After 11 weeks of war in Gaza, the Israeli military campaign against Hamas now sits among the deadliest and most destructive in history, experts say.

After 11 weeks of war in Gaza, the Israeli military campaign against Hamas now sits among the deadliest and most destructive in history, experts say.

    • dustyData@lemmy.world
      325·
      11 months ago

      The IDF personally pulled the triggers to shoot and kill three of the hostages, who had scaped Hamas and were waving white flags made from their shirts. One of them was a tall white red headed man, yet the soldiers claim that they thought they were Hamas militants. They confused a read head scared man pleading in Hebrew with an Arab man.

      It’s obvious the ROE of Israel is murder everyone in Gaza. The genocide is not a bonus for the Zionists, it’s the goal. Hostages are political pawns for Netanyahu. The Israeli state is who cares the least about the hostages.

      • spider@lemmy.nz
        113·
        11 months ago

        One of them was a tall white red headed man, yet the soldiers claim that they thought they were Hamas militants. They confused a read head scared man pleading in Hebrew with an Arab man.

        It reminds me of this:

        Others, including survivors of the attack, have rejected these conclusions and maintain that the attack was deliberate.

          • spider@lemmy.nz
            92·
            11 months ago

            Anyone who actually cares about morals, decency, and the best interests of the civilized world wouldn’t honestly decide that the discussion would be best guided forward by going back in history to cherry pick this one incident that occurred nearly 60 years ago.

            You’re right; I wouldn’t.

            From 2019 (bold added for emphasis):

            More than 6,000 unarmed demonstrators were shot by military snipers, week after week at the protest sites by the separation fence.

            The Commission investigated every killing at the designated demonstration sites by the Gaza separation fence on official protest days. The investigation covered the period from the start of the protests until 31 December 2018. 189 Palestinians were killed during the demonstrations inside this period. The Commission found that Israeli Security Forces killed 183 of these protesters with live ammunition. Thirty-five of these fatalities were children, while three were clearly marked paramedics, and two were clearly marked journalists.

            Source: United Nations, via Internet Archive

            EDIT: From Dec. 21, 2023:

            The New York-based CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) said at least 68 journalists and other media workers had been killed in Gaza, Israel and southern Lebanon since the Hamas cross-border attack on 7 October and subsequent Israeli assault.

            “More journalists have been killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year,” it said.

            “CPJ is particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military. In at least one case, a journalist was killed while clearly wearing press insignia in a location where no fighting was taking place. In at least two other cases, journalists reported receiving threats from Israeli officials and Israel Defense Forces officers before their family members were killed.”

            Source: The Guardian, via Internet Archive

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
          92·
          11 months ago

          You could posit that the chief is speaking out of his ass, but the more probable theory is that higher up on the hierarchy some officers are sincerely convinced that they are leading the charge of the Most Moral Army in the World™, and meanwhile some hefty portion of the boots on the ground have decided to, like you’ve phrased it, kill everything that moves and fuck the rules of engagement.

          No way. This is the Hannibal directive at play, at least indirectly.

        • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
          7·
          11 months ago

          The Israel military command can scream and shout “We don’t target civilians indiscriminately”, “we are minimizing civilian casualties”, “we didn’t mean to target xyz”, “we are giving them safe places to refuge”, “we are giving aid” all they want but that doesn’t change the situation on the ground.

          1% of the entire population of Gaza killed, nearly all hospitals destroyed, hunger rampant throughout, settlers with military escort razing farms, stealing land and ransacking people’s homes, deliberately targeting clearly marked unarmed journalists, launching attacks against areas civilians were told were safe, on and on.

          Virtually all of this has happened without any real punishment from Israel’s military command. This is tacit endorsement in my books.

        • Hegar@kbin.social
          4·
          11 months ago

          This feels like overthinking it.

          Of course the IDF chief of staff quoted is going to say their policy is not to shoot people surrendering. That’s a war crime. You don’t say that’s your policy.

          No one at the top of a military thinks their forces are free from misconduct.

          If rules of engagement are being ignored large scale with no repercussions, the IDF has severe problems. But it’s been reported since the start that use of force rules seem to be much looser.

          And let’s not forget that the defense minister is an openly pro-genocide murderous right wing lunatic.

          The most obvious explanation for Israeli soldiers continually killing so many civilians, including on their own side, is that the IDF lets them.