The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Friday that one person was killed and 28 others were wounded in a shooting by Israeli forces at Al-Quds hospital in Gaza, the organisation said.
Man, I'm so tired of seeing "human shield" comments. We can't trust Israel's claims when it comes to human shields. They have a track record of lying about it. Check out what happened in the Great March of Return in 2021-- IDF snipers killed 185 unarmed adults and 35 children. Israel claimed each of them were being used as a human shield. However, "human shield" refers to civilian deaths when targeting militants in combat. If all those journalists, medics, children, and unarmed activists were human shields, who were they shielding? Killing that many unarmed protestors would be a war crime, if we bothered to hold a tribunal. Israel is using the fog of war today to make their claims seem reasonable, but just five years ago the IDF showed an undeniable pattern of killing innocent people then lying about it.
Furthermore, if we're going to accept Israel's claims that Hamas is using human shields and their flawed definition of what a "human shield" is, then we also must accept that Israel uses human shields, too. The majority of their military bases are in densely populated areas. Their army broadcasts from a residential tower. The IDF's main HQ is in the middle of a residential and shopping sector in Tel Aviv. Is anyone accusing Israel of using human shields? On the other hand, if Hamas were to level any of those military buildings in residential areas of Israel, is there any doubt in your mind that Hamas would be accused of war crimes?
What this really is is a double standard. Israel uses the "human shield" defense for any civilian they kill in an attempt to give themselves international support under the color of law, but Hamas does not get that privilege and does not attempt to claim it.
The purpose of laws for international war is to create a standard that's applied equally to everyone. Israel (and the US, too) seems to think that standard only applies to their enemies.
Man, I’m so tired of seeing “human shield” comments
I, too, am tired of Hamas purposely encouraging civilian casualties.
On the other hand, if Hamas were to level any of those military buildings in residential areas of Israel, is there any doubt in your mind that Hamas would be accused of war crimes?
They absolutely would be doing this if the Iron Dome did not exist, and sometimes accomplish it even when it does.
Quick reminder this entire shitfestival began with Hamas murdering over a thousand innocent people directly.
If you honestly think this began on October 7th, 2023, then you should genuinely stay out of this discussion until you educate yourself on the last 100 years of history.
This is the manipulative framing people love to use but anyone with even a passing understanding of what’s happening can see how manipulative it is.
You’re referring to Gaza which has been under blockade/siege since Israel withdrew. By framing it how you have you ignore the reality that even without a direct occupation Israel is crushing Gaza from a health perspective, a social perspective, and a financial perspective.
Not to mention Gaza isn’t the only Palestinian territory. In the time since Israel began sieging Gaza, the West Bank has seen upwards of fifty Palestinians killed per year by Israeli settlers, all backed by IDF soldiers. This is in a territory without Hamas by the way.
It takes some serious ignorance to act like Israel isn’t directly responsible for the abject poverty of Palestinians.
You’re referring to Gaza which has been under blockade/siege since Israel withdrew. By framing it how you have you ignore the reality that even without a direct occupation Israel is crushing Gaza from a health perspective, a social perspective, and a financial perspective.
If Hamas wasn't stealing from Gazans, and didn't exist as a political leader solely for the purpose of denying normalization of relations and Palestinian statehood while enforcing a less secular, more extremist state, you might have a point here.
Unfortunately for everyone, that's why Hamas exists.
Why are you blaming an extremist militia for the circumstances that created them? Hamas didn’t exist before Israel started colonizing both Gaza and the West Bank. Not to mention the resources Zionists like Netanyahu funneled towards Hamas to help them get more powerful than the moderate coalition.
If Israel didn’t have Gaza under such an inhuman blockade/siege Hamas would be just as equipped, yet average citizens wouldn’t be starving in the streets.
To not acknowledge the direct hand Israeli military and government has had in causing this is frustratingly naive.
The Gazan blockade happened after decades of literal occupation and colonization. Ironically enough Hamas was the reason Israel stopped stealing territory.
It wasn’t a response to terrorism. It was a continuation of their own apartheid policy under a more internationally favorable lens.
It sounds like you’re using the existence of terrorists to justify the conditions that empowered these terrorists. Which is asinine and circular reasoning. Why not blame the people doing everything they can to create the scenario keeping hamas in power?
Also, why do you think not being a sovereign state affects the fact that Israel is starving millions of people, a majority of them children?
It’s mind numbing the lengths people will go to downplaying the abuse of innocents and try to push all the blame onto them and the extremists that thrive in the conditions they live within. It shows a complete lack of humanity or ability to understand human nature, wrapping your judgements up in geopolitical narratives spun to keep you busy.
You stop an extremist group by showing those at risk that your group will give them peace and stability. Not by treating the entire region like criminals.
No matter what you say to obfuscate, collective punishment on this scale is unequivocally a war crime.
I'm saying there wouldn't be violence in hospitals if Hamas didn't use hospitals as bases and firing platforms.
There wouldn't be any of this war happening if Hamas wasn't full of monsters who do not value human lives.
Imagine if Hamas just... Governed. Provided for their people. Shared some of the billions of dollars in their war chest to, you know, do what a government is supposed to do.
Instead they openly admit to attempting to maximize civilian casualties because it generates support for them and criticism from Israel.
Gazans are innocent civilians. Hamas is not. Hamas is a terrorist organization that runs Gaza like the mafia and steals from Gazans while also getting as many Gazans killed as.possible, intentionally.
Imagine if Hamas just… Governed. Provided for their people. Shared some of the billions of dollars in their war chest to, you know, do what a government is supposed to do.
Take a look at the blockade (which happened before Hamas became in charge of Gaza) and say that again.
How do you expect a country that depends on trade with the outside world to make it when cut off from said trade? Israel killed the Gazan (and Palestinian at large, but Gazan in particular) economy in 2005/2006.
Yeah, yeah, normalize relations, the magical thing you can do to make the genocidal government stop being genocidal and... granted Gaza the privilege of becoming like the West Bank (where they're also being genocided).
This war literally began because Israel is normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia and Hamas wants to stop that. The entire reason for Hamas attacking in October was because they very explicitly do not want peace in th Middle East.
Nah, the violence would find it's way into Israel and a shit ton of civilians would be murdered. Remember October 7th when The IDF wasn't near any hospitals in Gaza?
So I can go on and on about how this isn't how that works, but I'd recommend reading this article where an expert explains the situation in Palestine. The short of it: Israeli presence in Palestine is a violent military occupation; the status quo in Palestine is already violent.