Criminals operating with impunity in Gaza

Unless you've been reading The Elder of Ziyon's roundups on Israeli news, chances are you might have missed some of these stories on Hamas' recent exploits:

• The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry accused the Hamas-run de facto government’s security services of turning medical centers into virtual prisons. Ma'an News Agency. February 7, 2009.

• UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) informed the IDF on Friday it is suspending humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip after Hamas stole supplies it had transferred to the Palestinian territory. Jerusalem Post February 8, 2009.

• The IDF has transferred 1,100 blood units into the Gaza Strip Friday, via the Erez crossing (YNet News February 6, 2009):

  The blood was brought aboard the Lebanese aid ship which was detained by the Israel Navy off the Strip's coast Thursday. The units were transferred into Gaza by Magen David Adom blood Bank teams. ...

  [Head of the Blood Bank Prof. Ayelet Shenhar] could not say if the was a blood shortage in the Strip's hospitals during the Israeli offensive in Gaza, since "MDA was not contacted on the matter. As far as I know Jordan sent blood to Gaza and there was no need for the Israeli Blood Bank to do the same. The Palestinians refused to receive blood units from us.

  "Blood is a vital (medical) resource and the goal was to get it to the Gaza hospital," she added. "I'm happy that it worked out."

  Elder of Ziyon calls to mind a similar situation in January where an Israeli medical clinic that was set up in Gaza failed - Hamas refused to allow Gazans to be treated by the best medical teams in the world, because they were from Israel.

• The Palestinian Press Agency reports that Hamas militias are selling large quantities of baby formula from France that arrived in Gaza as humanitarian aid, which it then confiscated.

• The Palestinian Press Agency also reports that Hamas negotiators in Cairo went on a $25,000 shopping spree in a high-end mall after leaving Gaza for talks with Egypt.

• Ma'an lists the names of 181 people who were either killed, shot in the legs or had their legs broken by Hamas in Gaza in the past month by Hamas.

  Meanwhile, Interrogations of Hamas and Islamic Jihad men who were captured by the IDF during Operation Cast Lead reveal numerous abuses -- including the storing of weapons within school compounds and civilian houses; the confiscation of humanitarian aid and refusal to distribute to those aligned with Fatah, and the senior leadership of Hamas holed up in a bunker under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

  "Palestinians who opposed Hamas's use of their land and homes as launch pads were shot in the legs."