Gaza, a Palestinian enclave run by the militant group Hamas, has been under bombardment since Oct. 7 when Hamas gunmen burst through the Gaza border into Israel and killed some 1,400 people. Gaza's health ministry says around 7,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes.

The Israel Defense Forces wrote to Reuters and AFP this week after they had sought assurances that their journalists in Gaza would not be targeted by Israeli strikes.

“The IDF is targeting all Hamas military activity throughout Gaza,” the IDF letter said, adding that Hamas deliberately put military operations “in the vicinity of journalists and civilians”.

The IDF also noted that its high-intensity strikes on Hamas targets could cause damage to surrounding buildings and that Hamas rockets could also misfire and kill people inside Gaza.

  • TinyPizza@kbin.socialOP
    82·
    1 year ago

    It could just be this is an active war zone where people are killing each other, and they have other priorities besides guaranteeing the safety of journalists there to be critical of them at present.

    You know how many journalists died covering the Ukraine/Russia conflict since 2014? 17. You know how many this year? 2.

    I get that no bar of proof will be high enough for you outside of Israel literally admitting to it or someone escaping with inside proof.

    I believe this number is quite telling though.

    Since CPJ started tracking the killing of journalists in 1992 there have been 2225 deaths. This conflict accounts for 1/100 of that total in less than 3 weeks.

    • DarkGamer@kbin.social
      45·
      1 year ago

      You might be right, but that’s a bold and very serious claim. I hope others insist on compelling evidence before accepting such suspicions as truth. If these air strikes are intentionally targeting civilian journalists I’d expect that would leave quite a paper trail and involved a lot of people. It would be just a matter of time before some solid evidence of it emerged. Until then, I’m more inclined to believe this is the fog of war in a very bloody escalating conflict than an elaborate conspiracy and cover-up.

      • TinyPizza@kbin.socialOP
        61·
        1 year ago

        So again it’s only a matter of rime before they report themselves for war crimes or there’s a whistle blower.

        They’d dropped 6,000 bombs 2 weeks ago and reports say that bombardments have only intensified since then. Hell, at this very moment people are saying it’s on a whole different level. I’m sure there’s a paper trail and targeting data on all of that which will be meticulously preserved, thoroughly analyzed and made public. Not like it’s just indiscriminate bombings…

        • DarkGamer@kbin.social
          33·
          1 year ago

          Well whatever evidence it needs to be something more compelling than the number went up. More journalists died than is usual in an escalating war zone does not prove intent. “The IDF targets journalists,” is a claim about intent.

          Not like it’s just indiscriminate bombings…

          It’s very discriminate, spelled out in Dahiya Doctrine:

          the destruction of the civilian infrastructure of regimes deemed to be hostile as a measure calculated to deny combatants the use of that infrastructure and endorses the employment of “disproportionate force” to secure that end.

          I expect Israel will probably level the Northern part of Gaza and move the wall, in hopes that distance will provide safety and to encourage Gazans to leave through Egypt once the gates reopen.

          • TinyPizza@kbin.socialOP
            52·
            1 year ago

            I’m not sure how “discriminate” it can be when you’re approaching the likely number of bombs dropped being on par with the total number of Hamas members (20-25 thousand). History will not look back on this kindly, no matter what debate will be left on what Israels “intent” was.

            Even the US is pulling back support right now due to the humanitarian crisis that’s unfolding.