The headlines coming from the Gaza Strip on Aug. 26 told a grim story: A strike near Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis left roughly 20 Palestinians dead. International reactions quickly condemned the Israel Defense Forces for firing tank shells in the shadow of a major medical facility.

But the fuller picture is far more complex—and far more troubling.

The IDF has acknowledged that its target was not the hospital itself or the civilians inside, but a Hamas surveillance camera affixed near the hospital grounds. Intelligence showed that the camera was being used to track IDF troop movements in real time. Such surveillance is no minor matter; in the urban war of Gaza, information equals ambush, tunnel raids and kidnappings.

After the strike, the IDF announced that seven of those killed were co

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