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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   30632 thread views

Israel-Gaza Megathread #2

This is a refreshed megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.

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A Gazan hospital has been hit, allegedly by a missile, allegedly by an Israeli missile: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/least-500-victims-israeli-air-strike-hospital-gaza-health-ministry-2023-10-17/

Here is why this seems incredibly unlikely to me:

  • Israel gains nothing from this.

  • Israel loses a lot from this.

  • Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, etc. whatever amalgamation of actors here are opposing Israel have demonstrated that they are willing to strike their own people.

  • Hamas etc. gain a lot from this (politically).

The narrative around this is already forming and I suspect that we will never be free of knowing that Israel for sure bombed a hospital (maybe they did).

This will be a major inflection point in this war. Causalities are approaching 1000 people (started at 500, now at 800)

Edit: here’s also why I’m so suspicious of this. If it’s true that Israel bombed this hospital, it basically evaporates any amount of good will I had for them. The 10/7 Hamas attacks were terrible. This is just as bad. Pull our aircraft carriers back, no aid, nothing. Still send in some bad hombres to get our citizens out, but other than that Israel is on its own, and I don’t want to hear any ridiculous moralizing from any us politician ever again.

Edit2: There are allegedly demonstrations happening in several countries now. Extremely dynamic news environment. Nobody knows wtf is going on. Israel is starting to get their narrative together about the cause of this, but it's way too late for them to get ahold of it.

Edit3: allegedly a video of both the initial rocket launch, as well as the explosion: https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1714379242983846126

This matches up with the very first video of the rocket hitting the hospital, and answers why the guy filming was filming (because there were a bunch of rockets going overhead)

Those photos are incredibly tame compared to the videos. It’s gruesome.

The entire situation is heartbreaking.

The entire situation is heartbreaking.

...and a cynic might suspect intentional.

The cynic in me thinks that Hamas would do this to themselves, on purpose.

The consequentialist math might work. How many (Palestinian) lives are saved by avoiding an Israeli invasion? More than 500?

You are not wrong

Why is no one talking about it being a Christian-run hospital. That's at least an interesting wrinkle in my opinion. Christians have to be getting run roughshod in the crossfire.

Here is a Christian organization and its beneficiaries, the target of the most brazen escalation since the opening salvo, and we have Muslims and Jews pointing fingers at each other.

I think because it’s in no one’s interest to say it’s Christian. Muslims want to be sympathetic to Palestine and distancing themselves from the hospital by saying it’s Christian does nothing for them. Israel wants Europe and the US on its side, so saying it’s Christian does nothing for them.

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