Freitas stressed that this is not conventional warfare. Hamas terrorists deliberately embed themselves within civilian infrastructure — operating from hospitals, schools, mosques, and residential buildings — precisely because they know it restricts Israel’s ability to operate and increases civilian harm. 

According to him, civilian casualties are not an accident of Hamas’ tactics, but a core part of their strategy: using civilians as human shields while turning global outrage into a weapon.

He emphasized that urban combat against a terrorist organization is chaotic, close-range, and unforgiving, with split-second decisions that no social media clip can fairly capture. Soldiers face enemies who wear no uniforms, move through tunnels beneath homes, and exploit every moral and legal restraint their opponents observe.