Sources are emerging with video proof that Hamas was and does deliberately put Palestinian civilians at risk. Most reporters have been intimidated, as described in last week’s JLBC editorial.
But some reporters do have courage. Standing at his open hotel window, looking into a courtyard centered inside a group of residential towers, Indian TV journalist Sreenivasan Jain watched as a Hamas rocket crew surreptitiously erected a blue gazebo-type tent, complete with flaps. Within the curtained tent, three Hamas operatives were busily at work, almost but not entirely hidden from view. With their work complete, the Hamas terrorists ran a cable from the tent site, and removed the Blue Tent. What remained was covered by a blanket of grasses. It was covering a rocket launcher. A cable led away from the pile.
As the reporter said, it was “bang in the middle of what is a residential area full of hotels and apartment buildings.”
The video starts with the reporter pointing out the blue tent. “There has always been this question of how Hamas manages to fire its rockets without being detected by the Israelis,” Jain says in the video. “This perhaps is one of the ways of assembling it, under a tent…It also establishes something Hamas has always been accused of—that they actually use densely populated civilian areas to fire their rockets,” Jain added, zooming the camera out to show the residential area. “If Hamas does fire a rocket from here, it will have immediate consequences for everyone around here.”
One day later, the film crew caught footage of the rocket launcher firing into Israel, just minutes before the 72-hour ceasefire went into effect.
Jain says it was not initially clear what the men caught on camera were doing. But the experienced eye of the Indian crew was suspicious. When Jain ventured outside his hotel room with cameraman in tow and tried to approach the area where the tent had stood, all that was visible was a pile of grass and mud. A guard stood watch and harshly waved the newsman away, stopping his crew from filming.
Their suspicion was confirmed when a “last minute” rocket was launched towards Israel moments before the cease fire went into effect. The timing of the launch—24 hours after the site was installed—ensured the safety of the terrorists. That this particular rocket did not break the ceasefire may have been a coincidence. The well-being of the civilians was clearly not considered. “You see that this is an area very heavily built up—a lot of residential and hotel buildings all around, and so if Hamas does fire a rocket from here it will have immediate consequences for everyone around here.” He added that it was “not the first time” rockets had been fired from the courtyard: the hotel had been evacuated the first night he arrived. In this case, however, the IDF chose not to retaliate.
Gallagher Fenwick reports for France 24Newa in Gaza. From some 50 yards away, he witnessed the launch of a “rocket fired right next to where we’re standing. …Israel has repeatedly accused Palestinian militants of shooting from densely populated civilian areas, and that is precisely the set-up we have right here.” Fenwick pointed out that the blue UN flag is flying above a building less than 100 yards behind him. “This rocket launching site is right next to a UN facility,” he reports.
Fair and accurate reporting from Gaza is rare. Please share this article with friends and post on your favorite social media sites. http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/ news/watch-ndtv-exclusive-how-hamas-assembles-and-fires-rockets/332910?hp
By Maxine Dovere
