War Crimes the World Ignores

Three more Israeli hostages were released on Saturday in the fifth release under the current ceasefire and hostage-for-prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel.

Looking thin and frail, Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy were paraded before dozens of armed Hamas terrorists and a small group of Gazan civilians. All three men were forced to speak to the crowd before being handed over to the Red Cross.

Unlike the first four groups released, these three were kept at the reception point in Re’im for several hours because of their poor medical condition. Israelis were shocked, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it was unacceptable, and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa`ar writing:

“For over a year, the entire international community has danced to the tune of the false propaganda of so-called ‘starvation’ in Gaza.
But the images don’t lie: Hamas terrorists and other Gaza residents look perfectly fine.
The Israeli hostages look like Holocaust survivors and they are the only ones in the pictures
who clearly appear to have suffered from starvation.”

Ohad Ben Ami’s mother, Michal Cohen, noticed the same thing, saying she was devastated to see him looking so thin and unwell.

“He looks terrible. He is 57, but he looks ten years older.
It is so sad for me to see him like this … He looked like a skeleton.”

The hostages have clearly been starved and none of them has been visited by the Red Cross while held captive – both breaches of international law. And the Red Cross is increasingly concerned about the conditions surrounding release operations, saying:

“We strongly urge all parties, including the mediators, to take responsibility
to ensure that future releases are dignified and private.”

The world has been quick to accuse Israelis of committing war crimes, but seems very reluctant to level the same accusation against the terrorist groups who are attacking them.

Mainstream media outlets like Sky News and the BBC refuse to refer to Hamas and others as terrorists, often calling them ‘fighters’ or ‘militants,’ despite their actions which are obviously intended to terrorise the Israeli population.

It is extremely troubling that the world should favour terrorists in this way.

This report by i24 News: