Hamas paid family to say that baby died from IDF tear gas

Hamas paid NIS 8,000 to a Gaza family to say that their baby died of tear gas inhalation and not of natural causes. 

By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

In an indictment filed Thursday in a Beersheba court, the Palestinian defendant admitted that Hamas paid his family to lie and say that his eight-month-old cousin died from inhalation of tear gas shot by the IDF.

In the case of State of Israel v. Mahmoud Omar, the defendant, whose infant cousin Leila al-Ghandour passed away from a blood disease in May in the heat of violent rioting along the Gaza border with Israel, said that Hamas wanted to take advantage of the timing of the death.

Omar will be standing trial for acting as lookout on May 28th while two other terrorists tried to infiltrate Israel in order to set an unmanned IDF post aflame.

Here is footage of the family mourning the baby’s death and lying that the IDF was responsible:

According to the indictment, he will also be tried for being a member of a terrorist group (an offshoot of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade) and taking part in riots at the security fence during the recent mass protests against Israel.

In his testimony to security forces after his capture, the 20-year-old said that Yahya Sinwar, leader of the Hamas government, paid the family NIS 8,000 to lie about the baby’s cause of death. The al-Ghandours had another baby that died of the same condition in 2017, his testimony added.

Several members of the family gave detailed interviews at the time to spread the false story, including the infant’s mother and 11-year-old uncle who “admitted” to taking Leila to the border, thinking that his family was participating in the protests there.

The story was reported around the world at the time, and criticism intensified regarding the way Israel was defending its border against thousands of protesters who acted as cover for terrorists attempting to infiltrate the country, firebombing IDF soldiers and damaging the security infrastructure that protected the nearby Jewish communities.

After her funeral, however, a Gazan doctor threw doubt on the story, telling AP that he believed the baby had died from a pre-existing condition. The Gaza Health Ministry subsequently pulled back and said the death was “under investigation.”

This testimony could seemingly call into question all the figures that this ministry has cited regarding injuries and deaths among Palestinians during the recent weeks of violent rioting.