According to a New York Times report, “Hamas has long been accused of using civilians as human shields and positioning underground bunkers, weapon depots and rocket launchers under or near schools, mosques and hospitals.”[63]
DW military analyst Frank Ledwidge has said that “it’s been described… as ‘common knowledge’ that many of the headquarters [of Hamas] are located under hospitals… [with] entries and exits in places like mosques or schools… [or even] UN facilities… that’s why we’ve seen… so many non-combatant casualties so far”.[64]
John Spencer has said that "[Hamas has] built many of their tunnel entrances and exits and passageway underneath protected sites like hospitals, schools, mosques, because it restricts the use of force that the IDF can take without going through the… laws of war calculation.[65]
According to Daphne Richemond-Barak, associate professor of counter-terrorism at Reichman University and author of the 2017 book Underground Warfare, Hamas militants operate under Al-Shifa Hospital gain “the highest level of protection available under the laws of war”, as well as a “unique opportunity to operate far from surveillance drones, GPS, and other intelligence-gathering technology”. She added that “in Gaza, tunnels are dug in civilian homes, pass under entire neighbourhoods, and lead into populated areas inside Israel… [which] enables Hamas to conceal entry and exit points, and facilitates undetected movement and activity.”[66]
Avi Issacharoff has said that Hamas militants are “under the houses and neighborhoods of Gaza City, hoping that Israel won’t attack them because they’re hiding underneath human shields, and that if Israel will attack those neighborhoods, it’ll kill many civilians, and the whole world is going to accuse Israel for war crimes”. “The sad thing about all this”, Issacharoff said, “is [that] Hamas doesn’t care about their own people” and aims “not only to kill Israelis but for as many Palestinian civilians [casualties as well]”.[67]
It’s almost like starting a war when most of your population is children, then hiding among civilians and under schools endangers them. But I guess that’s Israel’s fault. Why can’t they just send in soldiers without air support? They make easier targets that way.
If you’re going to claim that Israel is killing children because Hamas is hiding in schools and there aren’t schools, that’s a really silly claim.
And if there were schools, you’re claiming that Israel needs to bomb schools filled with children in self-defense. I don’t know that you’re going to find too many people sympathetic to that argument.
I sincerely hope you aren’t a parent if you feel children are so disposable.
Also, if you have to kill children in the name of self-defense, maybe you don’t have anything worth defending.
I’m saying using such despicable tactics is not a free genocide without reprisal card, nor should it confer a tactical advantage as that just means more of this in the future.
Collateral damage is not murder. I feel like a parrot having to refute all these same inaccurate characterizations over and over again. Calling it murder doesn’t make it so.
Good thing you’re not in charge of any defense forces. If your opponents strapped their own children to tanks I suppose you’d just let them roll in and take over.
It’s not a genocide because of collateral damage. It’s a genocide because they used wholly inappropriate 2000 lbs bombs on civilian targets, used starvation as a tactic, refused to let meaningful amounts of humanitarian aid in, bombed schools and hospitals, and used genocidal language that demonstrates intent.
Go ahead and defend Itamar Ben-Gvir if you want but he’s a Kahanist. Go ahead and defend Netanyahu but he’s the one who is a disgrace to Judaism and arguably the worst leader of a major power in my lifetime. War crimes have happened. Mass graves exist and torture prisons exist. Genocide requires intent and I’d argue there’s been dozens of statements by members of Israel’s cabinet that constitute a very strong case.
I am neither defending Ben-Gvir nor Netanyahu, they are both assholes and should be removed from power. What I’m defending is Israel’s right to self-defense. (I’m not your strawman, stick to things I actually wrote, please.)
The alternative to using bombs is sending in troops without air support to a well-prepared guerilla den, suggesting Israel should sacrifice its own to protect civilians of a hostile nation, 72% of whom support the genocidal regime who attacked them.
The pro-pali crowd certainly likes to make this sound like they are starving out Gaza in a medieval siege but that isn’t reality.
Said schools and hospitals were used as military assets by Hamas, making them into legal targets.
I read the statements SA submitted to the IJC, the most egregious quotes were from people who are not involved with running the IDF and waging this war (like Judeofascist Ben-Gvir and Amichai Eliyahu) and I do not believe they represent Israel as a whole, and as such they do not meet the standards for genocide. In fact Amichai got reprimanded for his statements. Many of the other quotes were taken out of context. (I did a deep dive on every quote cited a while back, which I would be happy to post here if you’re interested.)
If torture prisons exist that’s a good reason to prosecute Ben-Gvir of war crimes if such orders came from on high, and also any guards who break the law without CO approval. If war crimes have happened I approve of prosecuting everyone responsible. However, I see a lot of people accusing Israel of war crimes inappropriately.
Israel crossed the line from self defense into genocide when they started ruthlessly executing innocent civilians and aid workers. You cannot justify their bullshit.
At the very least, we can agree that this is not a normal war and both Hamas and Israeli actions require an investigation. Hamas, being a terrorist group and not a state actor, should be treated as a terrorist group. They don’t represent Palestine at the UN and no one in their right mind recognizes them as anything other than a stain upon the world.
Israel (and Fatah) have a different level of responsibility. I understand that October 7th was despicable. I hope Hamas disappears. But Israel, if it wants to be in the community of nations, has to conduct war in accordance with the laws of war. And I don’t think they have.
I would obviously say the same about the Rohingya genocide and the unfolding one in Darfur. Never again means never again. I’ve been to the genocide museum in DC and concentration camps in Europe but also the Rwandan genocide memorial and others. I think what we’re seeing is a genocide. Nothing is clear in the fog of war so it won’t be clear today or tomorrow but the UN is not wrong for investigating.
If your opponents strapped their own children to tanks I suppose you’d just let them roll in and take over.
You know, I was going to answer the rest substantively, but this is the most ludicrous thing I’ve heard in quite some time. You are not here in good faith.
Please present evidence of this. Or is this just a guess on your part?
They don’t go in, they just bombs.
They are not killing the children.
More children were killed in Gaza by March than children in conflicts in the rest of the world over the past four years.
And you would have us believe that Israel’s hands are free of their blood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_human_shields_by_Hamas
It’s almost like starting a war when most of your population is children, then hiding among civilians and under schools endangers them. But I guess that’s Israel’s fault. Why can’t they just send in soldiers without air support? They make easier targets that way.
That information is way out of date. There are almost no schools left because Israel destroyed 90% of them.
https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/education-under-attack-gaza-nearly-90-school-buildings-damaged-or-destroyed-and-no-university-left-standing
If you’re going to claim that Israel is killing children because Hamas is hiding in schools and there aren’t schools, that’s a really silly claim.
And if there were schools, you’re claiming that Israel needs to bomb schools filled with children in self-defense. I don’t know that you’re going to find too many people sympathetic to that argument.
I sincerely hope you aren’t a parent if you feel children are so disposable.
Also, if you have to kill children in the name of self-defense, maybe you don’t have anything worth defending.
I’m saying this is a strategy Hamas uses, and they haven’t stopped. They have been launching rockets from Rafah, hospitals and other civilian areas, they told civilians not to evacuate from war zones, and since half of Gaza is children that means yes, Hamas is attacking Israel from among children.
I’m saying using such despicable tactics is not a free genocide without reprisal card, nor should it confer a tactical advantage as that just means more of this in the future.
Yes. You have already made it clear that you think the murder of thousands of children is justified for the sake of Israel’s self-defense.
And I have made it clear that I think that if you have to kill thousands of children in the name of self-defense, you have nothing worth defending.
Suggesting that there is anything reason to justify killing thousands of children is pretty disturbing.
I would sacrifice my own life to save one child.
Collateral damage is not murder. I feel like a parrot having to refute all these same inaccurate characterizations over and over again. Calling it murder doesn’t make it so.
Good thing you’re not in charge of any defense forces. If your opponents strapped their own children to tanks I suppose you’d just let them roll in and take over.
It’s not a genocide because of collateral damage. It’s a genocide because they used wholly inappropriate 2000 lbs bombs on civilian targets, used starvation as a tactic, refused to let meaningful amounts of humanitarian aid in, bombed schools and hospitals, and used genocidal language that demonstrates intent.
Go ahead and defend Itamar Ben-Gvir if you want but he’s a Kahanist. Go ahead and defend Netanyahu but he’s the one who is a disgrace to Judaism and arguably the worst leader of a major power in my lifetime. War crimes have happened. Mass graves exist and torture prisons exist. Genocide requires intent and I’d argue there’s been dozens of statements by members of Israel’s cabinet that constitute a very strong case.
Israel crossed the line from self defense into genocide when they started ruthlessly executing innocent civilians and aid workers. You cannot justify their bullshit.
Propaganda/Genocide denial/justification removed.
At the very least, we can agree that this is not a normal war and both Hamas and Israeli actions require an investigation. Hamas, being a terrorist group and not a state actor, should be treated as a terrorist group. They don’t represent Palestine at the UN and no one in their right mind recognizes them as anything other than a stain upon the world.
Israel (and Fatah) have a different level of responsibility. I understand that October 7th was despicable. I hope Hamas disappears. But Israel, if it wants to be in the community of nations, has to conduct war in accordance with the laws of war. And I don’t think they have.
I would obviously say the same about the Rohingya genocide and the unfolding one in Darfur. Never again means never again. I’ve been to the genocide museum in DC and concentration camps in Europe but also the Rwandan genocide memorial and others. I think what we’re seeing is a genocide. Nothing is clear in the fog of war so it won’t be clear today or tomorrow but the UN is not wrong for investigating.
You know, I was going to answer the rest substantively, but this is the most ludicrous thing I’ve heard in quite some time. You are not here in good faith.
I used a somewhat satirical metaphor you don’t like, so now I’m not here in good faith? Interesting reasoning.
“Somewhat satirical” does not describe the ludicrous thing you said. So yes, you’re not here in good faith.