Reports are emerging that the Hamas terrorist group is preventing civilians from evacuating northern Gaza, killing innocent Palestinians who try to leave, and preventing American citizens from using the Rafah border crossing to escape to Egypt.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Jonathan Conricus has been warning for days that Hamas is preventing civilians from leaving Gaza ahead of an anticipated ground war. He cited both Israeli and international sources in an interview on CNN Sunday:
The Times of Israel noted that Conricus expanded on that point during a question-and-answer session on Twitter/X Sunday, accusing Hamas of attacking a column of Palestinian civilians trying to evacuate, killing 70:
IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus says a strike on a convoy of Gazans fleeing to the southern part of the Strip Friday appears to have been a false flag operation carried out by Hamas.
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At least 70 people, most of them children, were killed in the strike, which occurred on a route that Israel said should be used for fleeing Gazans. Another 200 were injured.
Conricus says he expects the army will release proof of its claim in the coming hours or days.
On Sunday morning, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union that while Egypt and Israel were trying to help the U.S. evacuate American citizens from Gaza, Hamas was preventing them from leaving:
The Egyptians have, in fact, agreed to allow Americans to depart, to get safe passage through the Rafah Crossing. The Israelis agreed to ensure that the area around there would be safe, at least as far as they were able to do so.
The question when we tried to move a group yesterday was actually Hamas taking steps to try and stop that from happening. But we are continuing to work this around the clock. And we are doing all that we can to make sure that American citizens who are in Gaza can get through that border crossing.
The Fourth Geneva Convention requires that foreign civilians who wish to leave a conflict area must be allowed to do so, or must be given the opportunity to present their case for doing so to an appropriate tribunal. Hamas is thus violating international law.
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