Al Jazeera journalist Youmna El Sayed was reporting live from Gaza the moment the missile struck the Palestine Tower behind her
Israeli airstrikes destroyed a tower block in Gaza City after Hamas militants launched a rocket and air attack on Israel in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The Israeli army launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, with Israel's president, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the country, is 'at war'.
Al Jazeera journalist Youmna El Sayed was reporting live from Gaza the moment the missile struck Palestine Tower behind her.
Sources in Gaza said at least 198 Palestinians were killed in the strikes
No party has been innocent in this conflict but I would lean on the side that retaliation and attacks from israel are far more deadly and damaging than from Palestine.
Looks like that was updated half an hour before the comment you replied to was made.
And earlier this afternoon 22 was the official count for Israeli deaths, 220ish Palestinians.
So Israel has updated their number, and it looks like Palestine hasn't.
That being said, both sides can pretty much say whatever right now. There's no way to know what it actually is, there's too much chaos for anyone to know.
By the time this escalation ends up, the number would be quite disproportional as ever. And I can tell you for certain on which side the civilian casualties would be at least two times higher, as usual and I am pretty certain you can guess too.
Not supporting Hamas or any civilian casualties here on both sides, but what Israel is usually doing is not exactly diffusing the tension and usually it makes things even worse.
So you think Israel should just accept that a genocidal terrorist organisation attacks its civilian population? Yes, Hamas uses civilians as meat shields but what are the Israelis supposed to do? Let themselves be slaughtered?
Jesus fucking Christ. Terrorist supporters all around here. I'm genuinely disgusted.
This is the same Israel with their elite mossad forces, yes? "Meat shields" are a poor excuse for indiscriminately bombing a city block when you have elite spec ops units. They don't do it because they have no other choice, they do it as a threatening show of force. "Fuck with us and we'll kill anyone even near you".
There's a middle ground that doesn't involve slaughtering innocents.
Any chance you can school me in the rights and wrongs of this situation, I have tried to read up on the situation between Israel and Palestine and I just can't work out who, if anyone is at fault. It just seems like a crazy unresolvable mess.
On the face of it I would just think the solution is to let the Palestinians have their bit of land and be done with it, why is it not that simple?
Also it's really hard to understand who is justified in their actions. I often find myself feeling sorry for the Palestinians but then I see them riding through London celebration the murder of innocent people and it makes it really hard for me to feel sorry for them. Similarly with Israelis, it's horrible that they have innocent civilians murdered but killing 250 in response is just crazy...
I'm not trolling or shit posting I honestly can't work it out.
Tldw, Israelites aren't really respecting the borders - in this doco they send over zealous Jewish people from various countries to buy up and live in properties in these disputed areas to slowly take it over. Palestinians retaliate aggressively, typically violently.
Thanks all for teaching me a little about this situation, it is kind of how I had imagined it and there is no real immediate solution. I guess like any long standing conflict there are failings on both sides and neither willing to capitulate. As has been alluded to, it just does not seem to warrant the loss of life on both sides. I might do a little bit of reading on the local politics to see how this is played out to their respective populations.
So, depends on the incident in question who's at fault changes, but the ones with the power to change the situation are Israel and they're not doing that. Indiscriminately killing civilians is never justified, but with how Israel has been treating Palestinians you can understand where the attitude came from. People tend to hate the shit out of their oppressors, especially when those oppressors put them in open air concentration camps.
That aside there's Israeli settlement in the West bank and East Jerusalem, the whole Apartheid thing, y'know it's a long list. Basically Israel created a situation where terrorism and other armed action is the only way to fight back, which predictably caused terrorism.
I appreciate your thoughtful response. Unfortunately it is an incredibly murky mess at this point. Say you side with Palestine and say it's their land. Do you then kick out the people who were born on the land after the conflict started? Innocent people who's only crime is the location of their birth? Or do you side with Israel and claim it's their land now and do the same to Palestinians? Where do you put the people you relocate?
I won't pretend to have an answer to that. Just pointing out that either answer has numerous problems which is part of why no solution has been reached yet. Few, if any, solution will be a "win-win". Someone will have to concede, and neither side seems willing to right now.
That said, indiscriminate violence from either side is abhorible. I detest the death of any innocent civilian in all of this. "Two wrongs don't make a right" and all that. Both sides have committed crimes and those responsible should all be held accountable for turning the area into a warzone.
We can also spice it up with a bit of game theory. Assumption: Most people on both sides genuinely want peace.
Addition: On both sides, fractions exist which benefit from the conflict. They gain from stirring up hate, provoking fights, portraying threats. They lose power and influence when peace talks succeed. They gain power and influence when their "partners" from the other side attack.
So yes, this is a wicked problem to solve, for many reasons.
Quick question: why does the innocent victim state have (until today) roughly 20x the casualties of the genocidal terrorist organization?
Even with the updated estimates (as I type this comment, 232 Palestinians dead since the attack and 250 Israelis dead), Israel has killed over 10x the amount of people.