Thread by @Franke_schrijft

SIX DAYS OF TRUTH - It's been 6 days since I made a big decision and published about my first hand experiences at #AlShifa_Hospital in #Gaza. I was a Tel Aviv based freelance reporter for Dutch and international media outlets and frequently worked in Gaza between 2014 and 2019.

My tweets and photo from #Hamas at the entrance of #AlShifaHospital went viral and my life has been pretty intense ever since. I have received threaths to my life, I have been cursed at. My professionalism and integrity have been attacked, even by other Dutch journalists.

The silence from other (foreign) professionals who have worked in #Gaza and must have known about #hamas presence in #AlShifa_Hospital and places like schools and mosques has also been painful. But I was not surprised. Please allow me to explain you why in this thread.

Let me start with some basics. I do not get paid by anyone for publishing this. I currently do not work as a reporter and I am not living in the area anymore. My motivation is sharing personal observations to establish facts about the workings of war in #Gaza after #HamasAttacks.

First of all, there is no such thing as 'independent reporting' in the #Gaza strip under #Hamas. Take a look at these pictures I shot in 2018 while moving through the Erez Crossing (which has been destroyed during the #hamasattack on #October7), after crossing into #Gaza.

Israels #Erez crossing is one of the most secured and intimidating border crossings I have ever been to in the middle east. The Iron Cage like structure you see in the photo I posted, ran into the #gaza strip for about a mile, which you had to cross on foot or with a golf cart.

When you reach the end of this cage, that's when it starts to get very interesting. First you register at a 'fatah checkpoint' where your papers and visa are evaluated. Then you take a taxi for about 500 mtr, to the real point of entry to #gaza, which is the #hamas checkpoint

It takes a couple of times of visiting and reporting in #Gaza to understand the dynamics here. The #fatah checkpoint is basically a total scam to make it possible for western org's to work at all in #Gaza, because #hamas is on many sanction lists.

Because the thing is: #fatah has no real power in #Gaza since #hamas came to power there. We all saw the images of fatah supporters being killed and dragged through the streets by hamas at the time, so this should come as no surprise. People arguing otherwise are delusional imo.

Pretty soon I realized this dynamic also takes place in the world if ngo's and aid organisations. They can't work directly with hamas so they use seemingly neutral front organizations who are in the end course subject to #hamas rule. In they have total power there. #Gaza

Hey everyone, thanks for your interest. Please bear with me as it takes me some time to finish this thread. As I stated, I don't work in reporting anymore so I don't have much time for this. but I know how patient everyone has been with regards to evidence from #ShifaHospital :-)

I recall reporting a story for a Dutch newspaper about Dutch aid money flowing into #gaza to help support strawberry farmers (gaza strawberries are very tasty!). The money went to a local org that the netherlands could support (so no hamas ties).

As I visited the site in northern #gaza where the dutch gifted agricultural materials where supposed to be deployed, it was very obvious the numbers did not add up. Both money and materials where not where they were supposed to be. Know one really knew how money flowed.

Several people I interviewed on and off the ground indicated there were strong suspicions of corruption. #hamas controlled what ended up with the strawberry farmers. And also local leaders had to be paid off. Of course everyone was too afraid for #hamas to talk on the record.

There was not enough oversight about this project from the Dutch government because they do not have people on the ground in #Gaza, only diplomats visiting there but not living mostly for security reasons. As you can understand, this system creates a huge window for corruption

The most common argument for continuing with such projects was always: 'if we don't do anything at all, the people in #Gaza are suffering even more'. This maybe true but you also make yourself and everyone else very vulnerable to be exploited by #hamas.

I observed the same dynamic with a lot of the UN reconstruction projects I visited in #gaza. Such as here, where I went to report on the demolition of the 'Italian Tower' building that was destroyed in 2014. Many building materials were reused but some sites we could not visit.

I can go on and on but the story was always the same. Almost all people were super afraid for #hamas and if you dared cover a story #hamas did not want you to see, these same local people will be arrested and possibly tortured, or worse, so that's on you.

what do you do as a journalist on in such a situation? You pay attention to what people are not telling you or showing you. You run 1000's of estimates every time you walk through the #gaza strip. How many people can live in this building? How much space has #hamas to hide here?

You study maps, you go to archives from the time israel controlled #gaza to look at old construction plans, you continously cross check your hypotheses with people that worked there in the past and are no longer afraid to share what they saw. I used satellite imagery a lot.

When I lived in Israel as a reporter, I learned Hebrew and I became pretty good at it so I had the advantage to talk to many many Israelis that at some point in their lives where involved in military actions in the gaza strip or used to work in intelligence to cross check it all.

To complete my picture of the military situation and operational methods from #hamas in the #gaza strip, I also studied other guerilla fighting methods from the past, such as the ones used by the vietcong in the Vietnam War and by the taliban in Afghanistan.

Another useful case study I found was the Syrian civil war. In 2013, I reported about Dutch UN peace keeping forces being useless in their bunkers in the 'demilitarized zone' on the Golan heights. Syrian rebels took over that territory and it was too risky for them to patrol.

The interesting thing was that these rebels chose to stay as close to the un forces as possible because they knew Assad would not bomb there because the risk of Israeli retaliation in case of a misfires rocket that landed in #Israel was so big. These are guerilla warfare tactics.

Let's go back to #Alshifahospital in #Gaza. A lot of people acted very surprised when ex-prime Minister Ehud Barak revealed on @CNN that Israeli contractors built the underground facilities under the hospital in#gaza decades ago. But this was well known in Israel for years!

So when it was 2014 and I was in #Gaza to cover the #Gaza_War and we went to #ShifaHospital to cover the surgery of a civilian who got badly injured by an Israeli airstrip ( I repeat: horrible scene), I knew I what to look for and I was totally not surprised to see hamas gunmen.

I am getting to the end of this thread for now. I thank everyone who has supported me here and elsewhere for their kindness. And I won't say anything about those who try to smear and threaten me. This war will have its course and the truth is coming out, I hope. Let ❤️ rule.