Written orders carried by Hamas fighters sent to attack Israeli towns and settlements last weekend contained the same chilling command: Kill as many people as possible.
Documents recovered from the bodies of dead militants at the sites of attacks that killed more than 1,300 Israelis point to a deliberate strategy to massacre civilians, Israeli officials said.
The similarity of the orders given to attack teams, along with videos posted by the attackers themselves, eyewitness testimony, and the scale of civilian killings in multiple locations—at least 1,000 in total—suggest that the massacre wasn’t a byproduct of the attack but a central objective.
Despicable. Despicable that they would actively kill innocent israeli civilians. Just as despicable as killing innocent Palestinian civilians by the israeli military.
No, these things are not black and white. Collateral damage, while obviously not good, is still less despicable than deliberate murders and the clearly stated genocidical goals of Hamas.
Real world morality doesn’t work like Star Wars where the single instant you do an evil deed you immediately grow spontaneous permanent black eyeliner.
Israel has been deliberately killing civilians for a while now. Like full on bombing open-roof trucks full of women and children (including babies, like the ones who were supposedly beheaded at the start of the attack) evacuating along the supposed safe route. Calling what’s going on in Gaza collateral damage only helps Israel whitewash its war crimes.
Except one is a terrorist organisation which is acting in retribution, and not on behalf of the Palestinian people by their choice. The other is a military organisation created and backed by the israeli government who is also acting in retribution.
It’s definitely not black and white and is extremely nuanced on both sides. That said the killing of civilians, intentional or “collateral damage” which let’s face it, that’s pretty intentional anyway, is still deplorable.
Are we all so devoid of empathy that we can wipe away the loss of human life because it wasn’t intentional? Palestinian people should not be demonised for the atrocities of Hamas, just as Israeli people should not be demonised for the actions of their government. The people on both sides who support the actions of those entities should however, be looked upon poorly, supporting genocide should always be judged harshly.