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Hundreds dead in Israel and Gaza, thousands injured after Hamas launches rockets, Israel declares war (abcnews.go.com)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/world@lemmy.world
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Over 100 Israelis have died and more than 900 were injured after rockets were fired from Gaza by Hamas militants, Israeli officials said Saturday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 198 were killed in Gaza and at least 1,610 were injured Saturday in retaliatory attacks from Israel.

"We are at war. We will win," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

The Israeli Defense Forces earlier declared "a state of alert for war," according to a statement issued by the IDF.

"Over the past hour, the Hamas terrorist organization launched massive barrages of rockets from Gaza into Israel, and its terrorist operatives have infiltrated into Israel in a number of different locations in the south," the IDF said early Saturday.

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[–] 48 points 2 years ago* (5 children)

It makes sense, but not the way you think. They know they are going to lose. They know they are going to suffer greater retaliation. But they will have to endure it. And they know many of them will die because of it. They were ready to face the consequences.

I don't think this campaign is against the Israeli government. It's a strategic move targeted towards the illegal Israeli settlers and those who dare to encroach into the disputed Palestinian land! - to instill traumatic fear. It's a warning message to these people, even though the have the best military and the best surveillance techs, the government can't protect them. A stern message to them: If you dare to take this land from us, one day we will come to take it back from you, even your life, at the time you least expected and every efforts you put before will be in vain.

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  • [–] 22 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    You're forgetting the key aspect -- they want Israel to attack. These are hardcore committed militants. They want to kill their enemies or die trying. They want other people to feel the same way, but too many Palestinians are just trying to live their lives and survive day-to-day.

    By attacking Israel, they know they're going to prompt a vicious counter attack that will kill and maim a lot of Palestinians. That's good from the point of view of the Palestinian militants. More people who lose their loved ones to Israeli attacks means more angry people wanting to lash out. That means more of them will hate Israel even more, and be even more willing to risk their lives to try to destroy Israel.

    It's also a gift to Netanyahu and the right-wingers in Israel. They want the Israeli population to be scared and angry, because when they're scared and angry they support the right-wingers. This instantly solves all the political and legal problems that Netanyahu had.

    This is the same strategy that Osama bin Laden used with the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, and it worked perfectly. He knew that the US would flip out and overreact and kill hundreds of thousands of people as a result. He hoped they'd attack Saudi Arabia because his biggest conflict was not with the US, but with the government there. Instead the US attacked Iraq and Afghanistan, but that was almost as good. It drove recruitment for al Qaeda, and later for the Islamic State.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    Not surprisingly, I do agree with your perspective: They want Israeli to attack. They want to chance change the status quo.

    They want other people to feel the same way, but too many Palestinians are just trying to live their lives and survive day-to-day.

    When you say 'many Palestinians', I would say those are the ones who live in the West Bank, controlled by Fatah. Fatah made acceptable deals with Israeli, and somenow their live are getting better, more survivable. But Hamas doesnt agree with these deals. They have a very narrow mindset which is: No deals with the Israel, period. And the people of Gaza supported this POV and they elected Hamas in the first place, which means they are ready to suffer the consequences when giving the support.

    Palestinians are divided into two fractions. In some ways, the attack could be an attempt to reunite and change it back to one.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago

    They have a very narrow mindset which is: No deals with the Israel, period

    Hmm, I've heard that before, with slightly different phrasing: "we don't negotiate with terrorists".

    It seems like a good view.

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Except that these attacks weren't against the settlers (who are taking land in the west bank), it's targeting the civilians in South Israel who have lived there for ages. I think the world was expecting to see this violence in the west bank, not gaza.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago*

    I could be wrong on that. I stand corrected if that's the case.

    I think the world was expecting to see this violence in the west bank, not gaza.

    Yes, but it's best to attack where it is least expected. Other than that, it's open to discussion/speculation. Whatever it is, it is a very well thought and executed plan where they expect great retaliation. One thing, The Hamas don't trust Fatah, and some pro-Palestin Muslim even regard Fatah as traitor. Maybe the Saudi-Israel normalisation plan got something to do with it? Maybe someone can give their input on these.

    I check Ofakim, one of the affected area.

    In 2010, about one-fifth of the residents were ultra-Orthodox and one third were immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Most of the rest were members and descendants of the founding generation of the immigrants who arrived in the town in the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, there are small communities of Ethiopian Jews and Palestinians originally from the Gaza Strip who were resettled in Israel after collaborating with Israeli authorities.[5][6]

    According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Ofakim had a population of 30,662 in 2019, and the population is growing at a rate of 1.4% a year. The percentage of the share of the Arab Palestinian population of Ofakim is very small and about 0.7%.[1]

    You're right on that. They population has been there since the 50s.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    it's targeting the civilians in South Israel who have lived there for ages

    Not for ages. Only since the country was split into two with no regard for actual Palestinian input on this. There's been less than 100 years since then. Not enough time to heal, especially when nothing was done to make things right. It's like telling black people in the US in 1700 "it's been ages since you've been brought here on a boat, just let it go, this is the way things are now". Very much fuck you & no.

    It seems like a very clear message by Hamas: if you moved into my house by force, you are not a civilian. Get out of my house.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    It still makes no sense to me from that perspective. Shouldn't they, of all people, understand that trying to frighten people into submission can instead embolden them? Israel's brutal actions against Palestinians didn't crumble Hamas. It created more support for it.

    What do they think will happen now? They've attacked and kidnapped civilians. Even people sympathetic to the Palestinians plight are horrified at this.

    All Hamas has done here is turn more of the world against them, brutalized civilians, and actually given Israel partial justification for their response. This is the first time in my adult life that I've seen such violence against Israel.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The only options are be genocided or be genocided quicker if there's no fear of retaliation. They're choosing to go out on their own terms.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Hamas sets up military operations in a civilian building by force - the civilians have no say in this and get killed if they protest Hamas then uses that building to launch rockets, store ammunition, communication stations How the fuck should Israel proceed to neutralize those sites? Because what they do is:

    “Roof knocking”: Hitting the building’s roof with a small explosive to announce that it will fall in 15 minutes (see video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teevWpXlRZY example from yesterday) Automatic SMS and phone calls impacted areas warning and urging to evacuate Precision strikes that make the building fall vertically with minimal damage to the areas As a result, civilians (and potentially military personnel) are given a chance to evacuate while ammunition stashes, rocket launching stations etc stay in the building and are destroyed.

    To be honest, I’m shocked those protocols are still used after Hamas’s attack. I would absolutely not be surprised of these measures stopped.

    The anti-Israel don’t care that Israel is bending over backwards to minimize human suffering while fighting a decades long war against people who are deliberately trying to kill their children.

    Remember how upset they are when Israel does something 100 percent defensive, like build a security fence to keep out an endless stream of suicide bombers?

    This isn’t good-faith criticism.

    These people hate Israel for this that they works be applauding other countries for. And we all know why

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  • [+] -9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    We are trying to analyze and make sense of the situation, and all you can add to the discussion is by attacking me ad hominem? Thanks.

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