IDF to Gazans: Hamas is Using You

“Do you think the Hamas terror organization cares about you? Think again,” the IDF implored the residents of Gaza.

By: United with Israel Staff

The IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) on Sunday published a video in which Hamas’ brutality towards the residents of Gaza is exposed, and in which the IDF called on them not to die for Hamas.

The difficult-to-watch clip shows Hamas members beating women while destroying homes in Gaza.

Another scene documents a Gazan vendor who ended his own life after Hamas members beat him and destroyed his market stall.

“Do you think the Hamas terror organization cares about you? Think again,” the IDF implores. Instead of making it easier for those who are suffering, Hamas is making things worse and pushing those who suffer to despair, to suicide,” the IDF charged.

IDF Colonel Iyad Sarhan accused Hamas using Gaza’s residents and inflicting violence on them instead of investing in electricity, water, and job creation.

Furthermore, “Hamas sends you every week to die on the fence and uses you as a human shield. In other words, Hamas is using you!” he added.

The international community has condemned the Hamas terror group for the viciousness and brutality with which it rules the Gaza Strip, which has mired the coastal enclave in failure and misery.

Gaza has been under Hamas’ rule since it violently took over the territory in 2007. More than a decade of Hamas rule has brought the Palestinians strife, hardship and oppression.

Gaza suffers daily electricity and water cuts, 60 percent youth unemployment and a rising backlog of thousands waiting for a rare chance to exit the territory.

Unable to offer a remedy, the Islamic terror group has been doubling down on oppression. It has jailed the few who dare to complain publicly, including the organizers of street protests and authors who wrote on Facebook that “life is only pleasant for Hamas leaders.”

Gaza: Short on Freedom, Jobs, Future

In June, Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s special Mideast envoy, assailed Hamas for its refusal to help Palestinian residents while investing all its resources attacking Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Specifically, Greenblatt took aim at Hamas’ “hypocrisy” regarding the welfare of Gaza’s residents.

“Hamas continues to fail the Palestinians of Gaza – arson kites and balloons and many mortar and rocket attacks directed against Israelis,” Greenblatt tweeted. “How can the international community help when murderous Hamas leaders continue to squander the resources of Gaza? The people deserve better.”

Israel has repeatedly warned that Hamas is investing heavily in its terror infrastructure rather than in building Gaza, and has exposed several cases in which Hamas has exploited Humanitarian aid and organizations to promote its vast terror machine.

The decline in civilian welfare in Gaza has been blamed both on Hamas neglecting essential services to advance terror efforts, and to the severe sanctions Palestinian Authority (PA) Head Mahmoud Abbas  imposed on Gaza in his power struggle with Hamas.

In January, Greenblatt pointed out in a tweet that “a terror tunnel costs roughly $5.9 million to build (money that belongs to the people of Gaza).”

“Gaza needs options besides Hamas and its enablers. Time to stop pouring money into violence and hatred, and to start investing in a real future for Palestinians in Gaza,” he tweeted.

Also in January, Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai of the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) blasted Hamas, saying that “instead of investing millions in the fields of education and medicine, they buried it underground, and now all of it has disappeared into oblivion,” referring to Israel’s destruction of Hamas’ terror tunnel infrastructure.

In December, Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman addressed the residents of Gaza directly, saying, “I suggest you think about your children, their future, and start pressing Hamas leaders to change direction. Right now it’s a flight to nowhere, but if you change the direction, believe me, you’ll build a good future here. For your children, start putting pressure on the Hamas leadership.”

AP contributed to this report.