Channel 2 panel with former Director Shin Bet, OC Central Command, speaking to Ahmed from Gaza. Photo: Channel 2 Screenshot

A Gaza resident identified only as Ahmed on Wednesday evening blamed ruling terror group Hamas for the current suffering in Gaza. In a phone interview on Israel’s Channel 2 news, Ahmed said, “I am angry at Hamas,” and continued to lament the lack of democracy in Gaza.

The anchor, Oded Ben Ami, had asked Ahmed who he was most angry toward when he woke up in the morning, Israel or Hamas.

Ahmed replied, “I am angry at Israel for destroying my house without reason, and I am angry at Hamas that built a tunnel around [sic] my house in my village. Why do they do this to us?”

Ahmed began the interview with felicitations for the last day of the Muslim festival of Eid al Fitr before saying that he was grateful that he and his children are still alive. He continued by saying that nobody wanted this war and that his house, his brother’s house and his neighbors’ houses, in a three storey block of apartments, have been destroyed by the IDF.

When asked by Ben Ami if the building stood on a tunnel, Ahmed answered, “I don’t know. That’s what they’re saying. They’re saying that the neighbor had a tunnel.”

He continued by berating the IDF for destroying all the apartments in the vicinity, “Let’s say there is a tunnel. So what? If a mouse burrows a hole under your house, you’ll destroy the house just to kill the mouse?”

After blaming Hamas for building tunnels in the vicinity of his house in the first place, he continued by slamming Hamas for suppressing basic freedoms in Gaza.

“Here in Gaza, there is no democracy. People aren’t free to speak, poor things. Nobody can say ‘I’m against the Hamas’. No one can say ‘I’m against the Fatah.’ There’s no democracy, but what can you do? Such is life.”

Ben Ami continued by asking if Ahmed had any optimism left or any hopes at all for the future. Ahmed responded by saying that everyone there is simply tired. “There is no justice in this war. Everyone is getting the same punishment.”

“Children are paying the price, on both sides. So what if I’m a Hamas-nik [supporter/part of Hamas], why kill the children?”

Following the interview, former Director of Shin Bet Security Agency and Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yisrael Hasson, who was one of the guests in the studio, quoted Ilan Biran, former OC Central Command Maj. Gen. Ilan Birach: “In a good tragedy, there are two sides who are right.”

Biran, who was another guest in the studio, responded by praising Ahmed for his bravery and for presenting the tragedy with “horrifying simplicity.” Biran concluded with the statement that “We are required to restore quiet at home and we’re fighting for our home and on the other side we’re attacking as we’re obligated to hurt Hamas and sometimes, unfortunately, we hurt innocent civilians as [Ahmed] pointed out.”