Hamas calls on Gazans to be human shields

• Hamas’ Interior Ministry: “We again call on [Gazan] citizens not to cooperate with the recorded phone messages that the occupation (i.e., Israel) is sending at random, asking people to leave their homes”

Using civilians as human shields, Hamas has called on Gazans not to leave their homes when Israel warns about bombings.

While the Israeli army has been notifying Gazan civilians to leave their homes and seek safety elsewhere before Israel attacks terrorists or terror infrastructure in their apartment buildings, Hamas’ Interior Ministry is calling on Palestinians to remain in their homes to serve as human shields:

Headline: "The Interior Ministry calls on citizens not to cooperate with the recorded messages the occupation (i.e., Israel) is sending at random”

“Important notice:

We again call on [Gazan] citizens not to cooperate with the recorded phone messages that the occupation (i.e., Israel) is sending at random, asking people to leave their homes. Their goal is to arouse panic and fear as part of the psychological warfare accompanying the occupation's aggression against our people.

Media Office, Ministry of Interior and National Security

Tuesday, October 10, 2023”

[Website of Hamas' Ministry of Interior and National Security,
Oct. 10,2023]

It has always been Hamas' policy to use the civilian population in Gaza as human shields. Palestinian Media Watch documented that in the 2014 Gaza war, Hamas also demanded that Palestinians “return to their homes”.

Even Fatah has mocked Hamas for its use of civilians as human shields and criticized them for storing explosives among the civilian population.

[Website of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Aug. 29, 2021]