I wonder if the people who are supporting Hamas understand that Hamas views their country’s civilians as shields in time of war and the enemy country’s civilians as legitimate targets. That has been illustrated by the attack on Israeli civilians on October 7th and Hamas’ use of their citizens as shields and for propaganda purposes.

On November 4th, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

Hamas has been holding up efforts to get Americans and other foreign nationals out of Gaza and into Egypt through the Rafah Border Crossing by putting its own wounded fighters on departure lists meant for Americans, dual citizenship holders, Palestinian civilians, and other foreign nationals, according to a senior Biden administration official.

Since Oct. 7, when Hamas first invaded Israel, people holding dual, American, or some other foreign citizenship have been trying to leave through Gaza’s southern border and into Egypt, but their efforts have been blocked by Hamas, who officials have said were making unreasonable demands in order to let them cross into Egypt.

The senior administration official provided insight into these demands during a background call with reporters on Friday. The official explained that Hamas provided the United States, Israel, and Egypt with multiple departure lists that included injured Palestinians who were wounded during the war and should be allowed to leave with Americans and other foreign nationals, which is not objectionable, the official said, but after vetting the individuals on the list, it showed many of them were injured Hamas fighters.

The review found that nearly a third of the wounded Palestinians on the first list were actually Hamas fighters and that it would be unacceptable to allow them to exit Gaza, the official said. While the administration would be happy to let injured Palestinian civilians out of Gaza, they just couldn’t let Hamas fighters leave on the departure list.

A deal was eventually worked out to let civilians (not fighters) exit the Gaza Strip, but this is an example of how Hamas is fighting this war. Israel is doing its best to limit civilian casualties, but when civilians are used to shield rocket launchers, there will be casualties.