Monday, November 1 2010

Hamas Concedes on Gaza War Casualties

UPDATE: I see the Jerusalem Post has a clearer breakdown of the Hamas casualties, as quoted by Hamad himself:

Talking about losses in the war, Hammad confirmed significant personnel losses in Hamas' military wings for the first time. He said, "On the first day of the war, Israel targeted police stations and 250 martyrs who were part of Hamas and the various factions fell." He added that, "about 200 to 300 were killed from the Qassam Brigades, as well as 150 security personnel."

Bottom line: 250 Hamasniks died on the first day, followed by 200-300 from the Qassam Brigades, plus an additional 150 security personnel, for a total of 600-700. That's in line with the IDF's numbers all along.

* * *

Hamas conceded that 200-300 of its men died during Operation Cast Lead. Haaretz writes:

Hamas' Interior Minister Fathi Hamad, who was confirmed the figures in an interview with the London-based Arabic language daily Al-Hayat, said that the so-called "police officers" who were killed during the first day of the operation were actually 250 Hamas fighters, and that 150 additional "security personnel" were also killed.

This is significant, because during and after the war, Hamas inflated the casualty count and blurred the distinctions between civilian and "military" deaths. And earlier this year, Hamas interior ministry spokesman Ehab al-Ghossain told Time magazine there was no distinction between "civilian police" and "the resistance."

Bloggers -- Elder of Ziyon in greater detail than anyone else -- slammed the UN's Goldstone report over dead Hamas gunmen inappropriately labeled as civilian casulties.

As for the press, it's increasingly clear that the only thing disproportionate about the war were the headlines.

Posted at 10:43 AM

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