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2. MYTH: Hamas broke the cease-fires — all of them
Israel has claimed that it is responding to Hamas rockets and is acting in self-defense, but what really started this aggressive assault on the Gaza Strip?
MYTH: Israel’s first objective in the war was a response to the death of three Israeli teens
FACT: Hamas denied kidnapping and killing the three teens, despite Israel using that as a pretext for war. In fact, the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Several weeks into the offensive in Gaza, Israel admitted that it was not Hamas that kidnapped and killed the Israeli teens, but it still continued to shell the Gaza Strip after that announcement. Hamas says it responded to Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip with homemade rocket fire as self-defense.
MYTH: Israel’s second objective in the war was to defend itself against Hamas rockets
Israel changed its tune to justify Operation Protective Edge to the international community by claiming that its military objective was to defend its citizens against Hamas rockets and to destroy tunnels built beneath the strip that Israel claims Hamas uses to smuggle weapons.
FACT: Although Israel is not physically occupying the Gaza Strip since it pulled out in 2009, it controls Gaza’s borders and sea port. This has resulted in Gaza becoming the largest open air prison in the world, home to over 1.7 million people. By controlling Gaza’s border and sea port, Israel essentially controls everything that goes in and comes out — including resources, food, medical supplies, journalists and medics. Gaza has since turned into one of the largest ghettos in the world, with extreme poverty and high rates of malnutrition among children.
Hamas, the democratically elected government of Gaza, says it built homemade rockets out of desperation because of Israel’s blockade and siege on the strip that was made worse under Operation Protective Edge.
Further, Hamas says the tunnels are for smuggling goods and food to feed the people of Gaza. It also claims that because of Israel’s blockade and siege, no food or goods have been able to enter the strip, resulting in the starvation of the Gazan population in what Palestinians have called an act of slow genocide.
For Myth #3, click here.