WATCH | How Hamas terrorists disguised as civilians fight Israeli troops from abandoned Gaza houses

Since the war began, Hamas has been known to use civilian locations, densely populated regions to hide and fight against Israeli troops. They have not taken into account the massive civilian casualties caused due to Israel’s retaliation for the deadly October 7 attacks led by Hamas on southern Israeli towns and cities.

On Friday, at the heart of civilian areas in Shuja’iyya—Israeli Defence Forces managed to locate and neutralize Hamas infrastructure hidden in abandoned Gaza houses, which residents had left in a hurry to flee from the relentless Israeli air strikes and ground offensive.

They also destroyed several terrorist tunnels created by Hamas beneath residential Gaza areas and took down dozens of Hamas operatives.

Imagine if Hamas used the same effort to protect their civilians as they do to embed their terrorism.

At the heart of civilian areas in Shuja’iyya—IDF forces located and neutralized:
* Hamas infrastructure
* several terrorist tunnels
* dozens of terrorists pic.twitter.com/P6225aiuAE

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 8, 2023

The Israel-Hamas war, now in its 63^rd day has had terrible repercussions on the innocent civilian population of the besieged enclave.

It has led to global condemnation and a few experts have also pointed out that if only Hamas took the same effort to protect their civilian population as they did to embed their terrorism, maybe the war casualties would have been far less.

Armed Palestinian groups joined Hamas in the deadly 7 October attack on Israel after training together in military-style exercises from 2020 onwards. The groups carried out joint drills in Gaza which closely resembled the tactics used during the deadly assault -- including at a site less than 1 km (0.6 miles) from the barrier with Israel – before they embarked on a rampage near Israel’s border towns in early October.