Evidence Continues Piling Up On Hamas War Crimes

Maybe Gazans are starting to get the idea that supporting Hamas was a real bad idea and counterproductive? They are starting to voice their knowledge of being used as human shields.

They were powerless to resist or so they claim. After all, Hamas had the guns and the willingness to murder those who oppose their terror regime.

And now they've got money that they're using to buy off Gazans who were affected by Hamas attacks on Israel and the resulting damage done by Israeli counterattacks.

A Hamas cabinet minister carried a carton stuffed with checks worth nearly $2 million into a Gaza tent camp pitched on the ruins of the Salam neighborhood, close to the Israeli border.

But before hundreds of homeless residents could collect, they had to listen to a political speech. Social Affairs Minister Ahmed al-Kurd told them Israel's military machine was defeated and that the Hamas government would rebuild their neighborhood bigger and better.

"There's a lot of talk," resident Zayed Khader, 45, said after the speech, as he waited for his name to be called so he could pick up relief checks worth a total of $6,000 for his family of nine. "When I see them actually building my house, I'll say these are good words."

The IDF operation in Gaza ended 10 days ago, but many Gazans complain that political maneuvering - both between Hamas and Fatah, and in the international community - is slowing the delivery of urgently needed aid to Gaza.

Meanwhile, this is a ban I could get behind. Palestinians want to ban the BBC from Gaza. Considering that the BBC is anti-Israel in its editorial slant, removing it from Gaza would actually be an improvement. Of course, the Palestinians want to ban the BBC because the BBC didn't want to run a pro-Gaza appeal.

Of course, we're going to continue to be treated to claims by Hamas that they won the latest battle with Israel. Hamas thugs emerge from bunkers and behind the skirts of women and the bodies of the children they used as human shields to declare victory.

Mahmoud Abbas says that Hamas will never take over the West Bank. Big words from Abbas, considering that Fatah had its hat handed to it by Hamas in Gaza. Israel would never let that situation occur.

Humanitarian aid continues to flow into Gaza; 200 trucks a day. Hamas demands that Israel open the crossings into Israel. Israel's latest response to that is that the crossings will open only when Hamas releases Gilad Shalit. That's a damned sight better than Israel's previous stance, which was to consider the release of hundreds of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails in exchange for Shalit, who has been held by Hamas for more than 2.5 years.

And consider this a sign that the humanitarian situation in Gaza isn't as dire as the diplomats have warned; Egypt has delayed a conference on Gaza until March.