From Rockets to Human Shields: Hamas Tactics Unveiled

Last week, we took a deep dive into the Israel-Hamas conflict. In case you missed that discussion, you might want to catch up before jumping into this week's column.

To quickly recap, we highlighted that Gaza is under the governance of Hamas, not Israel. The Palestinians elected Hamas to lead their government, although we know that this support is coerced by the leaders of Hamas. After all, that's their modus operandi. More on that shortly.

We are well aware that Hamas kicked off the recent escalation of violence by launching a terror attack in Israel on October 7, claiming the lives of over 1,400 Israelis and kidnapping around 250 hostages.

In addition to the "ground assault" against Israeli civilians, Hamas rained between 2,000 and 5,000 missiles into Israel within minutes on October 7. The sheer volume overwhelmed Israel's renowned "Iron Dome" defense system. (Fun fact: Israel developed the Iron Dome air defense system due to the tens of thousands of rockets launched by Palestinians into Israel since 2001, and Hamas has every intention of shooting more.)

In response to this act of terror, Israel rightfully launched a counterattack against the Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Now, I don't want to insult your intelligence, but judging by the global response to this conflict, it seems necessary to state a simple truth – repeatedly: Israel initiated its military offensive to stop Hamas terrorists from killing its citizens.

The mental gymnastics required to ignore the fact that Hamas' founding charter explicitly states their desire to destroy the State of Israel is beyond reasonable tolerance for fair-minded individuals.

And on October 7, Hamas acted on that desire, causing tremendous harm to thousands of Israelis.

What choice did Israel have other than a military response? None, my friends. They had to protect their citizens.

Hamas expected Israel to respond with force. Who wouldn't?

But they also tried to use that justifiable force against Israel by using innocent women, children, and civilians as human shields.

You see, my friends, Hamas doesn't fight like a conventional army. Legitimate armies typically have bases away from residential areas, hospitals, mosques, schools – you get the idea.

But not Hamas. They act in stark contrast to legitimate militaries worldwide.

In fact, one could argue strongly that Hamas does precisely the opposite of what most militaries do. Most militaries exist to defend their citizens, especially women and children, and they usually stand between the enemy and their citizens.

But not Hamas. As part of their core strategy, they intentionally embed their 'military' in civilian areas and threaten civilians if they try to flee the warzone.

That's precisely why the Hamas terrorist Ahmed Siam allegedly held 1,000 Palestinians hostage in a Gazan hospital, threatening to kill them if they left during the Israeli Defense Force's (IDF's) military response.

It's also why Hamas terrorists allegedly gunned down innocent Palestinians trying to flee to the south to escape the dangers of the war.

And it's why Israel claims to have found a Hamas terrorist base beneath a children's hospital.

This is simply who Hamas is, and they employ these tactics for two primary reasons.

First, to discourage Israel from launching counteroffensive operations. If military operations are launched from a residential area, principled militaries find it challenging to strike back due to the risk of civilian casualties.

Second, they do this to win the propaganda war. Hamas blames any civilian casualty on Israel, regardless of everything we've discussed in this column. The international media, in turn, attempts to brand Israel as a war criminal or genocidal state.

But that's simply not true.

So, what does Israel do in response to these Hamas tactics?

They instruct Palestinians to leave areas they are targeting militarily. This is done through formal government announcements, leaflet drops, phone calls and text messages to a database of Palestinian phone numbers, and sometimes even with a device called a "roof knocker" to alert civilians of targets about to be hit by bombs (although it appears this is used much more sparingly today).

What more can Israel be expected to do?

They absolutely must target legitimate terrorist threats to keep their civilians safe. They're doing everything I can think of to minimize civilian casualties – short of halting all military operations and giving Hamas time to regroup before their next offensive.

Israel is not targeting civilians. They are not engaged in "ethnic cleansing." To suggest otherwise is either ignorant or deliberately deceitful.

But the most ironic and tragic part of all of this is that Hamas is engaged in targeting civilians – both Israeli and Palestinian. It's in their charter, a clear call for ethnic cleansing.

Yet the world's response is to call for an Israeli ceasefire. Of course, the surest way to achieve a legitimate ceasefire is to support Israel's efforts to eliminate the terrorists who initiate every violent conflict in the region. Peace through strength, my friends. It's the only way to effectively deal with those hellbent on committing terrorist acts.

Make no mistake: a real, genuine ceasefire would be a wonderful thing. But let's not confuse that with an artificial ceasefire that ensures only one thing – a second Hamas attack, causing more innocent Israelis and Palestinians to lose their lives in the future.

Israel should be allowed to defeat the real terrorists without the international community interfering in its operations. After all, it's the Hamas terrorists – not Israel – who have deliberately chosen a path of evil that horrifically includes civilian casualties on both sides. If the international community truly wants to limit these civilian casualties, as they well should, wouldn't they want to see the absolute destruction of the Hamas terrorists, who are 100% responsible for all civilian casualties?

I certainly think so.

There are two ways to end this conflict. The first is the total and unconditional surrender of Hamas and the release of all hostages. The second is the total annihilation of Hamas.

Hamas can choose either option. But without Hamas' cooperation, Israel can only choose the second.

We should pray for peace, my friends. But we shouldn't be naive on how we arrive there.

Conservative, not bitter,
Todd