Reading between the lines

Dear Editor:

Unless one carefully reads between the lines of the coverage of the tragic fire in the humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi region, one would not know it was a result of Hamas storing munitions in the compound where Hamas commanders Yassin Rabia and Khaled Najjar were located and storing stolen gasoline in the humanitarian zone.

Most probably incorrectly thought the deaths were caused by the Israeli strike hitting the two terrorists, unaware that it was a precision strike using tiny 17 kg bombs incapable of damaging the humanitarian zone located a mile away.

Ironically, the pressure which led Israel to delay dealing with Hamas in Rafah before Ramadan, along with the transfer of massive amounts of "humanitarian aid" to Gaza - most of which was stolen by Hamas - likely played a role in the tragedy. It gave Hamas at least three extra months during which it reinforced itself with deadly arms smuggled in from Egypt and stockpiled deadly explosives around Rafah, likely including those responsible for the secondary explosions in the compound with Rabia and Najjar and the gasoline stored in the humanitarian zone.

The sad reality is that the pressure on Israel to delay the necessary defeat of Hamas has been a deadly mistake, including for the Americans still being held hostage in Gaza.

Sincerely,

Alan Stein

 Sent to the Boston Globe June 1, 2024

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