Israel wants to show Hamas losing control of its forces even as news of large casualties among Israeli forces in Gaza are finally emerging
Israeli forces have staged a video claiming to show Hamas members surrendering in Gaza, in an apparent bid to claim the Hamas leadership is losing control of its fighters.
Israeli forces abducted dozens of Gaza men from the market street in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on 7 December. The men were forced to strip off their clothes and sit in rows on the street. They were then searched and humiliated before they were taken in trucks to an unknown location.
Israel claimed the men were Hamas fighters who surrendered and released footage showing one of the nearly naked men walking toward the soldiers with a Kalashnikov rifle above his head. He then lays the rifle down on the pavement before returning to the large group of captured men.
In the video, the man is holding the rifle in his left hand above his head.
But another video emerged showing the same scene, but this time, the man is holding the rifle in his right hand, showing the scene was recorded multiple times. This suggests Israeli forces staged a fake Hamas surrender using captured Palestinian civilians.
BOMBSHELL: The guy has the AK in a different hand on the separately released photos! -> The IDF filmed MANY takes of the scene! 1) They undressed poor guys 2) Gave them unloaded weapons to film the scene 3) Guy switched hands with the AK between the takes (see videos)
The man shown surrendering with the gun was later identified as Munir Qeshta al-Masry. He is the owner of an aluminum shop in Beit Lahia and has no connection to the Hamas movement.
Many of the other captured men shown in the footage have also been identified as civilians, including Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reporter Diaa al-Kahlout along with his brothers and other relatives.
The outlet lost contact with Kahlout on Thursday afternoon before his family informed them of his abduction.
Kahlout’s sister said her brother was forced at gunpoint to leave his disabled seven-year-old daughter. She added that the men were taken away, stripped and beaten by Israeli forces.
When the video was first released, Israeli army Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari claimed that after their surrender, the alleged Hamas fighters complained during interrogation “that the Hamas leadership is disconnected from the tough situation they are in on the ground.”
Member of Hamas’ Political Bureau Izzat al-Rishq responded in a statement, saying:
“Al-Qassam heroes do not surrender, and the occupation’s lies do not deceive anyone The Zionist terrorist occupation’s display of pictures and scenes of defenseless civilians in Gaza, after detaining them and placing weapons next to them, is nothing but one of the chapters of an open and ridiculous play, which the occupation has always fabricated in order to create an alleged victory over the resistance men.”
The staged surrender video comes as the Israeli media has begun to recognize the Israeli army’s significant losses during its ground campaign in Gaza.
Despite its success in killing large numbers of Palestinian civilians in airstrikes, the Israeli army has registered at least 5,000 wounded among its ranks, including 2,000 troops who have been left “disabled” during the two-month-long ethnic cleansing campaign of Gaza.
“Israel has never witnessed an event like this before in terms of the number of injured people,” the head of the Rehabilitation Department at the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Limor Luria, told Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth on 9 December.
She added that “58 percent of the soldiers have limb injuries, as they were subjected to the amputation of a leg or arm.”
The Israeli army claims only 91 soldiers have been killed by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza since the start of the war on 7 October, casting doubt on whether the actual death toll is being kept secret as the Al-Qassam Brigades has documented the daily destruction of Israeli vehicles and squadrons for the past two months.
Israel stages fake Hamas surrender with abducted Palestinian civilians (thecradle.co)
