Hamas terrorists appear to shoot civilians who are lying on the ground in a video posted by Gaza Now, a Hamas-aligned news outlet based in Gaza. Photo: Screenshot

The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s official daily admitted that Hamas terrorists disguised themselves as civilians and used civilian homes to launch attacks, thus deliberately increasing casualties in Gaza.

Moreover, the PA called Hamas insolent for only putting on uniforms during the ceasefire in order to take credit.

Headline: “Shame branches out from faith”

“When three female Israeli hostages were released, Hamas members recently appeared armed and masked in their army uniforms, and in a completely flashy manner! Over the last 15 months of the war, we have not seen any of these activists in these uniforms. They were dressed in civilian shirts and pants, wore sandals (!!) [parentheses in source], and some were in pajamas. From among people’s homes – as Al-Jazeera TV presented them – they fired their [RPG] rockets at the occupation army’s vehicles, and retreated behind these homes. This matter, in addition to the racist and violent Israeli response to these rockets, is what contributed to increasing the losses among civilian residents of the slaughtered Gaza Strip…

When shame ends, only insolence remains. For 15 months of harsh war, Hamas did not dare to show even one of its operatives in military uniforms (!!) [parentheses in source], but when the ceasefire agreement stipulated that the cannons be silenced, Hamas brought out its operatives in military uniforms – not only for display purposes, but also to fabricate a victory narrative!”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 22, 2025]

This comes on the heels of another such admission by the official PA daily last week, that Hamas was using human shields:

“The Fatah Movement said that Hamas…placed itself at the disposal of Iran and other regional axes, and…caused the destruction of the Gaza Strip and more than 200,000 children, women, men, Martyrs, missing, wounded, and prisoners, behind whom it sought shelter instead of defending them and their homes…”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 12, 2025]

Nevertheless, it is important not to be fooled. The PA has not changed its true tune. PA leader Mahmoud Abbas still believes terrorist murderers are “heroic role models” and the PA still fully supports terror.

The PA’s true motivation for criticizing Hamas is political competition, and a desire to be given power in the Gaza Strip.

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.