Why Hamas might get away with its murderous attack

As the death toll continues to rise a month into the Israel-Hamas war, the focus has been on the number of Palestinian children and women killed so far. Given that the United Nations is supposed to be a forum for balanced deliberations on matters of international importance, the one-sidedness of its secretary general on the war is glaring. The similar stance taken by the World Health Organisation head is not surprising given his biased actions during the pandemic. While Israel and its leadership have been the target of concerted efforts to project the war as nothing less than genocide and ethnic cleansing, Hamas is not being held up to the same scrutiny. Does being a terror group give it a free pass to get away with pretty much whatever it wants? Just as Israel is being pressured to answer questions such as its intelligence failures and its intentions after this war, there has been no investigation of what Hamas’ endgame is—or was. The international media has probably been soft-pedalling of Hamas to avoid accusations of Islamophobia, which is now a more of a crime than anti-Semitism. That has left the rest of the world with incomplete information with which to form opinions. Here are another ten sets of queries that, astonishingly, remain unasked and unanswered though Hamas representatives and others clearly sympathetic to them get plenty of time to air their views on Israel’s actions.

1. Why did women and children remain present in buildings even as the war got well underway given that Israel had made repeated announcements about its intention to bomb specific northern areas? Does that not indicate that the innocent and the vulnerable are being used as human shields? Are the Israelis then solely responsible for their deaths? As Hamas has controlled Gaza for 15 years, should it not be held accountable for the safety of Palestinians living there?
2. Hamas clearly have stockpiled huge amounts of essentials—food, water, fuel and medicines—to remain hidden and yet continue their war on Israel. Why have they not been questioned about why they remain ensconced in their underground tunnels and bunkers even as Gaza gets flattened by Israeli bombs? Why have Hamas fighters not given preferential shelter to beleaguered women and children and bravely gone out to confront their “enemy” face to face instead?
3. Why are the Arab interlocutors of Hamas not asked why 1,400 people—mostly but not exclusively Jewish and Israeli—were murdered on 7 October, precipitating this retaliation that may kill well over 10 times that number of Palestinians? If Israel is now hellbent on a pogrom, what did Hamas expect? That Israel would meekly hand over the West Bank and the rest of its land, dissolve itself as a country and disperse Jewish people all over the world again?
4. Obviously not. As civilian deaths mount, Hamas is counting on (and awaiting) international pressure to make Israel stop its operations and blockade, after which it can trade those 240 hostages for crucial Hamas members among the many other Palestinians currently in Israeli jails. But should Hamas not be asked whether it killed 1,400 people due to their “collective responsibility” – the phrase used right now only to describe the nature of Israel’s retaliation on Palestinians?
5. The Qassam brigade (the military arm of Hamas) reportedly has anywhere between 25,000 and 50,000 cadres, all drawn from the local population. The daily casualty lists only carry names of non-combatant Palestinians. Does Hamas deny its cadres’ deaths? How can numbers be hidden as those fighters are sons, brothers and husbands of civilian Gazans? The Hamas-run “health ministry” in Gaza does not provide numbers but why has no one has pressed for them either?
6. Between bomb attacks and now street-by-street battles, it stands to reason that many Hamas terrorists must be injured every day too. Why are there no questions about where they are being given medical treatment? Do they have doctors and nurses for their exclusive use or are they using the same life-saving facilities as their ‘civilian’ brethren? If they are sharing hospital space, does that not endanger the civilian Palestinians as Israel would inevitably attack those places?
7. The Hamas communication systems with the over ground cadres are apparently very efficient as it puts out seemingly accurate and fast accounts of the number of casualties, especially the precise number of women and children killed or injured in every attack. How is that possible unless they are in contact with the doctors and “civilians” thronging the hospitals? And how is such contact possible unless they are somewhere close to those areas—underneath, maybe?
8. As Israel releases visuals of its troops engaging Hamas terrorists amid a landscape of bombed-out neighbourhoods, the existence of a warren of tunnels can no longer be denied by anyone, including the Palestinians who lived above them. Why are Gazans never asked (even off camera) whether they knew about those “spider webs” beneath their homes? If they did not, then how did Hamas manage to build them right underneath without their knowledge?
9. As the world appears more and more concerned about the suffering of civilian Palestinians, Hamas has stayed silent. The surest way to alleviate their plight would be for Hamas to release the hostages. Yet they continue to hold 239 of them, including over 30 children, several of them just infants. Why are Hamas representatives and sympathisers not being asked to press for their release? Why are the UN secretary general and WHO head not demanding this too?
10. There are reports about rising popular discontent with the Israeli leadership, as laxness led to the Hamas attack and hostages still have not been rescued a month into the war. There are also increasing media reiterations of the excesses of Israeli settlers in the West Bank. But why is no one asking whether Gaza’s residents are okay with the Hamas gambit that led to this deadly retribution? Their answer may hold the key to what will happen in Gaza after this war.

If Israel does bow to international pressure and agrees to “humanitarian pauses”, as US President Joe Biden calls them, Hamas will see it as a sign of capitulation. It will get away with not being made accountable and answerable for its actions. And like-minded terror organisations will realise they can get away with opportunistic, outrageous and murderous attacks (and not answering uncomfortable questions) too if they field enough sympathisers to ensure a one-way narrative. The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.