On Saturday, US Centcom announced that four US army vessels were affected by “heavy sea states”:
The vessels broke free from their moorings and two vessels are now anchored on the
beach near the pier. The third and fourth vessels are beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon. Efforts to recover the vessels are under way with assistance from the Israeli navy.
Can anything not go wrong for the Palestinians 
It’s about the scale, no matter how detestable Russia are… It’s about driving 2 millon people to the sea.
There’s no equivalence between the crimes committed by the countries. Gaza citizens don’t have anyhwere to go
How many Ukrainians have taken refuge in neighbouring European countries, including many that do not have borders with Ukraine? Not just European, either - we have tens of thousands here.
As for scale, Gaza is basically a city. What is happening is appalling, but the scale of human dislocation Ukraine is enormous.
The catalogue of Israeli war crimes is large indeed, but any talk of scale should perhaps be avoided.
There is absolutely no doubt, or shouldn’t be if one is some what informed, that the scale of attrocities in Ukraine is several magnitudes higher. And not only in terms of killed or wounded. But in terms of the RU War Goal, which is the complete annihilation of Ukrainian culture and replacing it with Russian, which has been repeated ad infinitum in Russia media. This is systematic, has involved the kidnapping of over 30 000 Ukrainian children previously sent to Russia and involves complete de-Ukrainisation of conquered territories, territories, razed to the ground as the RU war machine advances.
As to for particular cases such as the Siege of Mariupol, the losses there are unknown. The streets were filled with bodies of civilians, but the UN stopped counted, for lack of sources, at 1348 dead (the UN doesn’t count dead or wounded in Ukraine in general anymore and hasn’t done so for years), but the Ukrainian government claims over 22 000 civilians were killed there. HRW cites evidence to at least 8034 excess civilian deaths during the siege, but admits that the real number cannot be guessed at since it is known that RU dug mass graves and it is not possible to investigate those (many of them have also now had buildings placed above them by new administration. Any civilian who shows undue loyalty to the new regime, is arrested, many disappeared. Political control and thought control is total in occupied areas, far more so than in Russia proper.
The idea that Russia allowed civilian evacuation is of course either complete ignorance (which is pretty usual by certain posters) or a lie. The city was fully surrounded by march the 2nd, after which is was subjected to intense and indiscriminate artillery shelling, also with MLRS, far more indiscriminate than what Israel does in Gaza (but Gaza is much more densely populated in turn). On the 4th of march, Mariupol mayor warned that city suplies had run out (supplying mariupol had of course been extremely difficult prior ot full envelopment as RU shelled and bombed all convoys) and the city had no longer running water, electricity or heating. Ukraine proposes a temporary cease fire to Russia to allow for civilian evaciuation. On the 5th Ukraine announced it’s desire to evacuate some 200 000 civilians inside Mariupol and the Red Cross promised to act as guarantor for said evacution. RU agrees and a short Cease Fire from 1100-1600 is agreed upon in a local corridor. Evacuation begins, convoys with civilians heads out (one of them a former collegue of mine). However, as they head out, they are forced to return, since RU army decides to continue shelling of the city, again using all sorts of systems, including MLRS, making evacuation impossible. Russia later claims that Ukriane had refused civilians to evacuate towards Russia and starts lying about the corridor they had agreeded upon. The usual spiteful stuff we have grown accustomed to (but many in this thread seems to have forgotten about or just never knew). Another attempt at evacuation is made on march the 8th. Again, corridor is shelled, evacuees forces to return to the shelled city. On the 9th newspapers write about Russians digging secret mass graves in areas of the city where their forces had managed to advance into. This is also the day in which they bomb that maternity hospital with a FAB 500, bombing the courtyard of it, explosive radius being 250 metres, it destroys much of the hospital. RU later claims it was a military base (it wasn’t).
The first evacuation of civilians is finally allowed on March the 14, where at 1300 hours, some 160 cars are allowed to leave in a short time window, before shelling continues. Many more are allowed to evacuate in the same corridor on the march 15 (around 20 000). My former collegue was in this collumn. That day RU air force bombs the Mariupol theatre, killing an unknown number of civilians hiding there, using it as a shelter in the basement. RU command had been notified of this, and it is why they bombed it (there were no Ukrianian military presence there, by now, Ukraine is using Azovstahl as their base), to speed up surrender, the Russian way. At this time, Russia begins arresting every civilian not waving a Russian flag, sending them to correction camps and prisons inside Russia. This is done in general by internal ministry troops, primarily kadyrov’s Akhmat. The numbers eventually sent to Russia is unknown today, but estimated to a between 20-30 000. A school sheltering 400 people is now bombed and destroyed, again clearly with aim to speed up surrender.
Fighting continues. At the end, some 1000 civilians hide in Azovsthal with Ukrainian marines Eventually, Un Chief Gueterres, after visiting Putin, is able to negotiate the evacuation of some civilians from Azovstal. Ukraining forces in Azovstal surrenders in May.
This was only Mariupol.
While it is true that Ukrainian civilians can evacuate under fire elsewhere and flee their homeland to the west, this is hardly a humanitarian gesture by Russia. And they can’t return. And I haven’t even mentioned the theft of grain, the artificial global food shortage Russia aimed to create and much more.
What is happening in Ukraine (and I have never usesd the term before in the Ukraine thread, as I prefer to report on what is happening instead) is Text Book Genocide, with the aimed destruction of a national identity , theft of it’s population to reinforces dwindling Russian population numbers and much more.
What is happening in Gaza is maybe Genocide. It is certainly less clear that what is happening in Ukraine.
So yes, there is no equivalence and anyone who claims there is, or who dares claim that what is happening in Gaza is somehow worse, can go fuck themselves, because I refuse to believe they “don’t know” after the war having been raging so long, after so much evidence of population theft and after Russia has made it clear so many times that it seeks the destruction of the Ukrainian nation and not just state. It is clear for anyone not blind, dumb or completely ignorant (or alternatively lying fucks with selective ethics), that what is happening in Ukraine is many magnitudes worse.
In very short: If Israel is going to “top” Russia, they would need to kill many more, cause a real demographic issue felt for generations or at least annex Gaza, making it part of the Israeli state and start a methodical campaign of brainwashing Gazans through propaganda and convert them, in time, to Jews or pro-Israeli muslims. Because that is what Russia is doing in Ukraine in the conquered territories; using massive authoritarian propaganda and thought control aimed towards the conquered populace.
But some people obviously like to pretend that they don’t see this happening or don’t know. You don’t have an excuse for not knowing by now after so long. I don’t care what shitty media you read and what you selectively don’t read, you have a responsibility to be some what better informed given how large an event the Invasion of Ukraine actually is and how vast the butterfly effects are. There is no excuse for not knowing in bloody May 2024.
Probably just confirming that they won’t renegotate, doubt it’s anything big.
But still news worthy (maybe):
https://x.com/Faytuks/status/1794477549533134993
Seems this was it, but unclear if true or an old hostage they are dragging around. IDF claims no one is missing. A bit strange. Hamas claims it killed some, abducted several.
https://x.com/Faytuks/status/1794485602479476887
https://x.com/ytirawi/status/1794482879772205193
https://x.com/ytirawi/status/1794484154081349846
Israelis claim this:
https://x.com/JoeTruzman/status/1794486632508481950
In the grand scheme of things, this probably isn’t very important tbh.
And what do you consider what Israel has been doing for the last 60 odd years?
Over 200 days of fighting.
Nearly 36,000 deaths (along with around 10,000 reportedly buried under the debris).
Nearly the entire population displaced.
Nearly the entire population facing famine.
Nearly the entire Gaza made desolate.
…and Hamas is still firing rockets 
.
But this week, Joe Biden adopted a quintessential Donald Trump move and hit out at a prosecutor for doing his job, while presenting no evidence to back his criticism.
Fucking scumbags. What possible reason do they have to strike this tent camp. What target is important enough for this horror. They even claimed at first that they didn’t strike it. It’s very clear they did.
He is playing with ‘respect’ and ‘authority’ - these are not new soundings. the US have always talked about respect for international norms, yet deflected ever being bound by them (as in the ICC) - it comes under soft power. 
A long and complicated post of first the Nakba, then wars (and defeats) and occupation. It’s very hard to answer with no limitations on start of current hostility. If you want to go back to 1948 or even before (one should probably start before), then that is fine, but then the history gets very complicated and grey. And a very long post. Because as you know, the occupation is a gradual, very slow, annexation in part. And the two sides are maximalist. Not only one of them is the agressor during these 60 years…
If one was to do the same for Russia, when should one start ? With Catherine the Great ? Earlier ? I don’t think it makes sense to start before 2014 myself. But of course, large scale high intensity warfare of earth shattering dimensions, only began in 2022 with RU’s unprovoked invasion, a premiditated Crime of Agression, where they had no Causus Belli what so ever.
Israel is now boasting about this strike, claiming it was worth it because they killed 2 Hamas leaders. Also calls it a “precise strike”. Unhinged.
https://x.com/YaariCohen/status/1794855149397065895
And these are not top leaders, it is local leaders in the Hamas military wing, but easily replacable ones.
This is a grave war crime. 2 medium ranked Hamas leaders cannot in any form or way justify this. It’s heinous scenes of charred corpses and headless children.
Example (Be advised this is strong stuff showing a decapitated child):
https://x.com/academic_la/status/1794884371033518542
FDD is the worst think tank apologist in the US.
https://x.com/GravitysRa1nbow/status/1794905303361950009
https://x.com/GravitysRa1nbow/status/1794905559143198834
There has been a clash in Rafah involving Egyptian and Israeli soldiers. It is reported by Israelis that one Egyptian opened fire, IDF responded, then other Egyptians joined in. Egypt claims it was the Israeli side who opened fire. In any case, butcher’s bill is minimum 1 Egyptian soldier dead, but I read it’s 4 by now from another source, but the latter is a suspect source. In any case, widely reported 1 Egyptian solider dead, maybe others. As far as I know, no IDF cas.
An Israeli spokesman on the BBC today was insisting that it was all Egypt’s fault that the crossing was still closed and no aid was coming through.
Surely after this latest atrocity (in Rafah) , Biden has to come out and say/do something consequential now. Macron has already called it an outrage and you can just sense the utter disgust now that most Europeans have for the actions of the Israeli State.
Their delusion of total victory has been shown to be a chimera. How many more atrocities will they commit before they finally realise it as such.
https://x.com/Faytuks/status/1795111386680291647
Yes, yes. We have heard IDF already stating that there was supposed to be no civilian casualties. And the two Hamas targets being located in an IDP camp, a tent camp, did not ring any bells, did it ? Of course not. I am sure there are many in the IDF and the political leadership that is against such targets being hit (we know they have strong heated disagreements regarding how much Civ Cas should be acceptable in a strike from before), but many in the IDF and the political leadership is in favour; so…
But since this is so high profile, maybe, maybe, eventually, it might contibute to changing something. But probably not now, and certainly not alone.
Yesterday it was this though:
It’s like watching the mini Kremlin inventing competing theories, while at the same time justifying it in propaganda (not that the Kremlin has ever admitted a single mistake in it’s war in Ukraine, but then again, they don’t have the US as Sugar Daddy that they have to some how please either).
