An extraordinary warning call to a Palestinian dentist starts the panicked evacuation of a Gazan neighbourhood.

By Alice Cuddy BBC News, Jerusalem

The call to Mahmoud Shaheen came at dawn.

It was Thursday 19 October at about 06:30, and Israel had been bombing Gaza for 12 days straight.

He’d been in his third-floor, three-bedroom flat in al-Zahra, a middle-class area in the north of the Gaza Strip. Until now, it had been largely untouched by air strikes.

He’d heard a rising clamour outside. People were screaming. “You need to escape,” somebody in the street shouted, “because they will bomb the towers”.

    • Macros@feddit.deEnglish
      4714·
      11 months ago

      If you feel the need to express your unswerving support for the actions of the Israeli state under this news article, please tell us, how you see the mass destruction of civilian homes justified and necessary.

      Usual disclaimer: I support neither side here. Both use horrible methods to achieve their goals and I hope for a ceasefire and improvement of both governments. From my limited information a revolution will likely be needed in case of Palestine, in Israel elections may suffice.

            • otp@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              131·
              11 months ago

              I don’t have a solution. I’m half a planet away, and geopolitics is not my field. I’m not a world leader, nor a military strategist, or anything that would qualify me to make a decision or have an informed answer.

              I might be a spineless fence-sitter, but I don’t like what Israel is doing, and I don’t like what Hamas is doing. For that reason, I wouldn’t call myself pro-Israel or pro-Hamas.

            • satan@r.nfEnglish
              7·
              11 months ago

              Do you think the number or recruits increased or decreased after incessantly murdering innocent civilians?

            • ???@lemmy.worldEnglish
              32·
              11 months ago

              I just want to ask also, how do you stop more Hamas by killing people? You don’t. The Hydra effect will guarantee that any one terrorist killed will breed two more. Yesterday my partner looked at me and said, “If Israel had killed my entire family, I would probably join Hamas”, and he’s an atheist and a Brit who learned most of what he learned about Hamas this year.

              What Israel is doing is creating more opportunities for massacre in the future. I am not sure why, but I’m convinced there is a genocidal agenda here.

        • Macros@feddit.deEnglish
          202·
          11 months ago

          Yes Hamas is a terror organization, no, that does not allow you to behave like a terror organization when fighting them.

          If you have read the article this is not about innocents which where at the wrong place a the wrong time. This article is about deliberate destruction of civilian buildings without giving any justification besides ‘There are some things that we see that you don’t see.’ in some cases evacuation was allowed, in some cases no time for evacuation was given. There is in my eyes no justification for this.

          I never said that Israel should stand idle. So don’t push that opinion on me.

          What could be done? Attack military targets only, give civilians time to evacuate. (Yes a civilian home becomes a military target if it is used as weapons stash/factory, but there was no indication at all in the cases listed in the article), support the more moderate Fatah in regaining control. Support new democratic elections. Provide help in forms primarily targeted at civilians: Food, water, education. Allow students from the Gaza Strip to study abroad. Part of that is already done, but hampered by the military actions.

          Destroying peoples homes and basic utilities will only ensure that hate on Israel grows and support for Hamas remains steady.

        • ???@lemmy.worldEnglish
          32·
          11 months ago

          But should Israel kill all these civilians for “revenge” or what exactly is their plan in your opinion?

        • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.worldEnglish
          613·
          11 months ago

          This is the thing that gets me - what would you do if someone barricaded themselves inside a house next door, kept taking pot shots and you and stealing people off the street? I would shoot back.

            • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.worldEnglish
              713·
              11 months ago

              Until you realise you locked them in the house after them and their friends tried to take your back yard when you were having a domestic with your partner, and a founding part of their cult is that you need to die.

              (Hamas not cult, just analogy)

              • Grimy@lemmy.worldEnglish
                141·
                11 months ago

                Israel is literally the one stealing backyards, and when it can’t, it bombs them.

              • SilentStorms@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                2·
                11 months ago

                Nah if we’re gonna continue this analogy, it’s like if you come across a village of 50 people then force everyone into one house so you can have your friends move into the other houses. Then 1 of those 50 starts shooting at you. So then you drop a grenade in the house, kill a bunch of their kids and shoot their dog.

          • Damage@feddit.itEnglish
            121·
            11 months ago

            And would kill 10 innocents in the house just to get to that one guy?

              • filister@lemmy.worldEnglish
                53·
                11 months ago

                So how are you any better than the terrorist you condemn, by openly admitting you are ready to shoot 10 civilians? At what number of civilians do you make the cut 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000?

    • dasgoat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3812·
      11 months ago

      It’s so cool how people who support a genocide will just straight up tell you like this.

    • VaultBoyNewVegas@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3619·
      11 months ago

      Poor fucking you. Could try having some sympathy for the kids killed in a paediatric hospital in the last week.

        • Serdan@lemm.eeEnglish
          212·
          11 months ago

          I’ve been called a terrorist supporter for explicitly expressing concern for the innocent victims 🤷

        • eric@lemmy.worldEnglish
          152·
          11 months ago

          You’d think as an oppressed minority in the world, you’d be more outraged at Israel for their continued oppression of Palestinians. I know plenty of other Jews that feel this way.

            • eric@lemmy.worldEnglish
              62·
              11 months ago

              Almost no one out there is supporting Hamas, and if you unilaterally support Israel, you are anti-Palestinian. The fact that you think fighting Hamas includes indiscriminately bombing civilians shows you are in support of the ongoing genocide of an ethnic minority. And to call yourself a minority to try to gain sympathy is pathetic at best. The KKK is also a minority, so by your logic, we should all try to sympathize with their plight.

        • Grimy@lemmy.worldEnglish
          102·
          11 months ago

          imagine hearing a neo nazi talk like you do. That’s how people are starting to associate Israel and their genocide.

          You aren’t a persecuted minority, you’re just a person that willingly doesn’t want to understand so the hate can continue. What is happening is clearly not okay to anyone with even a hint of a moral compass.

            • Grimy@lemmy.worldEnglish
              5·
              11 months ago

              I brought up neo Nazis so you would understand that you are as much a persecuted minority as they are. By supporting Israel and not criticizing them loudly, you are encouraging more civilian bloodshed.

              I never outright called you a nazi, but you are someone that supports a racist apartheid state that is currently in the middle of a genocide. It’s not a good look.

              I know it’s hard to realize that all the truths you were raised on were lies, that even family members can be downright evil in what they say and hope for. You can either keep the cycle going or be an adult about it.

    • SilentStorms@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2011·
      11 months ago

      Funny how you just completely confirmed OPs hesitancy to post. You are not a minority for supporting the IDF.

    • oxf@lemmy.worldEnglish
      620·
      11 months ago

      Notice how the comment you replied to, despite claiming they “always get hate” has nothing but supportive people upvoting, while you have 3 angry lions going for the neck because you dare to say you support Israel…

      It has come too far to ever work. This community, @world, is no longer a place for biased news. I have had to block for a long time, but just came back to see if it was still such a mess. Turns out it is.

      The worst thing is that the mods here are directly supporting this.

        • oxf@lemmy.worldEnglish
          44·
          11 months ago

          Yes, I meant unbiased, sorry.

          But look at our scores. We are voices that defies the echo chamber. Therefor we must be silenced.

          It sucks, because I actually genuinely was happy for Lemmy, and had moved all my browsing over here. But alas, it seems that I can no longer use this platform for news. I will go back to having this community blocked.

          PS) Try going to r/worldnews and Reddit, and check what the tone of audience is over there. Much more biased towards Israel, which is a no-brainer in my world.