Israel / Palestine

because the founder (quite gently) calls out

Worth clarifying that it's not his tweet, but the tweets he's liked that are the issue I think.

Hundreds killed in a hospital strike now. Surely Israel can’t keep on like this.

Earlier the Israeli military insisted it was not targeting civilians, adding: "When we see a Hamas target, we will go after it"

The number of people killed has reached 500 following the alleged air strike on a hospital - according to the Gaza health ministry spokesman.

Meanwhile, Israeli army spokesperson says the cause of the incident not known and the army are looking into the details.

🙄

You can add to that nine journalists, a school, bunch of UN staff this week, peace keepers base, western politicians don't seem especially bothered with the leaders falling over themselves to visit and show support

Hang on, Dishy Rishi is flying out tomorrow to save the day. The UK is still relevant to the world he will have you think!

Any time the UK Gov wades into a situation that needs some sort of appreciation for a bigger picture and a little bit of a nuanced approach, it's like watching a toddler walk through the crockery department of a department store. You know it's going to go wrong and it's not even fun watching.

Enjoyed the US telling Israel they shouldn't start a war in the middle east without an exit strategy, turns out hindsight is a wonderful thing

Yes they can and will. The usual excuse is that terrorist group were using it as a base.

Dishy Rishi is flying out tomorrow to save the day.

Because Britain has such a stellar reputation in that region.

Hamas are asking for the release of 6000 people jailed in Israel.

Anyone else wondering what these jailed people have done?

Israel set the precedent when they swapped 1000 prisoners including high profile Hama's leaders for 1 IDF hostage

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit_prisoner_exchange

Ended up being pleasantly surprised by this piece by Rory Stewart (talking about UK politics), who had previously come across as well meaning but ultimately un-aware of the colonialist undertones of his writing.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/16/rory-stewart-tory-mp-decade-incompetent

Horrific. Barbaric. Sickened by this

Awful.

I wait to see how the IDF respond.
Some chatter of it being a faulty Hamas rocket.

If it were (although unlikely) and the IDF deny responsibility, many won’t believe them. And doubtful Hamas will offer apologies or correction.
Lots of twitter folk and news sites would need to revise their comments.

If it was an IDF strike, which is the most likely, targeted or accidental, what a total horror.

Hopefully a big enough blow to stall or stop the invasion and allow humanitarian aid and lift the blockade.

I wait to see how the IDF respond.

Same as they do every time they bomb hospitals? This is not the first.

Hopefully a big enough blow to stall or stop the invasion and allow humanitarian aid and lift the blockade.

Unlikely. Velocio was right about the response being a long term ethnic cleansing plan that Hammas have simply given them the excuse to put into overdrive. People with that aim don't usually flinch.

I get that, but hitting a largely US funded hospital full of refugees and wounded, surely can’t have been considered acceptable collateral damage in a strike.

If it was a mistake, it kills any impression that the Israel strikes are precision and targeted. And if it was targeted, it destroys any talk about Israel trying to minimise civilian casualties. And is clearly a war crime, even if a top Hamas commander was hiding in the hospital with missile launchers.

IDF response just now:

“An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit. Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza."

surely this should be provable one way or the other?

I expect so, but will take some time.
If it were a Hamas rocket misfire, Hamas have already blamed it on an Israel air strike, and will likely claim Israel are lying.

And of course Israel would want to distance themselves from a publicity and humanitarian nightmare.

Israel officials saying that they had a warning from Hamas of a long range missile aimed at Haifa that never arrived, and that there was a large barrage of missiles aimed out of Gaza at the time of the hospital strike.

Doesn't matter - they get out the headline 'Arab Death Cult Bomb Themselves' to an audience which happily believes that - by the time the truth comes out, it's a footnote on page 26.

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2023-10-17/ty-article-opinion/palestinian-expulsion-amid-the-fog-of-war/0000018b-39f9-d5b8-a78b-f9f92b720000

(maybe behind a pay wall)

Argung something similar to what vb wrote, with a nuance that it's the extreme settler right wing groups rather than government stratrgy

It’s a tragedy either way, and it’s true that Israel are air striking targets in Gaza.

Doesn’t mean that ‘Arab Death cults bomb themselves by accident’ isn’t also true.

It’s also clearly better for Hamas to blame Israel air strikes than own up to their incompetency.

If it turns out that they had actually accidentally on purpose bombed the hospital, that’s a whole new level of horror.

There seems to be video of the hospital being hit by shrapnel from a rocket being intercepted by another rocket.

They've been getting away with this shit for years, there's no consequences. There's been videos of IDF forces murdering civilians and journalists for no reason, direct on the ground indisputable footage, nothing ever happens.