In the Hamas dictionary, atrocities are described as “faults”.
Hamas has published a 16-page report regarding its 7 October attack on southern Israeli communities, in which it stated that “faults” occurred, but denied deliberately targeting civilians.
“Our narrative: Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, published on Sunday, is the Palestinian group’s first public account of the operation since the attack three months ago.
The surprise attack killed 1,140 people, almost 700 of whom were civilians, and saw around 240 people taken captive to Gaza, around half of whom have since been released in a prisoner exchange deal.
Since then, relentless Israeli bombardment on the besieged Gaza Strip has killed more than 25,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children. At least 25 hostages have been killed during Israel’s offensive, according to reports.
“We would like to clarify… the reality of what happened on 7 October, the motives behind [it], its general context related to the Palestinian cause, as well as a refutation to the Israeli allegations and to put the facts into perspective,” the report opened.
…….Regarding the events of 7 October, the report said that Hamas targeted Israeli military sites and sought to “arrest the enemy’s soldiers” in efforts to pressure Israeli authorities to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners.
“Avoiding harm to civilians, especially children, women and elderly people is a religious and moral commitment by all the Al-Qassam Brigades’ fighters,” it said, referring to the military wing of Hamas.
“We reiterate that the Palestinian resistance was fully disciplined and committed to the Islamic values during the operation and that the Palestinian fighters only targeted the occupation soldiers and those who carried weapons against our people.”
The report added that Hamas fighters were keen to avoid civilian harm “despite the fact the resistance does not possess precise weapons”.
Among those killed during the attacks were over 30 children and more than 100 elderly, according to official Israeli statistics, as well as 60 foreign workers.
“If there was any case of targeting civilians, it happened accidentally and in the course of the confrontation with the occupation forces.”
“Maybe some faults happened during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’s implementation due to the rapid collapse of the Israeli security and military system, and the chaos caused along the border areas with Gaza.”
Several human rights groups have called on Hamas, which is a proscribed organisation in many western countries including the US and the UK, to be investigated over the events of 7 October.
Amnesty International described “deliberate civilian killings, abductions and indiscriminate attacks” during the operation.
Amnesty said it had verified videos showing Hamas fighters abducting and intentionally killing civilians in and around Israeli residential communities, and had verified videos showing armed groups shooting at civilians at the Nova music festival.
Hamas went on to refute several Israeli claims about its targeting of civilians, including unverified claims that Palestinian fighters beheaded 40 babies, as well as allegations that Palestinian fighters raped Israeli women.
It also suggested that Israeli civilians were killed by an Israeli military helicopter on 7 October, citing reports from Israeli media outlets Haaretz and Yedioth Ahronoth.
“The two reports said the Hamas fighters reached the area of the festival without any prior knowledge of the festival, where the Israeli helicopter opened fire on both the Hamas fighters and the participants in the festival,” it said.
…….It added that it was confident that an independent inquiry would “prove the truth of our narrative” and prove the scale of “lies and misleading information on the Israeli side”.
On 7 October, Hamas terrorists crossed the Israel border and slaughtered hundreds of people, including babies. Israel should flatten every square inch of Gaza and all the muzzies in it.