Israel Matzav

Confirmed: Hamas inflated casualty numbers; UPDATE: IDF denies story

A reporter for the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera has been told by a doctor in Gaza's Shifa Hospital that no more than 500-600 'Palestinians' died in Operation Cast Lead, most of whom were armed young men who were acting on behalf of Hamas.

"The number of deceased stands at no more than 500 to 600. Most of them are youths between the ages of 17 to 23 who were recruited to the ranks of Hamas, who sent them to the slaughter," according to the newspaper article.

The doctor would not be identified out of fear for his life.

The paper also spoke with Gazans about the use of human shields.

A Tal al-Hawa resident told the newspaper's reporter, "Armed Hamas men sought out a good position for provoking the Israelis. There were mostly teenagers, aged 16 or 17, and armed. They couldn't do a thing against a tank or a jet. They knew they are much weaker, but they fired at our houses so that they could blame Israel for war crimes."

The reporter for the Italian newspaper also quoted reporters in the Strip who told of Hamas' exaggerated figures, "We have already said to Hamas commanders – why do you insist on inflating the number of victims?"

These same reporters mentioned that the truth that will come out is likely to be similar to what occurred in Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin. "Then, there was first talk of 1,500 deaths. But then it turned out that there were only 54, 45 of which were armed men," the Palestinian reporters told the Italian newspaper.

Yes, of course. Who could forget Terje Roed Larsen, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East, who accused Israel of conducting a 'massacre' (now where have I heard that word recently?) in Jenin in 2002, when it turned out that less than ten civilians had been killed. And who could forget Larsen's good friend Shimon Peres running off to defend Peres' benefactor.

But wait because guess how the United Nations and its agencies are using the false figures:

The UN's humanitarian chief began a tour of the Gaza Strip on Thursday to examine the extent of the devastation left behind by the Israeli offensive.

John Holmes said the number of casualties is "extremely shocking." He also urged Israel to conduct a thorough investigation into shelling attacks that damaged UN buildings in Gaza.

Holmes said he was thinking about immediate humanitarian needs and longer-term reconstruction. He said the biggest concerns are providing clean water, sanitation, electricity and shelter.

Holmes added that Gaza's border crossings would have to be opened to allow reconstruction materials into the area.

Yes, of course. Open the crossings. Let them have a few rockets while you're at it too. Maybe next time Hamas will do a better job of fighting. Are you listening Ehud, Ehud and Tzipora?

That the world continues to adopt the 'Palestinian' narrative as if it is gospel despite being repeatedly confronted with proof that narrative lies, only shows how anti-Semitic the world remains in 2009.

Exit question: Does this make Operation Cast Lead any less 'disproportionate'? Does it matter? Hope and change anyone?

UPDATE 5:40 PM

The IDF is now denying this story.

Despite a report by Lorenzo Cremonesi, a correspondent for Italy's Corriere della sera, that the number of Palestinians killed in Operation Cast Lead did not exceed five or six hundred, Israeli defense officials on Thursday said there were around 1,300 Palestinians killed during the fighting in Gaza and that a majority of them were Hamas operatives.

The IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration has already compiled a list with 900 names of Palestinians killed during the operation, out of which 750 are believed to be Hamas operatives.

The IDF estimated that two-thirds of those killed were gunmen affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian terror factions. At least 500 are believed to have been members of Hamas's military wing.

Hamas, defense officials said, purposely covered up the number of dead and on Sunday claimed that only 48 members of its military wing had been killed. Many bodies belonging to Hamas operatives were being stored - officials said - in the morgue in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The vast majority of the Hamas operatives killed were not wearing uniforms to disguise their affiliation, another reason for the exaggerated estimate of civilian casualties by the United Nations.

The IDF's Military Intelligence has set up a team to come up with a comprehensive list including the names and affiliation of all of the Palestinians killed during Operation Cast Lead. The list, officials said, would be completed in the coming two weeks.

Let that sink in for a minute. Think what kind of intelligence capability you need on the ground to compile names and affiliations of hundreds of people who were killed by your air force or navy shelling or by your ground troops who were for the most part at least a kilometer away. Unreal!

Cremonesi, who based his report on tours of hospitals in the Gaza Strip and on interviews with families of casualties, assessed the number of wounded to be far lower than 5,000, the number quoted by Hamas and repeated by the UN and the Red Cross in Gaza.

"It is sufficient to visit several hospitals [in the Gaza Strip] to understand that the numbers don't add up," he wrote.

In the European hospital in Rafah, one of the facilities which would presumably be filled with wounded from the "war of the tunnels," many beds were empty, according to Cremonesi. A similar situation was noted in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and in the privately-run Amal Hospital Cremonesi reported that only five out 150 beds were occupied.

Oh yes, and here's some more testimony about the human shields.

Cremonesi interviewed Gazans who echoed Israel's insistence of how Hamas gunmen used civilians as human shields. One Gazan recalled civilians in Gaza shouting at Hamas and Islamic Jihad men, "Go away, go away from here! Do you want the Israelis to kill us all? Do you want our children to die under their bombs? Take your guns and missiles with you."

"Traitors, collaborators with Israel, spies of Fatah, cowards! The soldiers of the holy war will punish you. And in any case you will all die, like us. Fighting the Zionist Jews we are all destined for paradise. Do you not wish to die with us?" the religious fanatics of Hamas reportedly responded.

Other Palestinians told Cremonesi of Hamas operatives donning paramedic uniforms and commandeering ambulances. A woman identified as Um Abdullah, 48, spoke of Hamas using UN buildings as launch pads for rockets.

Cremonesi reported that he had difficultly gathering evidence as the local population was terrified of Hamas.

But that's okay, because now the West is looking to fund them. Anti-Semitism will collaborate with even the most odious regimes.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:05 PM