From the Times of Israel:
The Hamas terror group is threatening to begin executing hostages in response to Israeli strikes in Gaza carried out without warnings, the spokesperson for Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades says, according to Gaza’s Shehab news outlet.
“From this hour, any targeting of our people in the safety of their homes, without warning, will be met with the execution of civilian hostages, which will be broadcast with video and audio,” says the spokesperson, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida.
Civilian casualties are inevitable, given Hamas’s use of Gazans as human shields. Hamas has long sited its own command facilities and weaponry in schools, apartment buildings, and so on. More broadly, though, when you start a war you can expect civilian casualties. According to Wikipedia, somewhere between 850,000 and over two million German civilians were killed during World War II. Between 350,000 and 500,000 were killed by the Allies’ strategic bombing alone. When a regime like the Nazi Party or Hamas starts a war and loses it, that is what they must expect.
Gaza’s rulers can murder captives if they choose to do so. The question is, how far is Israel willing to go to eradicate the Gaza menace once and for all? Lawrence Person suggests that all Palestinians should be removed from Gaza and placed on the West Bank, while Israelis move into Gaza. That may be necessary. But that is a subject for another day.
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