The definition of savagery. More on this story. “Hamas boasted it could hit Tel Aviv area while its own PM”s granddaughter was in hospital there,” by Elhanan Miller for the Times of Israel, November 19:
At the very moment the baby granddaughter of Hamas”s Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was being treated for a critical illness at Schneider Children’s Hospital near Tel Aviv Monday, a Hamas official boasted that his movement’s rockets could hit targets in Israel “past Tel Aviv.”
Speaking to Hamas daily Al-Resalah, Gaza-based official Salah Bardawil said that Hamas has improved its rocket capabilities since Operation Pillar of Defense last year, and is now able to hit targets beyond Israel’s commercial and cultural hub.
“The resistance now has various military surprises in addition to newly acquired expertise,” Bardawil said. “[Hamas] has improved its performance.”
During Operation Cast Lead in November 2012, Israel destroyed most of Hamas”s Fajr-5 rockets, obtained from Iran and able to reach a distance of 75 kilometers (46 miles), covering the greater Tel Aviv area. However, Hamas has been developing locally made M-75 rockets with a similar range, one of which landed south of Jerusalem on the third day of the military operation. Over 1,500 projectiles were launched into Israel from Gaza over the course of the eight-day military operation.
Like other Israeli hospitals in the greater Tel Aviv area, Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petah Tikva, where Aamal Haniyeh was admitted on Sunday suffering from severe inflammation of the gastrointestinal system, has been forced to take precautions against rocket attacks emanating from Gaza.
Over the past few years, the hospital has reinforced its glass windows against shattering and secured an oxygen supply to the basement in case of emergency patient evacuation, hospital spokeswoman Riva Shaked told The Times of Israel Tuesday.
Aamal Haniyeh was one of the 200 Palestinian children who are treated at Schneider Hospital every year on average, and 70 percent of them reside in Gaza, Shaked added.
“The Palestinian Authority pays the bill for their treatment,” she said.
Meanwhile, following the news of the treatment in Israel of Aamal Haniyeh, an Israeli government spokesman on Tuesday pointed out Hamas”s cynicism.
“Ismail Haniyeh did not hesitate to send his granddaughter to an Israeli hospital to save her life, all the while expressing his commitment to killing Israelis,” tweeted Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Arab media. “This hypocrisy indicates [Hamas’s] savagery.”…
Indeed!