Iran Turns Gaza Into Storehouse for Weapons | thebereancall.org

TBC Staff

As many in the international community express more and more concern about the economic and humanitarian crisis in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the Palestinian terror groups there seem less and less concerned about improving the living conditions of their people.

These groups, specifically Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), are not doing anything to secure vaccines against COVID-19 for the two million Palestinians living under their rule in the Gaza Strip.Instead, Hamas and PIJ are continuing to do what they have proven themselves experts at doing: prepare for war against Israel and endanger the lives of innocent civilians, Israelis and Palestinians alike.

In preparing for war, the two Iranian-backed groups are manufacturing and smuggling various types of weapons, including rockets and explosive devices, that they plan to use in their attacks on Israel.Instead of storing medicine and vaccines, Hamas and PIJ are busy storing rockets and explosive devices.

The weapons are stored in the homes of Palestinians and public institutions throughout the Gaza Strip, including schools,hospitals and mosques. Hamas and PIJ do not store weapons in their offices and installations because they are afraid of being targeted by Israel. By storing weapons among local civilians, Hamas and PIJ exhibit their total disregard for the lives of their people, who are being used as both cannon-fodder and human shields in a jihad (holy war)against Israel.

Significantly, international human rights organizations and "pro-Palestinian" advocacy groups around the world -- by ignoring the dangerous actions of Hamas and PIJ, not only against Israel,but against Palestinians as well -- are also showing disregard for the safety and lives of the Palestinians. In the absence of international attention, Hamas and PIJ have turned the Gaza Strip into one big warehouse for stockpiling weapons of all kinds. The Palestinian terror groups that moan about a crippling economic crisis in the Gaza Strip somehow always seem to find enough money to purchase, smuggle or manufacture weapons. The voices of the international human rights organizations and "pro-Palestinian" activists around the world are also noheard when Palestinians fall victim to the reckless practices of Palestinian terror groups. Take, for example, the explosion that rocked Bet Hanoun, a Palestinian town in the northern Gaza Strip, the morning of January 23, 2021.

According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Public Works and Housing,the explosion that occurred inside a house completely destroyed two houses and damaged 100 others.

At least 47 Palestinians, including nine children and 15 women,were wounded in the explosion, according to the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, a Palestinian organization.

The explosion, which Palestinians refer to as an "accident," was caused by weapons that were stored inside a house belonging to member of PIJ from the Alkafarna family in Beit Hanoun.

Such "accidents" are not uncommon in the Gaza Strip. In 2009, a rocket fired by Palestinian terror groups toward Israel hit a house in the town of Bet Lahiya in the Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinian girls,aged five and 12. In addition, Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups have frequently violated the laws of war by firing rockets from within populated areas.

On January 2, another three children and a woman were injured in another "accident" in the Shajjaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City. The explosion was apparently caused by weapons stored by Palestinian terror groups in a house.

Hamas can rest easy, knowing that the international community does not care if more Palestinians continue to pay the price for "accidents" caused by explosives and rockets stored inside the homes of Palestinians. Had the explosion in Bet Hanoun been caused by Israel, international media outlets would have been falling over themselves to shout about another Israeli "war crime." Perhaps it is time to heed the postings like those of the Alkafarna --postings that call out the true enemy: Hamas, PIJ, and other Palestinian terrorist groups. [Many more such examples follow.]

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17007/iran-gaza-weapons