The Death of a Grandmother in Gaza Raises a Few Questions

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Hala Khreis lived in Gaza, a 58-year-old grandmother whose recent death was reported on by CNN’s correspondent Clarissa Ward. Ward uncritically repeated the charge made by Hamas that this “grandmother” was killed by the merciless IDF. The Middle East Affairs analyst Rafael Castro casts some doubt on this story here: “Is CNN now part of Pallywood?,” by Rafael Castro, Israel National News, April 1, 2024:

Recent reports from CNN and Al-Jazeera have highlighted the heart-wrenching story of Hala Khreis, a grandmother in Gaza allegedly murdered by Israeli soldiers. The story, featured on CNN, can be accessed through the following link.

This link was shared with me by an ex-Muslim Arab friend who, despite being supportive of Israel, was deeply disturbed by the notion of Israeli soldiers targeting defenseless grandmothers in Gaza.

Initially, like millions of viewers, I reacted with outrage and dismay: “Israeli soldiers targeting grandmothers!” However, recalling past instances designed to soil Israel’s image, such as the video of Muhammad Al-Durrah’s death during the Second Intifada, I couldn’t shake off suspicions about the authenticity of this impeccably presented CNN report.

The IDF has — unavoidably — killed civilians in Gaza, but it does not intentionally target civilians. That makes all the difference. Despite the IDF’s colossal efforts to warn civilians away from places and buildings that are about to be targeted — through leafleting (14 million leaflets dropped), messaging (four million messages), telephone calls (six million robocalls) — it is not possible to avoid all civilian casualties, especially since Hamas has embedded its fighters, hidden all of its weapons, and placed its rocket launchers, inside and among schools, mosques, apartment houses, and hospitals. The key metric to keep in mind is the ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths. According to the UN, the average such ratio in all the wars since World War II of civilian-to-combatant deaths has been 9:1. In Afghanistan the Americans managed to reduce that to to 4:1, and in Iraq, to 3:1. But no army has ever approached the 1:1 ratio that the IDF has achieved in the Gaza War. That is why British Colonel Richard Kemp called the IDF “the most moral army in the world,” and Professor John Spencer of West Point has said “Israel has done more to protect civilians than any army in the history of warfare.”

Given the saintly portrayal of grandmother Hala Khreis, several aspects of the report raise red flags, demanding a deeper investigation:

1. Hala Khreis’ orphaned granddaughter, Sara, was interviewed in Istanbul by CNN. Considering that nearly 99% of Gazans are displaced within Gaza or are huddled near its borders, it’s noteworthy that Sara, the central witness of this emotional narrative, had the privilege to travel to Turkey. Could this be a coincidence, or does it hint at the Khreis family’s connections to Hamas, which also operates extensively from Turkey for propaganda purposes?

Erdogan has provided Turkish citizenship, and passports, to many Hamas officials. He has also allowed Hamas members to permanently settle in Turkey. Castro’s hunch, that a Gazan now resident in Turkey likely has a Hamas connection, makes eminent sense.

2.Sara, an 18-year-old who recently lost her mother [Hala Khreis] exhibits an unusual level of composure during the interview. Despite her sometimes trembling voice, her grief seems staged rather than spontaneous. One would expect a genuine display of distraught emotion from a young orphan, rather than what appears to be a calculated performance.

3. Sara’s physical appearance is strikingly different from the typical Gazan. With fair skin and green eyes, she could easily be mistaken for a Northern European teenager sporting a hijab. Is this resemblance coincidental, or is it a deliberate tactic to evoke sympathy from European and American audiences, thereby heightening animosity towards Israel?

4. Sara reminisces about her mother preparing breakfast and offering Dhuhr prayers shortly before her death. However, Dhuhr prayers are typically offered around midday, suggesting that lunch, rather than breakfast, would have been served at noon. This discrepancy raises questions about the authenticity of Sara’s recollections and of Sara herself.

Individually, these points may seem innocuous, but collectively, they suggest a narrative crafted to manipulate viewers’ emotions and fuel anti-Israel sentiment. Whether CNN reporter Clarissa Ward was misled or complicit in perpetuating a potential smear campaign against Israel remains unclear….

The IDF is still investigating the circumstances of Hala Khreis’ death. Castro notes that her death is being exploited by Hamas, which claims it was a deliberate and wanton killing of an innocent Palestinian “grandmother” by the mad-dog Israelis. But it is important to note that Khreis was shot while she and other members of her family were fleeing from Gaza City, as the IDF had urged Gazans to do. It would not have had any reason to kill Hala Khreis, who was doing exactly what the IDF wanted — getting out of Gaza City. Hamas, on the other hand, tried to prevent Gazans from leaving, wanting them to remain in the city to be used as human shields. The terror group is known to have killed Gazans trying to flee northern Gaza, in order to discourage others from leaving. Hamas shot dozens of Gazan civilians making their way south on the Salah al-Din Street. It should not surprise anyone if Hamas were discovered to have shot Hala Khreis precisely because she was fleeing, in an attempt to dissuade others from following her example. Hamas in the end was unable to stop that human flood. Nine hundred thousand Gazans did manage to leave northern Gaza, and head south to Khan Younis and then, more recently, to leave central Gaza for Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza.

We must wait the findings of the IDF’s investigation. That investigation is made more difficult because Khreis has been buried, and her wounds — which might offer a clue both as to the kind of bullet, and where the bullet that killed her was fired from — can’t be examined. If the IDF was responsible for killing Hala Khreis, the Israelis will announce that fact, just as, after an investigation, the IDF announced that an Israeli soldier had mistakenly killed the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. And if they conclude that they don’t have enough information about the trajectory of the bullet or about the kind of bullet, to be definitive, they will announce that, too.