I’ve got something better.
Would all of you agree with this ?
Israel aren’t actively trying to not kill civilians ?
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Looks like there are reports of Hamas using car bombs against Palestinians as they try to flee south.
Isn’t that the same with every war? They’re started by politicians and dictators but it’s the people who pay the price.
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In my definition, actively targeting is going in with the knowledge that there is no military target. Maybe this is what we disagree on.
As far as the bombing of a main road, mistakes happen in the coolest of situations. If mistakes like that continue to happen ad nauseam then yes, deliberate targeting, however if it happens on occasion then it’s the unfortunate events that happen in all conflicts where civilians are intermingled with combatants. I think I have been really clear on this.
A evacuation order was sent out. If you actively target civilians then you don’t bother with that. It serves zero use for the idf to target civilians, they have absolutely nothing to gain and it serves the exact opposite as it makes their goal more difficult. On the other hand, any civilian death (enemy or friend) helps Hamas.
As far as the cutting off of electricity, food and water. This is a double edged wartime tactic in order to make it uncomfortable for both enemy and civilians, from the civilian pov that they vacate the area. This is not a tactic used to take civilian lives even though there is a likelihood it will happen. Once again it’s a an attack on a military target with the innocents caught middle.
No I don’t agree, and I think that’s something a politician would say in order to convolute the situation.
While also being portrayed as Israel bombing fleeing civilians. I’ve seen the video, seen various angles and slow mos that are out there. Hard to see how a munition dropped causes that explosion, imho it’s caused by a vehicle on that highway. Also a still of a roadblock set up to prevent people leaving, also by Hamas.
Unfortunately the information space is incredibly choked with disinformation with much of it slanting towards painting the Israeli attacks as indiscriminately targeting the civilian population. That’s not to say that civilian casualties have not been taken or that they are low, simply to note that there is a significant drive by many sources to make the Israeli response wanton, reckless and indiscriminate which is a ‘fact’ that many around the world are buying. You’re in service so I imagine you might have briefings with far more accurate information than that which we have to sift through but that’s my take on what we’ve been seeing.
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I think there can be no doubt that the Israeli military reaction has been reckless at best. You cannot flatten entire blocks and not know you will be killing innocent people.
Hamas appearing to now attack Palestinians only adds another layer of death and tragedy for the people of Gaza.
There is certainly a propaganda war at play here too and the Hamas bombings in Gaza, assuming it was Hamas and not some other regional actor, would seem to be part of that effort.
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A quote from Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadker
“There must be no attacks on civilian infrastructure. If it’s unacceptable for the president of Russia to target power stations or civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, the same must apply to the Israeli government and the actions it takes on targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza.”
“And I’m really concerned about what I’m seeing happening in Gaza at the moment. “To me, it amounts to collective punishment. Cutting off power, cutting off fuel supplies and water supplies, that’s not the way a respectable democratic state should conduct itself.”
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The problem is the rhetoric is a bit empty when those with the guns and those directing them draw such little distinction between civilians and Hamas and pay so little regard for those “accidental” deaths
This is just one albeit a high profile case Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed a year ago : NPR
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I’d guess very few people on here have ever even heard of Shireen Abu Akleh.
She wasn’t ‘killed’ , she was assassinated by an IDF sniper during the course of her work. The initial Israeli response was that it was a stray bullet from a Palestinian gunman. (A common refrain) Eventually , after many other iterations of the story , the IDF admitted she ‘likely’ died from Israeli fire.
Shireen was a very famous , and heroic , figure among Palestinians in the West Bank , having reported on the conflict for many years. It is speculated that she was targetted for precisely this reason.
The IDF has already said that no soldier will be held responsible for her murder.
Because of course , the IDF never targets innocent civilians.
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There was a good interview with ex-pm of Israel and Sky News UK. His defence was there is no moral high ground from the British presenter given what happened in Dresden. Effectively arguing Israel should be allowed to do the same.
Every Israeli political figure I have seen has said there is nothing illegal about cutting off water, food and medicine. One going as far as saying hospitals are legitimate targets as injured Hamas fighters will be there. If a bomb hits a school it’s because Hamas was using civilian shields. (A few hospitals got hit last night ….)
The interviews on TV of politicians the ones that are meant to be more moderate show zero regard for civilian life. Where any target it justifiable, where any civilian loss of life is justifiable.
It’s indiscriminate. The aim more and more appears to be to flatten the city.
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They did actually promise us that last weekend when the IDF CoS told us they hope the world would continue to stand with them in the aftermath of their attacks on Gaza.
It was clear then that their attacks on Gaza would be unprecedented. I fully expect the entire Gaza strip to look like Aleppo when Israel are done.
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Are we going to see a reaction against Israeli terror and brutalism?
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Will they , won’t they ? One might have thought that the optimum time for Hezbollah to launch an attack would have been a week ago when Israel was in disarray , which in turn suggests that Hamas’ attack was entirely of its own conception. All day yesterday the IDF and Hezbollah were exchanging fire under normal ‘rules of engagement’ , but this could clearly escalate at a moment’s notice.
’ Hezbollah itself has been rehearsing for what its commanders often dub “the last war with Israel.” Hezbollah’s intervention on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian Civil War was an “opportune training” opportunity, a senior Hezbollah commander told this correspondent in 2017. “What we are doing in Syria in some ways is a dress rehearsal for Israel,” he explained.’
That’s an astonishing analogy considering that was hugely controversial even amongst the allies at the time and led to changes of the Geneva conventions to prevent others from doing the same.
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Which ex-PM was it ?