Israeli officers: Two civilians die for every terrorist
The local population is paying a heavy price in blood for Israel's fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip: For every Hamas member killed, two civilians are killed. According to the army, the battle in the south is to be conducted more precisely, as it is now apparently advancing towards Chan Junis.
According to two high-ranking Israeli officers, two civilians have been killed for every Hamas fighter killed in the military operation against the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This ratio is "not good", but the exploitation of civilians as human shields is part of Hamas' "basic strategy", said one of the two military representatives, who did not wish to be named, in an interview with journalists.
It is to be hoped that the number of civilians killed in relation to fighters killed will improve "considerably" as the fighting in the Gaza Strip continues, one officer added. Asked about information that 5,000 Hamas fighters had been killed, one of the officers explained that this figure was "more or less accurate". The Israeli army, however, is endeavoring to keep the number of civilian casualties as low as possible, the officers continued. For example, the military uses sophisticated mapping software that uses cell phone signals, aerial surveillance and artificial intelligence to determine how many people are in different areas of the Gaza Strip. In addition, the military is "much more precise" in the south of the Gaza Strip, where the population has almost doubled, and is taking "much more time" to effectively warn the civilian population.
On Monday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also confirmed that the Israeli army was now taking a more precise approach. Miller said that "much more precise evacuation orders" were being issued. Washington therefore hopes that significantly fewer people will be displaced in the south of the Gaza Strip than in the north. Israel had recently significantly expanded its deployment in the Gaza Strip in the war against the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas and, according to eyewitnesses, had advanced into the south of the territory with dozens of tanks and troop transports.
During the night, there were reports that the army had fired on targets in the area of the city of Chan Junis. The Israeli newspaper "Times of Israel" quoted Palestinian reports that there were intensive attacks by the Israeli armed forces in the largest city in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses had also sighted armored personnel carriers and bulldozers near Chan Junis.
Israel contradicts WHO
In view of the suffering of the civilian population, criticism of the army's actions is growing. Aid organizations speak of "horror" and "unbearable suffering". Nobody feels safe when bombs are falling every ten minutes, said James Elder, spokesman for the UN children's charity Unicef, to the BBC. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that a medical camp in the south of the Gaza Strip had to be evacuated on Israeli orders. The army had warned that the camp would become inaccessible as a result of ground operations, the WHO said. The Israeli Ministry of Defense denies this.
Hamas killed more than 1,200 people, including at least 850 civilians, in its terrorist attack on Israel on October 7. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, almost 15,900 people have died in the Israeli counter-attacks. The casualty figures cannot currently be independently verified, but the United Nations and other observers point out that the authority's figures have proven to be generally credible in the past. Hamas had abducted around 240 people from Israel to the Gaza Strip. The terrorists still have 136 of them in their custody.
Read also:
- +++ 02:47 Russia intensifies shelling of Avdiivka +++
- EKD continues synod meeting digitally - resignation topic
Despite the Israeli military's efforts to minimize civilian casualties, the ratio of civilians to Hamas fighters killed in the Gaza Strip remains high, with two civilians dying for every Hamas fighter, according to two senior Israeli officers. This situation is a consequence of Hamas' strategy of using civilians as human shields, one of the officers remarked.
Source: www.ntv.de
