JERUSALEM: A video clip of a report by an Indian news channel showing purported Hamas militants firing a rocket from an inhabited area has gone viral on social media, drawing strong reactions against them for using their own population as "human shields" for attacking Israel.
NDTV aired a report yesterday claiming to show the militants assembling and firing a rocket from an inhabited area between hotels and other residential structures in Gaza. The clip showed the news channel's reporter trying to reach the site from where the rocket was launched but he was stopped by other foreign journalists warning that there could be an Israeli retaliation.
The clip drew strong reactions on social media against Hamas and other Gaza-based militants. "What do they have to say now....It's not us making those allegations. Israel had to defend itself and Hamas made its own population the sacrificial lamb to gain international sympathy," Nir, a user of mobile messenger service WhatsApp, wrote on a messaging group.
"I am proud of the Indian TV channel that aired this report. They also aired the unfortunate destruction and loss of lives in Gaza but at least they were brave to not hide what the other side was doing. Most of the foreign journalists ignore it out of fear of the Gaza terror groups," wrote another person, Naor, who is of Indian origin.
Israel's popular news portal Ynet and its English version also posted the clip on their site and said, "This seems to touch on the reason that reporters have been hesitant to film or photograph Hamas militants since some claim that Hamas would harm them if they were seen photographing or filming certain events."
Israel had been repeatedly making claims during the four-week war that most of the rockets fired from Gaza were launched from civilian areas, including hospitals and schools, causing casualties in retaliatory attacks.
The Jewish state had been claiming that Hamas and other Gaza based militants were using their own population as "human shields". The four-week Israel-Hamas conflict has killed over 1,880 Palestinians - most of them civilians. Some 67 Israelis, all but three of them soldiers, have also died.
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