Hamas terrorists are firing rockets at Israeli civilians from within the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone designated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a “safe zone,” deliberately endangering Palestinian civilians, an Israeli spokesman said on Thursday.
Israel has set aside the Al-Mawasi area in the southwestern Gaza Strip, near the Mediterranean coast, that is meant to be free from any attacks, and it has encouraged Palestinian civilians to evacuate there, and aid agencies to set up facilities there.
“The IDF continues to call on the residents of the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City to evacuate towards the area of Al-Mawasi, south of Wadi Gaza. The IDF recommends evacuating to the open areas in western Khan Yunis, in the area of Al-Mawasi,” it said on October 18.
Eylon Levy, addressing journalists, said that Hamas had fired rockets throughout the afternoon on Tuesday from Al-Mawasi, including a barrage of 12 rockets at 3:59 p.m. local time that were aimed at the Israeli city of Be’er Sheva and that were launched from close proximity to civilian tents and United Nations facilities in the humanitarian zone.
One rocket, fired at 12:52 p.m., misfired and landed within Gaza, Levy said, though he did not say whether damage or injuries to Palestinians had resulted.
Palestinian terrorists routinely use civilians as human shields, knowing that it will be more difficult for Israel to fire back — and that, if it does, it will be condemned for having caused civilian casualties or attacked international facilities.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.