The European Union on Sunday condemned Hamas for using "hospitals and civilians as human shields" in Gaza, while also urging Israel to show "maximum restraint" to protect civilians.
This is completely stupid. If Hamas are hiding in hospitals then surely there's a better fucking way to target them than trying to blow the whole fucking place up. One way would be to send a strike team, after all Israel and Mossad are "famous" for hunting terrorists down after the Munich bombing at the Olympics. Yet the same country can only now resort to cutting off infrastructure and bombing refugee camps, ambulances, schools and hospitals plus which is killing aid workers and drs.
OP's a child who's never dealt with violence, war or destroyed infrastructure.
My ex-FIL was a decorated Army vet (Iraq, 2x Bronze Stars), Mississippi National Guard. FFS, those men couldn't get into their own cities after Hurricane Katrina, in peacetime. They cut fucking houses in half and pushed them aside to open the roads.
Send in a strike team?! To a civilian hospital in a war zone?! That's a solid plan to get your men killed on the incursion, OR, get a bunch of civilians killed and THEN lose all your men.
Yeah, for starters your own people are going to get killed.
It would probably have fewer casualties on the enemy side however since some of them might actually live. However, Israel's goal is not to allow Hamas members to survive.
This is not as easy as you think. You have to get your team to the target, through terrorists hiding among civilians, through IDE’s that are hidden along the way, through civilians that do not like you. And if you miraculously survive this march without heavy casualties the Hamas are already gone and hide somewhere else…not to forget the civilian casualties that would happen on the way…
I think Israel should give them supplies to continue operation until they can be evacuated. And also Israel should give them notice of evacuation weeks in advance so they can prepare. And Israel should be expected to provide alternate medical care.
This is a war, so you are basically talking about an urban assault involving thousands of IDF infantry kicking doors down house to house and shooting anyone who shoots at them.
The US did that in Fallujah, and it's pretty gnarly. US had 500 casualties IIRC. The US also told all the residents to evacuate Fallujah before the operation went down.
That's why they're using this strategy. If there were a ton of Israeli soldier casualties on Bibi's watch, the military might let the public remove him from power, or do it themselves. Netanyahu has every motivation to bomb and starve Gaza. The actual solution would have been to build up Palestinian groups who oppose Hamas and prefer a two state solution, but that isn't the IDF's goal. Their refusal to do so over the last few decades not only led to this war, but should have told supportive nations that too many Zionists are genocidal theocrats.
The most economical endgame for Israel's current military actions is the forceful expulsion of almost all Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. Occupation is a bad option. They've undermined the movement for coexistence so badly that even a total reversal of policy would be difficult. It's so fucking sad.
America tried bombing a million innocent civilians from the comfort of their lazy ass Texas seat too. Remind me whether they won that war. Surely they didn't leave a giant power vacuum and created many more resistance fighters.
The irony of hiding in a hospital when you literally cause war.
Doesn't it make more sense to argue that the person dropping bombs just doesn't want to admit they missed the target and fucked thousands of people because they're shit at their job? If you were fighting an alien or hunting a foreign agent, and you screwed up and accidentally shot your own family down in flames, you'd probably be rather embarrassed, I sure would be too haha
But hey it's alright nobody will judge even if they knew because the truth is that some jobs suck and just get glamorised on the news and in the media precisely because even the very few who make the cut can still be considered competent
Everyone is blaming Israel for the actions of Israel. I honestly have no idea how you could get this from the comment.
If you feel like you need to defend Israel in this situation, maybe ask yourself why that is. Is it really so difficult to call this obvious war crime out? You can still support them overall but acknowledge their (many) failings. At this point just saying "but Hamas!" in response to every valid criticism looks absolutely pathetic.
Edit: tl;dr ITT I try and fail to convey that terrorists using innocent people as meat shields/hostages is wrong and a government bombing those terrorists along with their hostages is also wrong. I dunno how that's too confusing for anyone to understand but I guess some folk truly are lost causes.
Original comment below:
Are you implying that Israel has not done any bombing whatsoever? Or are you implying that terrorists hiding behind innocent people means everyone involved must die by bombing? Or are you just a troll trying to get a reaction from people by posting an obviously ignorant comment?
Let me ask you this, if some bank robbers took your family and friends hostage, what do you think the response should be? By your own logic I must assume that they all need to die because criminals were using them as meat shields. By your logic, if your home is being robbed and the robber uses you as a shield, the response should be to mow you down along with the robber. How unlucky for you that the robber chose your house eh? How ignorant.
And if you're struggling to put yourself in those shoes, good. Be glad that you're so far removed from such dangers. But you are not immune. Criminals and potential terrorists exist everywhere, and I truly hope that if you ever find yourself in a hostage situation that the response isn't what you idolize for innocent people in a foreign land. Because even unemphatic scum don't deserve to die simply for being a hostage.
I'd like to assume that you simply forgot a "/s", and I apologize if the sarcastic intent of your comment was lost, but there are people that truly believe what you've said.
Do you have any proof of bombed hospitals? On all of the photos/videos they are perfectly intact. That's why hamas members like to sit in them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This is just lip service to stay relevant and seem to have any semblance of moral since all the western propaganda have failed to make the world turn on the palestinians.
Now they have to say "hey we, umm… were thinking they're doing bad things too"
What are they going to do if Israel kills double the numbers it already has? NOTHING!!
US Cops shout "stop resisting" as they beat their victims, then later 'deplore' that they 'brought it on themselves'
"Hamas should stop resisting" oh the humanity
Don't care, dont fucking bomb hospitals you soulless ghouls
Why are we believing Israel at its word when it's proven they're habitual, professional liars who all but admitted their own role in orchestrating the majority of the civilian deaths on 7th October?
I'm 100% certain this claim will be debunked in a week when someone proves they've just decorated an ICU ward with Hamas flags or some shit. I'll remember all the bloodthirsty pricks who woke up excited at the prospect of denying civilians the right to life and freedom over something they know in their hearts is probably a falsehood.
Does anyone have any evidence that this was actually taking place? It seems like the most moronic and easy excuse to get away with war crimes. Hey did you just blow up that school?? Yes....but umm....Hamas was there! No wait... it was their rocket that did it...yeah wasn't us it was them!
Why does everyone think Israel a notorious nation for spying and being shitty is 100% honest in their findings?
Hamas and the Gaza Health ministry have invited the international community to check this themselves and have apparently provided tours and proof from long ago that that AlShifa hospital has nothing underneath it. The company constructing the Indonesian hospital also denied that any tunnels were underneath and debunked the video of Osrael claiming there is a tunnel entrance there. The EU should check first. There isn't much evidence for tunnels under hospitals and almost all Israel "evidence" provided is such low quality. Not sure how "smart" they are when any 14 year old with a shred of knowledge on using audio editors would be able to tell that the phone call was patched up together from two unrelated ones.
What phone call are you talking about? There was a call relating to the explosion at al Ahli hospital where some people claimed the audio was edited but the only reasoning they had was that one speaker was in one channel and the other speaker in the other channel. That is exactly what you would expect from a wiretap though - the signal for the two speakers is not present in the same wire at the same time, so it needs to be assembled from two separate data sources.
That audio call has been criticized for all sorts of problems. The dialect, the audio put together, the vagueness of the discussion, the fact that the two people sound like two neighbours chatting and not two vetted resistance fighters, etc.
Another example is Israel's most recent claim that the hospital (Al Shifa this time) refused to receive fuel. The phone call is only a few seconds long, the word "fuel" is never mentioned in it, and as an Arabic speaker, I recognized immediately that they were arguing about the "amount" and not the fuel itself. Yet the IDF have published this as "evidence" that the hospital is refusing the fuel delivery, allowing more babies to die. I think it's quite laughable. Turned out later that the IDF promised 2k liters, then decided to send only 300 liters, which would have powered the hospital for half an hour.... totally ignoring that the main issue is that people are being sniped inside the hospital itself, and the yard is filling up with dead and decomposing bodies, some shot for simply stepping foot outside.
I've considered writing about this at more length. I think the Israeli propaganda machine has the quality you would expect from a hobbyist, yet with high aspirations.
I haven't been following the bullshit said by the IDF, but if they're claiming tunnels as the main reason for bombing hospitals, that's ghoulish. They can easily say that Hamas fired rockets from the roof or that they stored weapons amongst patients, and it would be hard to disprove those claims. Don't find evidence of rockets on the roof? Hamas cleaned up the evidence. Don't find evidence of weapons in the hospitals? They moved them. Tunnels aren't like that. Even if sealed off or destroyed, they'll be physical evidence that's hard to get rid of. I guess the typical excuses just weren't cutting it. Even if half the patients were Hamas militants, there's still a ton of innocent people.
BRUSSELS, Nov 12 (Reuters) - The European Union on Sunday condemned Hamas for using "hospitals and civilians as human shields" in Gaza, while also urging Israel to show "maximum restraint" to protect civilians.
Hospitals in the north of the Palestinian enclave are blockaded by Israeli forces and barely able to care for those inside, according to medical staff.
"The EU condemns the use of hospitals and civilians as human shields by Hamas," European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement issued on behalf of the 27-nation bloc.
At the same time, he urged Israel to exercise maximum restraint, stressing the obligation under international humanitarian law to protect hospitals, medical supplies and civilians inside hospitals.
"These hostilities are severely impacting hospitals and taking a horrific toll on civilians and medical staff," Borrell warned.
"In this context, we urge Israel to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the protection of civilians."
The original article contains 245 words, the summary contains 151 words. Saved 38%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
"Kill 20% less civilians please' . What fuckin dumb rhetoric is this. It's like we live the end of times and words have lost meaning
What kind of restraint can israel have? if hamas was 1% of the population, after all these atrocities it will be 99% of the population. Imagine someone killing your children and then you re supposed to go on living your life because "well shit happened".
Israel has an incentive to exterminate a very large part of the population, especially the young male population before this is over to weaken the next hamas. If they have another plan for post-war life, it's not clear how they imagine life with palestinians near or far.
At the same time, he urged Israel to exercise maximum restraint, stressing the obligation under international humanitarian law to protect hospitals, medical supplies and civilians inside hospitals.
"These hostilities are severely impacting hospitals and taking a horrific toll on civilians and medical staff," Borrell warned.
"Hospitals must ... be supplied immediately with the most urgent medical supplies, and patients that require urgent medical care need to be evacuated safely," he added. "In this context, we urge Israel to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the protection of civilians."
This isn't Halo or Call of Duty. This isn't "red team" vs "blue team". This isn't a game. There is no score to be tracked and no victory or loss for who can kill more children. The only people that are "losing" in this conflict are the innocent people caught in the crossfire.
The fact that you're implying that it's okay for Israel or Hamas to keep killing as long as they're not on top of some sort of "child-killing leaderboard" is absolutely sickening. I'm literally sick to my stomach even thinking about that. I could not possibly care less who killed who's child first, killing children is wrong. Killing innocent children in retaliation to killing innocent children is wrong. There's no "score" to settle when that "score" involves the injury or death of innocent people. Both sides fucking suck for killing innocent people.
Furthermore, I'll reiterate my point that both sides fucking suck for killing innocent people. That is the only absolute that belongs in this conversation. Neither side is innocent in regards to deaths of innocent people, and neither side is fully to blame for the deaths of innocent people. Hamas is at fault for using innocent people as meat shields and Israel is at fault for firing anyway. Whether Hamas struck first some weeks ago or not, regardless of which "side" started this however many years ago, both Israel and Hamas are culpable for deaths of innocent people. Full stop. No scores, no "winners", and the only "loss" is loss of life.
I really wonder how many of those 11.000+ dead people are actually active Hamas fighters. I would be very surprised if they are more than a couple of hundred.
But oh wait Hamas' military wing is 30K, are they going to kill 30 times more?
And don't you think that once Israel is happy with the amount of destruction on the north it would simply do the same with the south?
If they had any sense they'd go for a one state solution with negotiation on how to create one set of laws for all and fix the shit they just blew up rather than keep bombing but hey man, people prefer to keep fighting just to save face