first day of the Israel-Hamas War, Hamas left no hospital untouched for terrorist purposes," Maj. (ret.) John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, told Maariv in an interview published on Monday. "Hospitals receive special protection under international law as places of refuge. However, the law explicitly prohibits the use of hospitals to shield military objectives from attack." "Under the laws of war in international law, if a hospital is found to be used for warfare by the enemy, one of the primary requirements is to notify the enemy in advance that if they do not vacate the hospital, the military will attack. The main problem is that after notifying the enemy of an impending attack, the enemy naturally exploits this to escape or prepare for the attack." "In almost every hospital the IDF entered, there was evidence of Hamas's military use of the facility, which the army revealed and publicized. At Shifa Hospital, evidence was found of hostages being held, weapons and ammunition stored, and an extensive tunnel with command and control infrastructure. In other cases, Hamas operatives were documented firing from within Sheikh Hamad Hospital, while others fired rockets near Al-Quds Hospital before running inside." To address this challenge, "the IDF often surrounds the hospital and calls on the terrorists to come out while simultaneously using advanced facial recognition techniques to identify Hamas operatives attempting to 'blend in' with civilians....Hamas operatives often try to appear as the most vulnerable patients - using wheelchairs, crutches, or carrying a sick baby."
2024-12-31 00:00:00
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