Israel Matzav

Hamas has no respect for the living, so why should they respect the dead?

Britain's Daily Mail reports in Saturday's editions about the ghoulish funeral for Hamas leader Nizar Riyyan and his wife and children that took place in Gaza City on Saturday (Hat Tip: Hot Air).

The bodies of a senior Hamas leader's small children were today ghoulishly paraded through the streets of Gaza as the group pledged to avenge their deaths.

Nizar Rayan, his four wives and 10 of his children were all killed by in an Israeli air strike on his home after he ignored warnings they should go into hiding.

In grisly scenes, mourners held up the bloodied bodies of the children to the cameras in a clear attempt to blacken Israel's name and highlight its brutality.

Graphic images showed the young children's uncovered faces as the victims were carried by thousands of angry Hamas supporters during the funeral procession.

Many of the pictures are far too graphic to be shown.

An imam delivered a sermon over a car loudspeaker as they were paraded in the street. Meanwhile, fresh explosions and the drone of warplanes sounded overhead.

Hamas law-maker Mushir Masri branded the assassination yesterday as a 'serious development' in the conflict, which is now in its seventh day.

'The Palestinian resistance will not forget and will not forgive. The resistance's response will be very painful,' he warned.

...

The air attack completely flattened the the four-storey apartment building and sent a thick plume of smoke in the air.

Among the dead were Rayan's wives and nine of his children. The Muslim faith allows men to have up to four wives.

Hamas leaders have largely disappeared since Israel launched its operations but Rayan was known for openly defying the country.

The army said he had a tunnel under his house that could serve as an escape route.

...

A professor of Islamic law, the Hamas leader was known for his close ties to the group's military wing.

He was respected in Gaza for donning combat fatigues and personally participating in clashes against Israeli forces.

He was one of the organisers behind the Battle of Gaza in 2007, in which 400 Palestinian Fatah party members were killed and dozens more tortured and maimed.

A Hamas spokesman alleged that the Palestinian National Authority may have asked Israel to kill him because of his role in the clashes.

He added that the chief was one of the main reasons why many of Mahmoud Abbas's men 'did not sleep well at night'.

Rayan was fundamentally against the state of Israel and had declared: 'There is nothing called Israel, neither in reality nor in the imagination.'

He was preaching in a local mosque on the day before he was killed and said: 'Our only language with the Jew is through the gun.'

Israeli defence officials confirmed a one-ton bomb was used to attack Rayan's home, and that weapons stored inside set off secondary explosions.

But if Hamas has no respect for the living, why should it have any respect for the dead? Haaretz reports that Hamas has been forcing civilians to stand on the roofs after the IDF warns them to leave buildings containing ammunition that have been targeted for destruction (Hat Tip: Mere Rhetoric).

The IDF has made frequent use of what is known as "knocking on the roof": Militants are warned by phone when a residential building used to store arms will be bombed, and told to vacate the premised together with their neighbors. The weapons caches are hit only after the residents leave. Hamas has tried placing civilians on the roofs of such buildings when the phone call warning comes in. In these cases, the IDF fired antitank missiles near the building, and in a few cases the residents left.

Just so you all know what kind of enemy we are fighting here tonight.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:54 AM