Hamas Preventing Civilians From Evacuating Northern Gaza
October 14, 2024
1:01 PM
Reading time: 3 minutes
IDF Unit 504, the human intelligence unit, shared a recording on Monday of a conversation they recently had with a Gazan civilian who is currently trying to evacuate the city of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, because the IDF has told the residents that they must leave for their own safety as the IDF is conducting sweeps of Hamas terrorists there. In the recording, the civilian tells the IDF officer that Hamas is physically preventing civilians who wish to leave Jabaliya from doing so.
“The problem is that when we follow the army’s instructions and try to go to Al-Mawasi, there are people who come out against us and start hitting us with sticks, telling us “go back, go back,” the Gazan civilian can be heard saying in the recorded call.
“What should we do?” the resident asked. “We want to leave. We took our belongings and wanted to leave, and now they’re hitting us and telling us to “go home, go home,” what should we do?”
The IDF officer responds by asking if its Hamas or the IDF beating people with sticks as they try to leave and the civilian responds “Hamas, Hamas."
“While the IDF makes every effort to move civilians away from the battlefield, Hamas continues to make every effort to keep civilians in the line of fire,” the IDF statement that accompanied the release of the recording said.