At least 274 Palestinians were killed and 698 wounded in Israeli strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Gaza’s health ministry said on Sunday. The Israeli military said its forces came under heavy fire during the daytime operation.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, called it a “massacre”, while the UN’s aid chief described in graphic detail scenes of “shredded bodies on the ground”.
“Nuseirat refugee camp is the epicentre of the seismic trauma that civilians in Gaza continue to suffer,” Martin Griffiths said in a post on X, calling for a ceasefire and the release of all hostages.
If there’s more to discuss I’m game. My point is, I’m not in any position to justify or condemn these actions, but that if I were someone with skin in the game, my reactions would vary. As far as this particular situation goes, I’m not justifying or condemning anything here but the involvement of civilians (I in general take the stance I mentioned above). I don’t know the status on the ground but do believe that there was reason for fighting. If we’re still using Hamas death counts (which don’t differentiate fighters from civilians outside of broad estimates), we can extend trust to Israeli sources too until proven wrong.
Netanyahu won’t agree to a ceasefire that has any possibility of allowing Hamas to rebuild. Especially with the ring of fire increasing it’s intensity around Israel, I imagine giving Hamas any breathing room is a non starter for them. Currently Hamas needs to respond to the latest deal, as far as I understand, but maybe things have progressed since I checked. Getting Hamas out of Gaza is beneficial to both Israel and Palestinians.
Of course Palestinians won’t see it the same as Israelis, they’re in drastically different boats right now. I’m saying that the civilians in this all have valid points that oppose each other, so why pick only one who is right? Why should Israeli civilians sacrifice getting their loved ones back so Palestinians can live? Why should Palestinian civilians die so Israeli hostages can be brought to safety?
My original question at the heart of this is why is Hamas creating the situation where civilians need to be drilled through (something netanyahu is willing to comply with)? I’m sure everyone here figured there were civilian casualties without even investigating, but why does Hamas insist on this? And if Israel should not kill innocent people to get their hostages back, how else do you negotiate with people who are trying to eliminate you besides giving them everything they want? This turns into a playbook for any terrorist organization to mimic, simply put innocents in harm’s way and you get what you want.
I don’t know any good answer out of this, but I think it’s by design. There’s no upside for the Palestinians being put in the middle of this when Hamas gets to hide underground knowing netanyahu will go for broke. This just can’t involve capitulating to a terrorist organization that didn’t give a shit about their people to begin with, and continue to show they haven’t changed.
And this is where we diverge, I am not understanding of Hamas’ actions. That is reprehensible, they’re monsters and it is part of their mission to eliminate Jews (seemingly at the expense of Palestinians). This is not at all understandable, and I reject any sympathy to Hamas. This is absolutely not a both sides issue. Israel is not solely responsible for this, if the people who want to kill them didn’t set up shop next to them with the civilians, I would think the climate would be much more tame. I entertain absolutely zero justification for Hamas’ actions.
Edit: I’m going to lay in even harder and express complete disgust that there is sympathy for Hamas here.
I agree that removing Hamas would make it far easier for there to be a peaceful solution. Unfortunately, Israel and Netanyahu took that option off the table a long time ago. If they don’t like that they should have thought about the consequences of their actions. The PLA was willing to negotiate and that didn’t work for them. Hamas is far less willing to peacefully negotiate, which gave Israel a handy whipping boy for not resolving this peacefully. Now people are dying and they claim to be the wronged party, when in fact both parties have wronged each other for hundreds or thousands of years.
If you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. Unfortunate that it’s messy for everyone around them.
I don’t think there’s any reality where anyone absolutely has to suffer Hamas (though Iran would have a say otherwise), and their negotiations have been such that they’d be able to rebuild in Gaza, which Israel doesn’t agree with. Realistically Hamas needs to be neutered politically, and that comes with reformed governance.
And in a better world, I’d agree with you. But when Isreal spends a decade or more propping them up, well, that’s how it goes.
Hamas actions are their own, no one forced them to put civilians in danger. While netanyahu needs to go, he is not to blame for the attrocities Hamas commits against their own people. Notwithstanding netanyahu’s errors, this is not just the way it goes.
If I support and aid someone who I know is committing atrocities, I hold some amount of responsibility. Netanyahu has put himself in that position with respect to Hamas.
Sure, as I said he needs to go, and he holds some responsibility. Netanyahu has fucked himself through this in too many other ways as well. Hamas is making the decision to use Palestinians as shields, with or without netanyahu’s funding, and could choose to not do this any time. Which I would welcome.
Realistically Likud and the Jewish Power Party needs to be neutered politically. Why is nobody talking about how Israel has convicted terrorists in its cabinet while at the same time complaining that Palestinians should have popular political parties banned? Rightwing extremism on one side begets rightwing extremism by the other side in response. This has been the case for over 30 years, we just had the 30 year anniversary of Israeli terrorist Baruch Goldstein’s massacre which kicked of Hamas’ wave of bombings in Israel.
Yes and… No. But mostly no.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/23/opinions/gazan-hope-for-peace-masri/index.html
Talk about cherry picking an opinion piece. Of course you’d promote someone who says what you want to hear and ignore the many many Palestinian op-Ed’s who don’t.
I love any Palestinian who supports peace but this guy made some blatant historical errors. In 2007, Fatah engaged in a coup against the PA since they couldn’t accept the election result. Israel publicly supported the coup, even with the prime minister publicly urging the Knesset to send weapons to Fatah so they could complete the coup. The coup attempt failed, which is why Hamas controlled Gaza while Fatah controlled West Bank. Netanyahu publicly supported Hamas through this with money, which is why the Israel press has been tearing into him for the last 6 months.
If you want a more mainstream Palestinian voice, I’d recommend Khaled Elgindy who has previously worked with the White House on negotiations. Not this guy who whitewashes Israeli crimes in hopes he could get picked to help run the occupation.
Ok buddy, I think you’re getting worked up. I’m not cherry picking anything, and your “whitewashing” claim is unfounded even in the linked article. I’m not continuing either of the conversations I’m having with you as a result.