As the war in Gaza grinds on and global condemnation of Israel continues to build, it becomes ever more vital to examine not only what is happening — but how and why. Many headlines and public protests frame the conflict in simplistic terms: Israel as the aggressor, Palestinians as victims. Yet this framing misses the deeply strategic, multi-dimensional war being waged by Hamas — not just against Israel, but against the foundational norms of international law, humanitarian principles, and media integrity.
This is not a conventional war. It is a hybrid campaign — fought on three interlocking fronts: military, psychological, and legal/political. And at the centre of it all lies a chilling reality: civilian exploitation is not a tragic consequence of Hamas’s war plan — it is the plan.
1. The Military War: Rockets, Raids, and the Subterranean Threat
Hamas’s military campaign has always been rooted in the principle of asymmetric warfare. It cannot match Israel’s conventional strength, so it seeks advantage through terror, saturation, and surprise. Over 12,000 rockets have been launched from Gaza since October 2023, targeting Israeli towns, schools, and synagogues indiscriminately. Unlike Israel, which invests heavily in civil defence and precision targeting, Hamas invests in civilian endangerment.
The most brutal example came on October 7, 2023, when Hamas orchestrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Fighters breached Israel’s border and carried out widespread atrocities — raping women, executing entire families, burning homes, and kidnapping more than 240 civilians, including babies and Holocaust survivors. Far from denying these crimes, Hamas celebrated them, live-streamed them, and paraded victims through Gaza’s streets.
Beneath the ground, another warfront lurks: a vast tunnel system — dubbed the “Gaza Metro” — built over years using materials diverted from humanitarian aid. These tunnels crisscross under civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and mosques, providing Hamas with mobility, command centres, and launchpads hidden from aerial surveillance. Some even extend under the Israeli border for infiltration attacks. International aid, intended to rebuild Gaza, was poured — literally — into concrete-lined terror corridors.
This is not military defence. It is a war machine embedded within a civilian population, designed not just to shield Hamas from retaliation, but to manufacture civilian casualties for global sympathy.
2. The Psychological War: Manipulating Media and Global Opinion
While rockets aim to kill Israelis, propaganda is designed to kill support for Israel. Hamas’s psychological war hinges on the control and distortion of information — especially in the Western world, where public opinion can shape political pressure and diplomatic isolation.
In Gaza, all journalism is monitored by Hamas. Local reporters are often affiliated with the terror group or forced to comply under threat. Foreign journalists are granted access only under conditions that ensure their reporting does not expose Hamas’s use of human shields, the presence of rocket sites beside schools, or the presence of weapons in hospitals. When such images do leak out, the reporters are expelled — or worse.
Instead, what the world sees are images of rubble, crying children, and shrouded bodies — with little explanation of what was targeted, why it was targeted, or whether the dead were combatants. By design, Hamas hides its own losses while amplifying civilian suffering. Every strike by the IDF, even those that follow prior warning, is presented as indiscriminate. And Israel’s extensive efforts to mitigate harm — via phone calls, leaflet drops, and real-time evacuation routes — are barely mentioned.
This strategy feeds into Western media’s appetite for outrage and simplicity. Nuance is buried beneath headlines. “Israeli strike kills 15,” reads the headline; buried in the 12th paragraph may be the detail that those killed were firing mortars from a school rooftop.
3. The Legal/Political War: Lawfare and Diplomatic Exploitation
The third front in Hamas’s war is legal-political, or what is commonly termed lawfare. This is the strategic use of international law — not as a constraint on violence, but as a tool to delegitimise and hamstring Israel’s right to self-defence.
Hamas routinely violates the laws of armed conflict by placing military assets in civilian sites, conscripting children into combat, and targeting civilians. Yet these violations go largely unpunished. Why? Because Hamas understands how to invert the rules of war — and how to weaponise the double standards of the international system.
Every Hamas violation is designed to provoke an Israeli response that results in civilian casualties. These casualties are then used to trigger international outrage, war crimes allegations, and legal proceedings in forums like the UN Human Rights Council and the International Court of Justice — bodies notoriously hostile to Israel.
Meanwhile, Hamas-run institutions such as the Gaza Health Ministry report death tolls without distinction between fighters and civilians. Combatants are classified as children if they are under 18, or as “journalists” if they are affiliated with Hamas media outlets. International media then repeat these figures without verification, and world leaders condemn Israel based on data provided by a terrorist regime.
In 2024, Israel stands repeatedly accused of genocide by those who make no distinction between targeting a terror group embedded in civilian areas and targeting civilians themselves. It is the ultimate distortion of justice: a group that glorifies mass murder accuses its victims of crimes against humanity — and is believed.
4. Civilian Exploitation: The Core Mechanism
These three warfronts — military, psychological, legal — are not separate strategies. They are dependent on one unifying tactic: the exploitation of civilians.
Civilian areas are not collateral damage in this conflict — they are deliberately militarised by Hamas. Hospitals are headquarters. Mosques store rockets. Schools train child soldiers. Human shields are not accidental — they are systematic. Children are placed near rocket launchers, not out of ignorance, but as protective armour. Every civilian death is a strategic asset in Hamas’s war plan.
Contrast this with Israel’s approach. The IDF uses advanced systems to verify targets, aborts strikes when civilians are spotted, and goes to lengths unprecedented in modern warfare to protect the lives of enemy civilians. And yet it is the IDF — not Hamas — that stands accused of war crimes.
Conclusion: The Threat Beyond the Battlefield
The war Israel is fighting is not just for its borders, but for the integrity of global norms. If Hamas’s strategy is allowed to succeed — if it becomes acceptable to hide behind civilians, to fake casualty reports, to manipulate journalists and weaponise international law — then no democratic nation will be able to defend itself without global condemnation.
New Zealand and the international community must resist the temptation to treat Hamas and Israel as equivalent actors. One is a terror group that sacrifices its own people; the other is a sovereign democracy defending its citizens. One seeks death to Jews; the other seeks peace with its neighbours. One weaponises the law; the other abides by it even under the harshest conditions.
Moral clarity matters. Context matters. And in the fog of war, truth must be fought for — just as fiercely as victory.
References
- Dinah Project. A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond. July 2025.
- Dinah Project. Website summary on October 7 atrocities.
- AP News. Israeli report accuses Hamas of using sexual violence as a weapon of war on Oct. 7
- Times of Israel. Rape as weapon of war: Report lays groundwork for prosecuting Oct 7 sexual violence
- ITIC. “Hamas’ Use of Human Shields in Gaza” (PDF, 2010)
- Henry Jackson Society. Questionable Counting: Analysing the Death Toll from the Hamas-Run Ministry of Health in Gaza (Dec 2024)
- UN SRSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict (Pramila Patten) findings (2024–25)
- Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center data on tunnel and rocket incidents
- GHM methodology reviewed by Human Rights Watch, NPR, Sky News
