Quote:
In a statement released later Saturday, the IDF said it did not deliberately target journalists and it was investigating the incident.
“For weeks we have been warning against coming close to the fence and calling on Gaza’s residents not to obey the orders of the terror group Hamas and refrain from terror activities and other violent acts against Israel,” the IDF said. “Despite this, since last Friday the IDF has been dealing with tens of thousands of people approaching the fence, all instigated by Hamas.”
“In response IDF forces are acting under clear orders designed for these circumstances. The IDF does not deliberately target journalists. The circumstances in which the journalist was supposedly hit by IDF fire are not known and they are being investigated,” the army said.
Haniyeh, the head of Hamas, attended the funeral. He said journalists were attacked by Israel while trying to show a “true picture of a blockaded, downtrodden people.”
The Hamas chief said “the Zionist occupation has been unmasked to the world and to the international public for the crimes it is committing against the Palestinian people. The intentional murder of the Palestinian journalist conveys the truth to all.”
He stated that the media was on “the front lines” of the Palestinian struggle and vowed that “a thousand” others would take Murtaja’s place.
On Friday Israeli military assessments cited on Israeli television said it was believed that everyone who was hit by IDF gunfire had been engaged in violence.
“Hamas sent children out ahead [toward the fence], cynically using them,” the IDF’s spokesman, Ronen Manelis, said on Friday night. Manelis specified that eight explosive devices and numerous petrol bombs were thrown, and that the IDF faced several attempts “to cut through the fence.”
I’m inclined to take Hamas at face value. Especially given how we already know they embed themselves in schools and hospitals, whilst strapping bombs to children. Then again, Clark’s water-carrying for those who deride “Zionism” is persuasive as well.