Tipsheet

IDF Adopts New Strategies to Reduce Civilian Casualties in Gaza

Spencer Brown
Spencer Brown  |  December 04, 2023 12:45 PM

The Israel Defense Forces used the recent 7-day pause in fighting — until Hamas violated it with a new round of attacks on Israel — to "increase readiness, review intelligence, and refine operational procedures," according to a new video from IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. 

Those operational procedures include a new effort to protect civilians in Gaza as the IDF expands its operation to "secure the release of our hostages and dismantle Hamas" in the Gaza Strip. 

"Hamas does not value human life — Israeli or Palestinian," reminded Hagari, and "is willing to sacrifice its own people to advance its genocidal agenda." 

Despite the barbarism and international law-violating practices of Hamas and other Iran-backed terrorists in Gaza, Hagari said the IDF "will operate, as we have done until now, according to international law. We will operate as we have done until now, against Hamas centers of gravity," he continued. "We pursued them in northern Gaza and we are now pursuing them in southern Gaza too."

The IDF's operations will use "maximum force" while "minimizing harm to the civilians that Hamas places around them as shields," Hagari explained. "Hamas deliberately embeds" its fighters, weapons, and command centers within civilian population centers — as Townhall has previously reported — "so that the Gazans will bear the consequences of Hamas atrocities."

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"Every civilian death is a tragedy, a tragedy that the IDF does not want and is taking extensive measures to avoid," Hagari continued before explaining the new tactic being used to limit civilian casualties. "When Hamas terrorists hide behind civilians, Israel does its best to distinguish between civilians and terrorists. We are giving precise instructions to Gazan residents near Hamas centers of gravity, urging them to temporarily move away from the danger that Hamas puts them in," said Hagari. 

"We are dropping leaflets with QR codes that open a map guiding Gazans to safer areas," explained Hagari. "The map is divided into neighborhood numbers indicating where civilians in a specific area should go to avoid being in the crossfire," he added before calling on "international aid organizations in Gaza to assist us with this effort" to "save lives."

"We also call on international organizations to ensure that the Red Cross gains access to our hostages in Hamas captivity," Hagari reminded. "137 hostages are being held in inhumane and brutal conditions and not one international organization has seen them. The more we hear about the cruel conditions in Hamas captivity the more urgent our mission, our global mission to rescue our hostages, becomes."

Seth J. Frantzman, an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), noted that as Israel "expands operations into the southern Gaza Strip, it will face increasing challenges because of the large number of civilians who fled fighting in the north and have gathered in the south. Hamas commanders hide among these civilians and underneath cities such as Khan Yunis," explained Frantzman. "Providing a way for civilians to flee, while preventing Hamas from escaping with them, is essential to defeating the terrorist group."

“It seems evident that the Israeli military is focusing on the city of Khan Yunis in this particular stage of the war," observed Joe Truzman, a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal. "The challenge of eliminating Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terror groups from the city is formidable, given its substantial role as a central hub for their operations."

"We're pursuing Hamas wherever Hamas is hiding in the north and in the south," Hagari pledged before reminding "our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza." The IDF implementing the lessons learned from the first phase of its operation in Gaza is more proof of the lengths to which Israel goes to protect civilians — things that Hamas terrorists would never do as they continue violating international law while intentionally seeking to kill Israeli civilians.