Hamas issues ‘security recommendations’ to members for Gaza protests
Terror group provides advice on how to avoid being targeted by Israeli snipers along the border
Hamas on Tuesday published what it called “security recommendations” to its members on how to avoid being targeted by Israeli army snipers along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
The new directive came following the killing of at least five members of Hamas’s military wing during last Friday’s violent events near the border.
The recommendations advise Hamas members on a number of methods to conceal their identity. These include wearing masks, camouflaging their face with crayon, and covering their entire head with a keffiyeh.
Hamas members are also advised not to carry cellular phones in the areas of the clashes, not to stay in one place for too long, not to wear white clothes or clothes with standout colors, and to be on alert for any suspicious movements within the demonstrations.
Israel’s Hadashot TV news also reported Tuesday that Gazans were piling up thousands of tires to burn near the border in another mass protest planned for Friday, in order to create black smoke which would hinder IDF snipers. Marchers were also being told to carry mirrors to angle at and thus dazzle the snipers.
The instructions came as Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip are preparing for new mass demonstrations adjacent to the border with Israel next Friday.
نصائح أمنية لمواجهة قناصة الاحتلال على حدود #غزة.#مسيرة_العودة_الكبرى#جمعة_الكوشوك pic.twitter.com/GuvwDg6o6P
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) April 3, 2018
On Tuesday, protest organizers said they expected tens of thousands of Palestinians to take part in Friday’s mass demonstrations. The organizers urged Palestinians to preserve the “peacefulness” of the demonstrations planned near the border and the security fence.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority government on Tuesday called for an international inquiry into last Friday’s events along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
The PA government condemned the Israeli “massacre carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against defenseless civilians during the peaceful marches marking the anniversary of Land Day,” read a statement issued by the Ramallah-based government.
The PA government claimed that the “massacre” had been pre-planned on instructions from senior Israeli officials.
“This dangerous escalation necessitates the launching of an international inquiry to hold Israel accountable for its crimes,” the statement said, renewing the demand for providing Palestinians with international protection.
According to the PA, the participation of tens of thousands of Palestinians in last Friday’s Land Day events affirms the Palestinians’ “rejection of Israeli and American dictates and their determination to confront schemes to liquidate their just cause” — a reference to US President Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-announced plan for peace in the Middle East.
The IDF on Saturday night identified 10 of the 15 people reported killed during the violent protests Friday along the Gaza security fence as members of Palestinian terrorist groups, and published a list of their names and positions in the organizations. Palestinian sources later raised the death toll to 16. An 11th fatality was claimed by Islamic Jihad as a member.
“It needs to be understood that the majority of the people killed were terrorists whom we know well, operatives in the military arm of Hamas, as well as in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. These weren’t innocent civilians who came as part of a civil protest,” Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Tuesday.
