Israeli Report Criticizes Goldstone Findings

A new report released Monday sheds a new light on the way Hamas operated during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

The 500-page report was written by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, a research group led by former Military Intelligence officer Col. (res.) Reuven Erlich. The Jerusalem Post described the report as “the first real, aggressive Israeli response to the Goldstone Report, taking it apart piece-by-piece and explaining the true nature of the conflict against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

The report does not focus on the IDF, but rather on Hamas and its tactics of using civilians to hide behind and launch rockets attacks on Israel. The IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shabak) cooperated with the report’s authors and released to them photographs, videos, prisoner interrogations and Hamas-drawn sketches.

One of the most astounding findings of the report is its discussion of the use of hospitals and mosques as places in which to hide and store weapons. According to the findings, almost 100 mosques were used to store weapons and launch Qassam rockets into Israel. The report also reveals maps of hospitals used by Hamas as hiding places and surrounded by mines. This is in addition to the already known Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where Hamas terror chiefs hid in the basement. Altogether ten hospitals are listed which were used to launch rockets at Israeli towns and to attack IDF troops operating inside the Gaza Strip.

The report specifically discusses the Shifa Hospital and says that intelligence obtained by Israel showed that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Foreign Minister Mohammed Zahar and Interior Minister Said Siam were based inside a bunker underneath the hospital’s burn ward. Hamas set up a command center inside one of the wings of a children’s hospital in the Nasser neighborhood of Gaza City, where Hamas’ top leaders slept the night of December 27.

Hamas used close to 100 mosques throughout the Gaza Strip for military purposes during Cast Lead, says the report. The use of mosques was part of a Hamas strategy based on the knowledge that the IDF would not target civilian infrastructure including mosques.

Finally, the report states that the Hamas Interior Ministry incorporated a significant percentage of the police force into the Hamas military wing prior to Cast Lead. Furthermore, in the year prior to Cast Lead, Hamas Police participated in anti-Israel attacks, collected intelligence on IDF patrols along the Gaza border and provided logistical support for Hamas’s military wing. The report brought examples of how policemen participated in terror attacks against Israel.

The full report may be viewed here.