Aerial images of the school compound before and after the Israeli strike. Photo: IDF.

Several days ago, the Israeli military conducted an airstrike on a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command center located within the Taba’een school in Gaza City.

Hamas originally claimed that more than 90 people were killed in the strike. However, after the IDF posted a picture of 19 terrorists killed there, Hamas revised its numbers to say that only 40 had been killed. Subsequently, Israel listed the names of 38 terrorists who were killed. In all likelihood, there were no civilian casualties.

This does not change the fact that for years, Hamas has boasted about its use of human shields. The organization’s officials have taken pride that the Palestinians have “created a human shield of women, children, the elderly, and the jihad fighters”:

Hamas Political Bureau member Fathi Hammad: “For the Palestinian people, death became an industry at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly, [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire death, as you desire life.” [emphasis added]

[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), February 29, 2008]

Hamas officials have called for more Palestinians to become human shields as a strategy:

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri: “The people oppose the Israeli fighter planes with their bodies alone … I think this method has proven effective against the occupation. It also reflects the nature of our heroic and brave people, and we, the [Hamas] movement, call on our people to adopt this method in order to protect the Palestinian homes.” [emphasis added]

[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 8, 2014]

The late Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh put it in other terms, literally asking for the blood of Palestinians:

The blood [spilled] in the Gaza Strip, alongside the resistance and the Al-Qassam [Brigades] will defeat this occupier, will defeat this enemy … As I said, and I repeat every time, the blood of the children, women, and elderly — I do not say that it shouts out to you, but rather we need this blood so that it will ignite within us the spirit of revolution, so that it will arouse within us persistence, so that it will arouse within us defiance and [a forward] advance. [emphasis added]

[Website of Al-Jazeera TV, Oct. 26, 2023]

However, the ideal of dying for Allah either actively or passively is by no means exclusive to Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) also openly advocates for the use of human shields and civilian deaths. Many PA leaders often extol the value of Martyrdom.

One example is from PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, who has said that whomever seeks Martyrdom will be given that status even if he dies in his bed.

Other examples can be found in statements such as this one, made by a senior leader of the PA’s ruling party:

Fatah Revolutionary Council member Tayseer Nasrallah: “The Palestinians’ iron will is revealed when our people accompany a Martyr. The entire Palestinian public unites around the choice of Martyrdom — Martyrdom is a sacred value for us.”

[Official PA TV, April 24, 2024]

Both the PA and Hamas have turned the Islamic religious idea of dying for Allah — Martyrdom — into the central component of their PR strategy. By embracing tactics such as using children to perpetrate terror attacks and having them get killed in the process, they give ammunition to biased international organizations that can then blame Israel for civilian and children’s deaths.

Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.