HAMAS FIGHTERS CELEBRATING IN GAZA ANGERS ISRAELIS

Wed 22 January 2025:

As three Israeli captives were released from Hamas captivity in Gaza on Sunday, Israel watched every moment in tense anticipation.

The public’s first glimpse of the three women was as they were transferred to the Red Cross in Gaza City. Surrounding the vehicles were several armed Hamas fighters, wearing pristine uniforms and managing a large crowd of inquisitive Palestinians.

The scene, accompanied by footage of Hamas fighters parading in the streets across Gaza atop spotless white trucks, shocked the Israeli public, sowing anger as well as doubt over the 15-month war’s effectiveness.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after all, had promised to eradicate Hamas from Gaza.

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“The face of total victory,” wrote Amichai Eliyahu, a former minister from the far-right Jewish Power party, alongside a video he posted on X of celebrating Hamas fighters.

Israel Frey, an independent Israeli journalist, told Middle East Eye that “there is shock among the Israeli public”, following the images of Hamas in Gaza City.

“After a year and four months, in which the public’s eyes have been flooded with information and baseless narratives of stories of total victory and revenge, the Israeli public sees from Gaza images of Toyotas, armed Hamas members and Gaza rising from the ruins,” he said.

Frey said the Israeli perspective of Palestinians, “from Palestinian politicians to young children in Gaza” is through “delegitimisation and dehumanisation”.

This is shared by the “entire society”, he said, from far-right settler youth to urbane liberals.

“Everything is mobilised to narrow the perspective of Israelis and the world in order to see the Palestinians only as Isis, as Nazis and sub-human,” Frey added.

Amal Oraby, a lawyer and Palestinian human rights activist, said the images of Hamas fighters surrounded by civilians were used to reinforce this narrative about Palestinians.

“The Israeli media took this opportunity to repeat the message that there are no innocents in Gaza. They saw it as another opportunity to incite wildly against the Gazan public,” he told MEE.

“In the eyes of the Israeli public and the media, the citizens of Gaza do not deserve to be happy, they do not deserve a moment of normality after 14 months of war.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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