Saturday, December 2, 2023

creating safe zones for civilians is exactly what israel should not do because it is well understood in advance that hamas will hide in the safe zones.

israel needs to rely on it's substantive intelligence to hit actual targets and kill actual bad guys and civilians need to take some responsibility in being proactive about getting out of the way. i understand it's a small space and that's hard, but it's how it is.

if you are a civilian in gaza, you should be seeking to find somewhere that is isolated to hide in, not going to civilian safe zones, refugee camps or un food distribution zones. hamas will get there first, and you'll be entering a target zone. it is safer for you as a citizen if there is a lack of governance and a lack of social cohesion; seek out small, autonomous collectives that hide in the cracks in the system, instead.

this is unfortunate, but it's real; there is little that israel can do to protect civilians when hamas makes blending into civilian populations and hiding in safe or non-combatant zones a central part of it's strategy. it's impossible to follow the rules when your opponents flaunt them, and the blame for this should be put on hamas, not on israel.

i can't comment on individual examples of vengeance or insubordination in the idf, which should be condemned when or if they are found.


Israel said it had recalled a team from Qatar, host of indirect negotiations with Hamas, accusing the Palestinian faction of reneging on a deal to free all the women and children it was holding. 

it is predictable that they would not let the women they impregnate via raping them leave, as they would then become their property, under islamic law.