40 Killed In Hamas Attacks In Israel

[jon1959]

This is what puzzles me about the scenario you describe - one which seems to be repeated daily in Gaza. Let's imagine that you or I were a Palestinian in a house with several other members of our immediate/extended family and there was a Hamas gunman hiding there amongst them. You would surely know that the presence of this man makes it highly probable that your house would be the target for an IDF bomb/missile. Either you or I have willingly sheltered this guy or he has threatened/intimidated the family into allowing him to stay there. Why would you want to expose yourself/your family to this risk?

What a neat and tidy and simplistic view!

Would you care to elaborate?

Genuinely interested if you have any comments as this is a topic where I never seen any discussion either on here or in the media. Is it fear of, or conversely, wholesale support of Hamas fighters by the Palestinian people despite the incredible loss of civilian lives? Or is there some other possibility that I have not thought of?

I suppose a complete skeptic could argue that there are no Hamas fighters embedded in Palestinian homes at all and the IDF are simply targetting homes at random?

OK if it is a genuine question I will try to expand on my throw away response above - but I am away from home with a useless phone signal and wifi that crashes every few minutes, so it will be brief.

I cannot imagine a Gaza wasteland in the way you suggest, with Hamas gunmen and civilians clearly identifiable in the rubble, the chaos, the hunger, the constant moving from one unsafe zone to another, the disease and the violent deaths. I have no special knowledge, but everything I have seen on TV and online makes a nonsense of the suggestion. There are few houses left. People win’t know who is in the tent or under the tarp a few yards away.

In October last year there were an estimated 30,000 Hamas (and other armed groups) fighters, but many were part time volunteers doing other jobs. There were many other people involved in civil society as members of the Hamas movement - sanitary workers, police, local government, some medical staff, some journalists…. and they had no part in the October attack. The IOF/IDF has killed a lot of fighters (although the Israelis and US think they have been replaced) amongst the women, children and babies and they have regarded everyone in Gaza as a legitimate target. They see the people as either fighters, other Hamas or part of the population where Hamas has its roots. Civilian deaths are not unfortunate ‘collateral damage’ as you suggest but part of Israeli political and military strategy that goes back to the Lebanon invasion - killing large numbers of civilians and ma king life untenable will (they hope) undermine the resistance. There is a mountain of public evidence for that from the Israelis themselves.

I’m sure there is also intimidation from Hamas (and parasitic criminal gangs) against sections of the civilian population. Hamas is an authoritarian and often violent movement that has lost a lot of its members to decades of Israeli occupation and violence and has been guilty of war crimes and some grotesque atrocities itself on and after 7 October. Desperate people in a situation, where it is clear their lives (and the lives of their communities) are seen as worthless, will do desperate and terrible things.

My main point is that it doesn’t much matter if your hypothetical Gazan civilian can step away from a Hamas fighter in the next room ir next pile of rubble. He and his family will still be a target. When they are blown apart, burnt or crushed the USA will probable announce its’ ‘concern’ and demand that Israel investigates itself. And the world keeps turning!