How Far Will Israel Go To Avoid Killing Palestinian Civilians While Targeting Hamas?

On Wednesday, the death toll in Gaza reached 201, while on Tuesday Israel suffered its first fatality in this latest round of fighting when a mortar shell struck and killed an Israeli man delivering food to soldiers near a Gaza border crossing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to hit Hamas with “great force” for the attacks, which will certainly result in more Palestinian civilians being hurt or killed.

Though Israel is always held to a higher standard than Hamas for causing civilian casualties, a new video released by the IDF shows just how far the Israeli military will go to reduce such instances, even aborting attacks on Hamas to avoid hitting Palestinian civilians.

The first video depicting aerial shots of the Gaza Strip seen by f Israeli air force pilots shows that on at least three occasions they aborted attacks after seeing Palestinian civilians in the area.

“We have identified a civilian on the roof. Less than 20 meters [from the target],” one pilot says, then is promptly ordered to “move on to the next target” from the chain of command.

In the second excerpt provided by the IDF, a pilot says he sees “people loading a vehicle within 100 meters [of his target]. There are people within 100 meters. Yes, there is a civilian walking in a yard.”

Copy that. We will not strike this target now,” ground forces respond.

In the third, a female IDF soldier reports that she sees what appears to be four or five adults.

“This is a very sensitive target. There are lots of people and children in the area,” the pilot says.

“Stop. For now we will not target this location,” the chain of command also tells him.

Critics will no doubt claim the video is made to show, but the fact is Hamas lost political credibility when it rejected the cease fire this week. Despite multiple warnings from Israel, the Gaza Interior Minister had repeatedly told the Palestinian people to ignore Israel’s warnings, claiming it was nothing more than a psychological warfare tactic meant to intimidate.

“I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets in multiple numbers in the face of a goodwill effort to operate a cease-fire,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday. Even U.S. allies across the pond, who recognize Palestine as a state, have condemned the decision.

“I hope the Hamas leadership now understand the best thing to do is to call a halt, have the negotiation, discussion, and sit down with everybody to work out a long-term, viable plan for Gaza,” former British Prime Minister and Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair told Sky News.

Israel has accused Hamas of hiding behind civilians and using them as cover for their rocket launching sites and weapons depots. The claim was bolstered when images surfaced from a video posted by Fatah’s military wing that showed a militant launching a rocket within yards of a house using a food cart to camouflage his launcher.