War Crimes Committed by Hamas During Operation Cast Lead

Operation Cast Lead refers to the Israeli offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip in December 2008 which continued to the initial weeks of January 2009. Operation Cast Lead was executed with the objective of finding all arms and ammunition and destroying them before they would fire more rockets into Israeli cities. Operation Cast Lead also had the objective of stopping the ongoing rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and also had the objective to bring Hamas commanders to justice.

During the operation, many human rights violations were made by the Hamas. Ironically, Human rights organizations like the Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Council(UNHRC) conveniently ignored these and blamed the state of Israel and the Israeli Defence Forces(IDF) instead.

First of all, Hamas fired rockets and mortars into Israeli cities after the ceasefire was signed. For the past 9 years, they have been doing just this and in the process have killed countless innocent Israeli civilians and damaged property. In these 9 years, Hamas has fired no less than 12,000 rockets on Israeli cities. Nobody bothered to kow how many civilians were killed in these 12,000 rockets which were showered upon Israeli cities.

Hamas fired rockets from civilian buildings such as schools, mosques, hospitals where it is highly sensitive to strike at. They purposely hid their ammunition and artillery in these buildings and used them to launch attacks.

One shocking report even shows how the Hamas planted bombs in a school and attached the detonator to a zoo very close by. This shows that the Hamas had to regard for the civilian infrastructure. According to international law, it is prohibited to use civilian structures for attack, especially sensitive areas such as schools, hospitals and places of worship.

During the offensive, Hamas militants and police officers shunned their uniforms and wore civilian clothes in order to mix with their civilian population. They hid in the homes of civilians so that they could trick Israeli forces into attacking civilians so that they could make a huge outcry over potential human rights violations. In fact, it is widely reported that the Hamas themselves killed many of their own civilians and placed their bodies in areas where Israel would conduct surgical strikes.

Apart from these, Hamas officials also used to hoard the aid coming which was intended for the civilians of Gaza strip and other areas of Palestine and would instead use the aid to support Hamas operatives. All this at a time of extreme shortage for the people of Gaza Strip.

Even with ample proof, international organizations such as the UN, Amnesty International etc refuse to acknowledge the fact that these human rights violations did take place. There is one question that needs to be asked to these organizations : Who are you afraid of?