Since October 7, more than 3,257 children have been reported killed, including at least 3,195 in Gaza, 33 in the West Bank, and 29 in Israel, according to the Ministries of Health in Gaza and Israel respectively. The number of children reported killed in just three weeks in Gaza is more than the number killed in armed conflict globally – across more than 20 countries – over the course of a whole year, for the last three years.
What I’m saying is they have shelters in residential areas because they are bombed in civilian areas by the IDF, so they need shelters everywhere. It’s not civilians as air raid shelters, the civilians are everywhere and they are bombed everywhere, there are too many people and too little space for there to be a large distinct separation between the military and civilians in Palestine. The militants are the civilians because there is popular resistance against Israel from Palestine.
I understand this but it’s still reprehensible to do so and leaves Israel with very little choice other than to go in on the ground, or just accept the threat of terrorism permanently. There is a reason Israel gives a lot of warning for their strikes. I do genuinely think they are under very real pressure from allies to reduce civilian casualties.
Maybe if the civilians are actually militants then Hamas should stop counting them as civilian casualties?
I’m saying that Israel is in the wrong and they have the choice to disengage in the conflict and try to create peace. They have not elected to do this in the decades they have had the opportunities. They do not accept the terms that Palestine has put forth. Israel occupies areas that are designated as territory for Palestine based on previous agreements, and they continue to push further and claim more territory in Palestine, pushing their goal of eliminating Palestine as a state. If they withdraw and decrease their blockading of Palestine there would be a reduced risk of terrorism.
I’m pretty sure Hamas are not interested in negotiations for peace. It’s very reductive to blame one side as bad faith actors in what is the most complicated peace process that’s ever faced humanity.
I agree that Israel should be open to shifting some of their past red lines, but Hamas are not rational actors. They are religious extremists akin to ISIS. Why they are like that is a historical question, but it’s very difficult to negotiate peace with fundamentalistic radicals.
Now, Zionism is also bad don’t get me wrong about that either, but it’s a different flavour of bad.
You’re right, I shouldn’t imply it’s so black and white, there are a lot of complex aspects to it. Hamas is not all of Palestine, or even the only militant group in Palestine. There is a wide coalition in Palestine against Israel with little hope in peace because they have sought peace in the past with no fruition.
The only actual solution is one that both sides wouldn’t accept, a secular one state solution. Alas there are too many religious crazies for that to be a reality.