Andrea Widburg "Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended, Israel has been pushing forward relentlessly to destroy every Hamas stronghold, whether above or below ground. In Khan Younis, one of Hamas’s last redoubts, the Hamas fighters finally decided against martyrdom and surrendered en masse. There are a few notable things about the surrendering of Hamas troops, and they destroy some of the propaganda we’ve heard so much about.
"First, here are the stills and video of the surrendered Hamas men:" . . .
"What you should immediately notice is that they’re not being slaughtered or tortured. In this regard, the Israeli approach is very different from what happens when Arabs get their hands on enemy soldiers that they don’t intend to keep alive as hostages for bartering. In 2000, when West Bankians got hold of two Israeli soldiers, they ripped them apart and showed their blood-stained hands to the cheering crowd. In warfare, the Arabs are indistinguishable from stone-aged tribes.
"The Hamas prisoners have been stripped down to their undies, which is the most obvious way to protect against any of them having concealed weapons or explosives. Their semi-nudity allows one to see the other notable thing, which Bonchie pointed out at Red State:
The war against Hamas is now two months old, with the initial attack from the terrorists coming on October 7th. During that time, we've been assured that everyone is starving in Gaza due to the evil siege being carried out by Israel. In that picture, though, I see a whole lot of man boobs and beer guts. What does that tell you? It tells you that Hamas has been stealing aid and keeping its fighters well-fed as they cower underground.
"Yes, they’re fat. That being the case, you can recognize the lie behind the claim coming from Hamas and its fellow travelers that the men detained are civilians:. . .
Since a friend who has nothing to do with Hamas has reported that his 13 year old nephew, brother & father have all been kidnapped by the Israeli military in Gaza, this is likely the mass arrest of random Palestinian civilian men and boys under the guise of a "surrender." https://t.co/vAHQBe6Wyz
— Omar Baddar عمر بدّار (@OmarBaddar) December 7, 2023
. . ."If these fat men are civilians, the claimed food shortages have been greatly exaggerated. Alternatively, if they are, indeed, Hamas fighters, then Gaza operates on the North Korean principle, which is that you feed the soldiers and starve the citizens. Either way, it’s not a good look for Hamas.
"There’s one more thing to keep in mind, which gives me the opportunity to show you a Twitter thread I’ve been hanging onto about the claimed casualties in Gaza, which ascend daily in ways that only credulous supporters (including the world’s media) could accept. As Aizenberg points out, it’s not just that the numbers are crazy. It’s also that the women and children are doing all the dying. If these people are, in fact, civilians, while the women and children are starving and dying, their husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons have been living high on the hog. (And yes, I used the “hog” expression on purpose.)"
The author gives us both sides of the argument as to whether these men are fighters or shopkeepers.