Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza for nearly three months has destroyed 70 percent of the homes in the besieged Palestinian enclave, according to the Government Media Office.

No further details were provided but an earlier report said more than 200 heritage and archaeological sites were destroyed in the Israeli bombardment considered the most destructive in modern history.

About 300,000 out of 439,000 homes have been destroyed in Israeli attacks, a Wall Street Journal report said. Analysing satellite imagery, the report added that the 29,000 bombs dropped on the strip have targeted residential areas, Byzantine churches, hospitals and shopping malls and all civilian infrastructure has been damaged to an extent that they cannot be repaired.

“The word ‘Gaza’ is going to go down in history along with Dresden [Germany] and other famous cities that have been bombed,” Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago who has written about the history of aerial bombing, told WSJ.

  • count_dongulus@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    These wouldn’t be like single family homes for the most part. More like concrete apartment block slums. Hamas has tunnels under the entire Gaza strip, weaving throughout civilian infrastructure and housing. When Hamas tunnels are blown or bombed, streets and buildings above further down the tunnels can be damaged or destroyed too. These tunnels range in size, from tiny crawl ways to large corridors multiple people could wall in for ferrying supplies and fighters. They are not conditions teams of soldiers can directly fight through. Israel tried different options like pumping in water or concrete to deal with the tunnels but Hamas has found ways to make these safer solutions ineffective. It’s not like a single tunnel system; it’s innumerable small tunnel systems. More are constantly being being made too.

    Additionally, Hamas fights like Al-Qaeda, embedded in the civilian population without clear designation or uniform. They exploit humanitarian activity, diverting supplies intended for civilians for themselves. If they know IDF soldiers are approaching, they can just disperse and pretend to be civilians.

    How would any of you approach this problem? Hamas IS a terrorist militant group, especially obviously so after the massive terror attack in October killing over a thousand innocent Israeli civilians.

    The IDF seems to have run out of effective options that don’t hurt the civilian population, and gave up after the October events with their prior painstakingly slow and risky standard counterterrorism strategies. They just bomb the tunnels now, and they bomb wherever they find Hamas positions embedded above ground regardless of collateral.

        • GaMEChld@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Example? Just so I’m not beating around the bush, here’s what I mean by being kind, and you can let me know if Israel has been kind to Palestinians by this metric.

          You cannot rule without consent of the governed. I’m not super well versed on what’s been tried, but violence, terrorism, and crime are generally carried out by unhappy, stressed people.

          From what I’ve gathered, Palestinian areas in Israel are basically little more than glorified prisons with terrible living conditions.

          My question is, what control does Israel have over their living conditions, and what control do the Palestinians have over their local government.

          Can they meaningfully improve their lives on their own? How has Israel been kind?

      • curiousaur@reddthat.com
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        10 months ago

        You just lost thousands more of your population you swore to protect to the terrorists. They were tortured and raped to death. What do you do next?

        • GaMEChld@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Oh I did? Well, I would need the specific problems to provide specific solutions.

          Why did terrorists kill my population? Let’s get problem solving.

          • curiousaur@reddthat.com
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            10 months ago

            No time, you just lost a thousand more. Everyone is looking at you wondering why you’re letting this happen to them. What do you do?

              • curiousaur@reddthat.com
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                10 months ago

                Doesn’t work because Hamas ignored your treaties and is continuing to rape and torture your people to death. What now?

                • GaMEChld@lemmy.world
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                  10 months ago

                  They can’t, my people are now immortal. I give Hammas infinity raisins.

                  • curiousaur@reddthat.com
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                    10 months ago

                    So you’ve lost your mind. Simulation failed. Good thing you aren’t in charge of anything important. Most competent people would just pick: destroy the group responsible for the attack at all costs.