An extraordinary warning call to a Palestinian dentist starts the panicked evacuation of a Gazan neighbourhood.

By Alice Cuddy BBC News, Jerusalem

The call to Mahmoud Shaheen came at dawn.

It was Thursday 19 October at about 06:30, and Israel had been bombing Gaza for 12 days straight.

He’d been in his third-floor, three-bedroom flat in al-Zahra, a middle-class area in the north of the Gaza Strip. Until now, it had been largely untouched by air strikes.

He’d heard a rising clamour outside. People were screaming. “You need to escape,” somebody in the street shouted, “because they will bomb the towers”.

  • be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social
    262·
    1 year ago

    It is true that the actions of the military kill innocents. I think it would’ve happened even without Hamas using them as human shields.

    But should Israel simply stand idle as it’s citizens are slaughtered and kidnapped? If so, then why?

    That’s a false dichotomy, and one alternative approach was already provided in the comment you originally replied to.

    the Israeli State holds a humongous power advantage. They don’t use that power disparity to deescalate and integrate the Palestinian people to prevent Hamas from having support. Instead they do shit like this where they drive Palestinians straight into Hamas’ hands, because the Palestinian people are given no other option to turn to.

    Certainly there are even more alternatives that exist in the miles wide gap between “raze all of gaza” and “stand idle”.

    • kick_out_the_jams@kbin.social
      71·
      1 year ago

      Certainly there are even more alternatives that exist in the miles wide gap between “raze all of gaza” and “stand idle”.

      First they should try to invest into defense, maybe some sort of air defense system to mitigate the almost daily rocket and missile launches.

      • be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social
        161·
        1 year ago

        How can the IDF pull back and not get another surprise attack in three weeks?

        Now that they have killed so many civilians, it’s gonna be tough. They aren’t making it better as they continue destroying homes, hospitals, and refugee camps though. The time to try treating them like humans was before the recent attack.

        Here’s what I can tell you for sure:

        • You don’t reduce the number of terrorists by making it crystal clear that you give zero shits about civilian deaths
        • Whatever actions would lead to a reduction in terrorism from Gaza are going to start with humanitarian outreach, not bombs
        • And let’s not forget those illegal settlements which are a constant provocation.
        • Whatever the correct actions look like - they are going to need to account for the fact that they’ve just created shitloads more ill will than even was there previously.

        Do my bullet points solve the problem? Hell no. But my (or your) inability to come up with a solution doesn’t mean there isn’t a better one than what they are currently doing, and doesn’t support the idea that their only other option is to do nothing. Neither of us (presumably) are world leaders with experience in this area. But when shit comes out of my sink faucets, I don’t need to be a plumber to know that mine has fucked up.