The tunnels built inside Gaza are for the protection of Hamas operatives, and not civilians, said Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk when asked why Hamas wasn’t building bomb shelters within Gaza to save the residents from Israeli bombings. Marzouk further added that it was the responsibility of the UN and Israel to protect civilians living in Gaza.
“Since you have built 500 kilometres of tunnels inside Gaza, why didn’t you build bomb shelters for citizens to take shelter during bombardments?” the interviewer asked Marzouk.
To this, Marzouk responded: “We have built the tunnels because we have no other way of protecting ourselves from being targeted and killed. These tunnels are meant to protect us from aeroplanes. We are fighting from inside the tunnels.”
Elaborating how protecting civilians in Gaza is not Hamas’ responsibility, Marzouk continues, “Everybody knows that 75 per cent of the people in the Gaza Strip are refugees, and it is the responsibility of the United Nations to protect them. According to the Geneva Conventions, it is the responsibility of the occupation to provide them with all services as long as they are under occupation.”
Israel-Hamas war
On 7th October (local time), the terrorist organisation Hamas launched a brutal terror attack on Israeli soil. Over 1,200 people were killed in the attack. Paragliders and vehicle-borne Hamas terrorists wielding automatic weapons barged inside the border walls and attacked civilians, residential communities, and even a music festival in Southern Israel. In response to the brutal terrorist attack on Israel that killed over 1,000 civilians and wounded over 2,500 others, Israel declared war on Hamas and has been pounding the Gaza Strip with bombs since then.
The US and other NATO nations have declared support for Israel. Hundreds of Israelis and foreign nationals are believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas. Hamas has massacred civilians brutally after attacking a music festival, and family homes in Southern Israel. Social media posts have surfaced where Hamas terrorists are seen killing children, women, and the elderly. The exact number of hostages is unknown.