The UN has complained about an Israeli airstrike overnight Wednesday that targeted Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Gaza who had seized part of a UN school.
Various reports parroted the UN complaint. However, the presence of terrorists at a UN facility once again shows that the international organization is not doing enough to protect civilians from Hamas.
“Overnight, the IDF conducted a precise, intelligence-based strike targeting dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists hiding inside a UN school in Gaza,” IDF spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari said. “Some of these terrorists participated in the Hamas massacre of October 7.
I will soon reveal the identities of some of the terrorists we eliminated.” Hagari went on to note that “the terrorists were operating from this UN school. They were planning and conducting attacks from inside classrooms of this UNRWA school. Our precise strike was based on concrete intelligence from multiple sources. The terrorists inside this school were planning more attacks against Israelis, some of them imminent. We stopped a ticking time-bomb. This is what it was.”
The UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs said that the strike is “yet another tragedy proving there is nowhere safe for civilians in Gaza. The rules of war must be respected; civilians must be protected. States must use their leverage: diplomatic and economic pressure, conditioning arms exports, and cooperation in fighting impunity.” The commissioner-general of UNRWA said that “the school was sheltering 6,000 displaced people when it was hit. Claims that armed groups may have been inside the shelter are shocking. We are however unable to verify these claims.”
The Israeli and UN claims once again show how the UN and other international organizations in Gaza are not doing enough to protect civilians from Hamas. The terrorist group has systematically used civilian areas to build tunnels and it has systematically sought to exploit hospitals, schools, and various UN and other international facilities to hide its gunmen and to hide terrorists. For instance, almost a thousand Hamas terrorists entered Shifa Hospital in late February and early March, before an IDF raid found them there.
NGOs and UN silence on Hamas
A thousand men don’t go into a hospital and take over parts of it without any staff noticing. However, in Gaza there has been a systematic decision by NGOs and UN members working there to never mention Hamas and not monitor facilities for the presence of Hamas. In fact, most of these groups appear to have banned their members from even using the word “Hamas,” instead speaking of “armed groups.”
It stands to reason that when hundreds of men come into a building and take over part of it, but don’t wear a uniform or carry weapons, they would not be called an “armed group.”
It’s important to understand the code of silence here. This is not just due to people not noticing. A recent interview with a Kurdish doctor who volunteered in north Gaza revealed that Hamas had taken over the third floor of a hospital as a “VIP” area for its own members and favored patients. Patients who were not affiliated with Hamas or were seen to be affiliated with other groups were denied treatment. When international NGOs worked at the same hospital, they had a duty to report the fact that patients were denied service for political reasons. However, only this one Kurdish doctor dared mention it.
What we see in Gaza is a lot of evidence of how Hamas uses these civilian facilities systematically, and also a systematic attempt to cover for the terrorist group. This compels civilians to be in areas with a Hamas presence. For instance, in a shelter or school, the civilians should be told that Hamas is illegally using the building. If a person is a school administrator and dozens of adult men unaffiliated with the school enter the building and take over classrooms, this should be reported and there should be a duty to warn the civilians of the presence of these men.
The problem in Gaza is that Hamas not only systematically uses hospitals and schools, but there is a systematic silence regarding its presence in these facilities. The UN, as one of the most powerful organizations in Gaza, appears to have failed to protect civilians from the presence of Hamas.
Claiming that the presence of the “armed group” cannot be “verified” is problematic. A mandate must be established that compels the UN and other groups to actively monitor their facilities and verify that unaffiliated men are not entering them. If the presence of unaffiliated men is detected, it should be reported, and civilians who are sheltering there should be warned.
