Israeli troops have entered Nasser Medical Complex, the hospital in southern Gaza where thousands of displaced Palestinians had been sheltering in recent days, Gaza’s health ministry and the Israeli military said on Thursday.
Ashraf al-Qudra, the health ministry’s spokesman, said in a statement that the Israeli military had demolished the complex’s southern wall and begun storming it. In a second statement, he said Israeli forces were targeting the hospital’s orthopedic department, killing one patient and injuring several others.
The Israeli military said in its own statement on Thursday morning that it was “conducting a precise and limited operation inside Nasser” against Hamas, which it accused of hiding in the hospital among wounded civilians. It said it had intelligence, including from released hostages, that Hamas had held hostages at the hospital and that bodies of hostages could be at the hospital.
That last part isn’t always as black and white as we’d like it to be, though. When (the conventional forces of) ISIS had been surrounded in Raqqa they just bombed and shot the shit out of them, civilians be damned. Horrible, but those that decry it don’t usually offer any realistic alternative.
Here’s an alternative then:
Israel makes an effort to provide a space away from the fighting, where civilians can live until “Hamas is destroyed”. It doesn’t even have to be outside of Gaza, but it’s arguably a better security idea to make a new camp inside Israel proper
The IDF made a big noise about ‘defeating’ Al-Qassam in northern Gaza around Gaza City, that was an opportunity to provide a safe area.
It won’t be perfect at keeping militants OUT of the camp, but it would help keep civilians AWAY from the fighting
Moving the civilians from Rafah to tent cities is exactly what Israel has proposed. But what do you do with the civilians that choose to remain?
I’m not falling into the Nirvana fallacy. There will always be holdouts (people were living in Bahkmut during the siege, refusing to evacuate) but that doesn’t then give the IDF permission to throw up their hands and say “welp, we tried - bombs away” Shooting through a human shield is not a moral strategy, nor a long term strategy, and eventually you’ll apply that tactic against the people you’re trying to save, not just ‘enemy’ civilians
It’s unclear what you’re advocating for then. Why move some civilians to tent cities if you’re not going to attack Hamas anyway?
It’s not a binary choice of “Attac Hamas” or “No attac Hamas” dude. I want Israel to use ✨proportional force ✨whilst respecting that Palestinian civilians have a right to exist, and actually restraining themselves beyond fig leaf efforts.
The core objection is the how. Why the massively disproportionate force is encouraged by the IDF as its own ‘tool of terror’ to dissuade the population of those it fights against
What would you consider proportional force (many stars around it) when people are firing at you from inside a hospital?
I’m happy to answer legitimate questions, but you’re trying reeeeeal hard to paint a corner where you can eke out a ‘win’.
International law is clear re: hospital/mosque/orphanage being used for military purpose, but laws <> morality. The law gives the a-okay to attack the building in use, morality is in complete conflict with that legal permission
When it comes to human shields, the only independent verification back in 2014 (Amnesty link) is of Weapons (not rockets) hidden at a vacant school, situated btwn 2 UNRWA schools housing displaced people, by a Palestinian armed group.
The Guardian journalists had encountered a couple individuals in 2014 too.
HRW on Laws-of-War Violations 2009
Amnesty on Hamas War Crimes 2023
Yet none of those come remotely close to making hospitals and schools bombing targets. Even if all the IDF claims were true, that does not exempt those hospitals and schools as protected under international law.
While we’re on the subject, let’s look at how the IDF uses Human Shields including Children (2013 Report)
I’m not trying to eke out anything, I’m trying to make you consider that it’s easy to advocate for morality when no one is firing missiles at your house