Operation Cast Lead: Day 17

Even as the rockets keep hitting Israel, there are rumblings that yet another ceasefire agreement deal is in reach between Hamas and Israel.

Just in case anyone forgot who is really pulling the strings in the Gaza war, Iran has warned Hamas not to accept any ceasefire deal. You can be assured that Hamas' Khalid Meshaal, who's operating out of Hamas' offices in Damascus was listening quite intently when Iran laid out what they want Hamas to do.

Iran's playing geopolitics and is looking to thwart Egypt's influence in the region. Egypt is looking to do the same to Iran. Hamas is a useful pawn in that game for both - and Israel is the foil. Iran seeks Israel's destruction, and Hamas, as Iran's proxy army gets to show the region and the world that Hamas means business and that Iran's reach is greater than just its bellicosity. Egypt is playing the game by hosting the diplomats who are attempting to work out a ceasefire deal and while they are agnostic as to Israel's destruction, allowing Iran's terror outfit to reside in such close proximity to Egypt cannot be allowed. Egypt is playing the middleman and facilitator between Israel and Hamas so as to thwart Hamas and Iran's intentions. Saudi Arabia is also playing a role here to a lesser extent.

Take any ceasefire deal with a grain of salt as Hamas will consider them only as a hudna, not a real and lasting ceasefire. Hamas considers itself at war with Israel and seeks Israel's destruction. It will not tolerate anything short of Israel's destruction, which is why the terrorists have been launching rockets and mortars at Israel for years, including hundreds during the 6-month "ceasefire" that just ended prior to Israel's initiation of Operation Cast Lead. Any deal that relies on Hamas for normality is suspect given Hamas' penchant for violating ceasefire deals and carrying out terrorist attacks. The problem, of course, is that the diplomats consider such violations scattered incidents not worthy of a response by Israel - there were hundreds of them during the 6-month "ceasefire."

Egypt is also reconsidering an idea to thwart the smuggling tunnels that have enabled Hamas to rearm and smuggle supplies and equipment into Gaza from Egypt. They're now open to the idea of a moat, which would make tunneling under the border prohibitive.

Meanwhile, Fatah is also playing up the fact that Hamas has destroyed Gaza through its actions. They don't forget the civil war the two terror groups fought to control the Palestinian Authority and the future of the Palestinians. Fatah lost control of Gaza in that conflict, and the Gaza war has enabled Israel to take Hamas down a few pegs.

I've been saying for some time now that the diplomats are trying to invent their own reality. This story proves my point. They're trying to suggest that the two-state plan is dead. Well, it's been dead since Hamas and Fatah have essentially hit upon an alternative; a 3-state plan in anticipation for a 1-state plan that doesn't involve Israel. Hamas has their own reichlet; Fatah has theirs in the West Bank, and both are looking towards the eventual destruction of Israel and supplanting it with their own. Fatah at least pays lip service to a 2-state solution, but is hardly in any position to make a deal that they can actually adhere to, and they certainly don't have the backing of Gazans, who roundly supported Hamas in 2006 when Hamas kicked Fatah to the curb.

For those who were wondering about that UN official, Chris Guiness, who claimed that unnamed Israeli officials privately stated that there were no terrorists at that UNRWA school when they fired on it, the IDF has responded.

According to The Associated Press report, Israeli defense officials have said in private that at the time of the attack, the IDF was returning fire at Hamas men who had just fired a rocket at Israel.

The army fired three mortar shells, two of which hit the target and one missed by about 30 meters, causing the casualties at the school, whose number the IDF believes was inflated by Hamas.

"We are still sticking by our official position that according to our initial inquiry, the whole thing started when terrorists fired mortar shells from the school compound [at soldiers]," Capt. Ishai David told The Jerusalem Post.

"The IDF returned fire to the source, and the unfortunate result was the death of innocent civilians," David said. He added that two terrorists, who were part of a Kassam squad, were also killed in the incident.

UNRWA has insisted that there were no terrorists in the school compound.

Already last week the aid organization told the Post, "The Israeli army in private briefings with diplomats have admitted that the militant fire from Jabalya yesterday came from outside the UNRWA school compound, and not from inside the UNRWA school compound," spokesman Christopher Gunness said.

As I've noted previously, terrorists have a way to fire the mortars without actually being at the weapon itself. They can fire it remotely using a rope to trigger the mortar round to drop in the barrel. Mortar crews don't have to have personal firearms and can blend in to civilian areas. Two such Hamas terrorists were identified among those killed in the incident.

Hamas is crawling all over Gaza, looking to provoke Israel to attacking positions that have civilians in them - with the express intention of causing a mass casualty incident that harms the most number of people possible. Hamas is looking for a body count, and they couldn't care that there were kids there or anything else. Casualties are props to further their goals that undermine Israel's ability to defend itself from the Hamas war on Israel's existence.

We've seen that time and time again. Terrorists use civilians as human shields, and this is no exception. Hamas is to blame for those casualties, pure and simple - but the UNRWA and UN consistently stand up for Hamas and against Israel and its right to defend itself.

Oh, the UN continues to claim that a UN aid worker was killed by Israeli forces while transporting aid into Gaza was killed by a Palestinian sniper, despite evidence showing that Palestinian snipers were involved. Figures.

Elsewhere, the IDF continues its operations in urban areas of Gaza and continues to discover that Hamas has planted bombs and boobytraps at every turn. As I noted yesterday, Hamas even planted bombs in a school and rigged it to explode from a nearby zoo. Human rights groups aren't exactly jumping over themselves to condemn Hamas for that, but they are going out of their way to complain, whine and seethe over Israel's legitimate and lawful use of white phosphorus. You don't hear the UN complaining about that either, despite the fact that the UNRWA is supposed to have been policing those refugee camps and preventing the militarization of the same.

UPDATE:
The UN Human Rights Council, a misnomer if there ever was one, has once again ignored Hamas' innumerable human rights violations, war crimes, and calls for genocide, in favor of attacking Israel.

On Monday, the Human Rights Council's 47 members voted 33 in favor and 1 against the resolution that also accuses Israel of systematically destroying Palestinian infrastructure and of targeting civilians and medical facilities.

European Union countries abstained and Canada voted against the resolution.

The resolution approved in Geneva Monday urges an end to the rocket attacks but mentions neither Hamas nor violations of Israeli civilians' rights.

The EU shows that it has lost its moral bearing and that it cannot condemn the moral equivalence that exists throughout UN related entities. Hamas is a terrorist organization, and yet the HRC can't find the time to condemn the repeated and cataloged human rights violations? It's worse than useless; it's propaganda for Hamas.

Where are the condemnations for Hamas hiding out in Gaza hospitals inside bunkers? As for the propaganda being spewed from Shifa hospital in Gaza, this goes to what I've been saying about the hospital being firmly within Hamas control. They're on the payroll.

Speaking on Army Radio, Dichter noted that "on Saturday, January 10, which is the day salaries are distributed in Gaza, several Hamas commanders who cannot come out of their hiding places were given their salaries at their hiding places. But commanders who can move around Gaza made their way to Shifa Hospital to receive their salaries."

Regarding Israeli intelligence reports that the Hamas leadership had taken refuge in the hospital, Dichter said that the "Shifa Hospital has long ago ceased to be just a hospital, just as the UNRWA humanitarian and health services in Gaza long ago ceased to be just humanitarian services providing food and medical services."

"UN schools in Gaza long ago stopped being just schools," the minister said. "All these services and places are refuge for Hamas terrorists and commanders."

Israel is contemplating erecting a field hospital in Gaza to treat Palestinians rather than enabling Hamas to continue operating with impunity from the Hamas infested hospitals. They also carried out yet another 3-hour truce to allow humanitarian aid to pass into Gaza. Hamas didn't oblige, continuing to fire those rockets at Israel.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have found yet another mosque stuffed to the brim with weapons and explosives.

UPDATE:
Well, Mads Gilbert has done his duty. He's already back in Oslo, Norway after spending a few days mugging for the cameras in one of Gaza's hospitals. Some humanitarian. He was there long enough to get involved in a propaganda video, mug for the cameras, and then jet back to Oslo to be lauded. Classy.

No doubt we'll be hearing more from him and how Israel is targeting civilians all while ignoring all the Hamas crawling over that hospital. Then again, he's a pro 9/11 terrorist sympathizer, so we know that he's not going to criticize Islamic terrorists.

UPDATE:
How'd that get in there? Hamas has attempted this before, and they'll be trying again. Last year, they tried to smuggle 2 tons of fertilizer used in making kassam rockets among the humanitarian aid making its way into Gaza.

Security workers employed by the Israel Airport Authority uncovered two tons of fertilizer used in the manufacturing of Qassam rockets on Monday afternoon, the substantial amount of explosive material was concealed in a truck allegedly transporting humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

The security officials manning the Kerem Shalom border crossing discovered the smuggling attempt during a random inspection of vehicles carrying humanitarian equipment and goods.

Hamas uses the cover of humanitarian aid to secure the very armaments needed to continue its war against Israel. (HT: mich-again at LGF)

UPDATE:
This is worth repeating:

According to army estimates (based on intelligence and information obtained by the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration), at least 400 of the palestinians killed are known Hamas operatives. Furthermore, the IDF believes that among the remaining 500, at least half are Hamas operatives. In other words, more than 750 of the 905 dead could well have been Hamas terrorists, which is a starkly different picture to the one being painted by the likes of Hamas, UNRWA, and the world media.

Far from the multitudes of civilian casualties claimed, the overwhelming majority are Hamas turned humus. That's 82.8% of all dead being attributed as Hamas thugs. 100% of those dead were killed because Hamas waged war against Israel.