PHOTOS — Hamas Rockets Placed Near Schools, Mosques, UN Buildings

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published photographs Sunday showing that the Palestinian terror group Hamas has placed rockets in close proximity to civilian buildings — including schools, United Nations buildings, and mosques.

Since the beginning of the war, the Hamas terrorist organization has been exploiting civilians and civilian sites such as kindergartens, schools, and mosques for the purpose of firing rockets at Israel. Hamas deliberately fires its rockets at Israeli civilians>> pic.twitter.com/qbLtE5VOhr

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) October 22, 2023

Attached is an aerial photo of a Hamas missile launcher located next to a kindergarten: pic.twitter.com/Fl7p85KSPA

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) October 22, 2023

Attached is an aerial photo of a missile launcher located near schools: pic.twitter.com/LoC3VxTt9C

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) October 22, 2023

Attached is an aerial photo of a missile launcher located next to a U.N. building: pic.twitter.com/IgbEVuSGPp

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) October 22, 2023

Deliberately placing civilians at risk is a violation of international law. But for Hamas, it is a win-win: either the sensitive location will deter Israel from attacking, or else it will maximize the public relations damage to Israel if it does attack and there are civilian casualties.

Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Iranian-backed terror groups, like Palestinian Islamic Jihad, frequently use this tactic in the hope of deterring Israel and also placing it under international pressure to stop fighting and simply accept the murders of its citizens.

It is legal, under international law, for Israel to target civilian facilities that Hamas has converted to “dual use” for military purposes. Israel prefers not to do so if it can avoid those targets, though it is often falsely accused of attacking civilians in Gaza.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.