The Wall Street Journal, in a report on Israeli forces pushing into Gaza City yesterday, quoted an Israeli military spokesman admitting that they can’t tell the difference between a Palestinian civilian and a member of Hamas. The admission followed an eyewitness account of an incident on the Salah-al-Din Road southeast of Gaza City in which an Israeli tank destroyed a taxi with white flag on it. “The [Israel Defense Forces] was not shown any proof that this is a civilian car and there’s no information on who is inside,” said Maj. Nir Dinar, an Israeli military spokesman. “Terrorists use civilian infrastructure like cars. They don’t have tanks or military jeeps.” In other words, the IDF will shoot first and ask questions later, if at all.
Adil Ahmad Haque, a Rutgers Law School professor who specializes in international humanitarian law on armed conflict, called the video of the Salah-al-Din incident “extremely alarming.”
