So it wasn't 1300 civilians even according to the UN? Just checked the UN figures, and found that there were ~400 women and children among the casualties. That's roughly 1000 adult men out of about 1400 dead. I'm not sure the UN could determine whether every adult male casualty was combatants or not.
They didn't. They had a Jewish homeland, later state, foisted on them by the Brits.They did, as did their neighbouring Jews. Things could have worked out so much better had they not decided to define their national identity as opposition to Zionism. Mandatory Palestine included tons of space for both peoples.
Neither can the IDF. They are just bombing and hoping for the best. Their information and intelligence is mainly guess work. Also they are targeting Infrastructure and killing many by doing this.
The UN are bound to be a good bit more accurate given the fact that they are on the ground.
I didn't quote IDF figures obviously. I wouldn't trust they know anything other than the number of combatants killed, and that would be an estimate too. Feck knows how many Hamas combatants were buried alive in the destroyed tunnels.
So given the estimate of 400 dead women and children, and about a 1000 adult men do you think that perhaps IDF fire is not indiscriminate? Do you reckon that among those 1000 adult men perhaps half could be combatants?
However, military analysts and human rights observers say the IDF is still using unguided, indirect fire with high-explosive shells, which they argue is inappropriate for a densely populated area like Gaza – where 1.8 million people live in an area the size of the Isle of Wight. The biggest artillery weapon being used is a 155mm howitzer, mounted on tracks to make it mobile. It typically fires a fragmentation shell weighing 44kg that spreads shrapnel over a wide area. Such shells have a lethal radius of 50 to 150 metres and causes injury up to 300 metres from its point of impact. Furthermore, such indirect-fire artillery (meaning it is fired out of direct sight of the target) has a margin of error of 200 to 300 metres.
The use of indirect artillery fire in residential areas is not forbidden under international humanitarian law, but its legality depends on a balance between potential military gain against risk of harm to non-combatants. On that basis, Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's senior crisis response adviser, said it was hard to see a military justification for its use in Gaza. "The margin of error of an artillery shell is well known. If you are shooting into a civilian area, there is a high chance of hitting civilians and a low chance of hitting your military objective, unless your military objective is to terrorise and punish a population," she said.
The IDF is reported to have a "safety zone", the closest an artillery target can be to civilians areas, of 100 metres. That is significantly less than the casualty radius of 155mm artillery shells, and Human Rights Watch found in a 2007 report that the rule appeared to be ignored in Gaza.
Where howitzers are used to strike back at missiles or mortars launched from inside Gaza, the guns are aimed with the help of the Shilem radar system and a linked, computerised fire direction centre. The coordinates for any protected building – the UN school for example – are supposed to have been fed into that computer database to block fire in that direction automatically. The UN says it had provided the coordinates of all its buildings, but it is not clear whether that data was incorporated into IDF systems.
The IDF has a long history of causing many civilian deaths.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/31/gaza-civilian-death-toll-military-training-experts
I think at least the posters who actually live in Israel are pretty well informed about what's going on in their country.
What's a Zionist again?
Sean Hannity's response to Russell Brand. It's insane how childish he is, and that I had never heard of him before today.
Only one person talking sense in that conversation
So what's happening in Israel and Israel is not a country I recognise, Zionists are people who occupy Palestine and renamed it Israel - Well that is what it is in a nutshell and no one in this world can say anything different
72 hour truce ? Sounds promising. Hope neither side break it early.
I can't read that, can you increase the font?
As an aside, that would also make your argument stronger.
So what's happening in Israel and Israel is not a country I recognise, Zionists are people who occupy Palestine and renamed it Israel - Well that is what it is in a nutshell and no one in this world can say anything different
Mortar fired from Gaza despite 72-hour ceasefire agreement
Mortar round falls inside Gaza Strip after sirens blare in Eshkol at 10:03am; rocket fire, heavy fighting reported leading up to ceasefire.
It's a bold battle alright.Israeli tank fire kills four Palestinians, say Gaza officials
Attack follows 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire announced this morning
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/worl...our-palestinians-say-gaza-officials-1.1884815
You know what Hamas' believe in? It's that Palestinian nation has a right for self-determination in their homeland.
I have read the Hamas covenant. I think you are absolutely clueless about what Hamas believes in.
Its behind paywall. What does it say ?Cantona is urging Hollande to read this article by edwy plenel:
http://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/...ne-mr-president-you-are-leading-france-astray
I think you should read it again (even if it's outdated and they moved from it in 2010), it's the same ideology except if you switch the words Jews with Muslims. You have no problem with Muslims unless they are harmful to the Jewish identity of the state, and they have no problems with Jews unless they harm the Muslim identity of the their desired state. You have already massacred your way to a Jewish state, and they would do the same now.
Now, I think both do not belong to the 21st century, but I see one branded as a terrorist organization and one is a legitimate state. How is that fair?
I wonder what Israelis would do if it was them penned inside Gaza. It's not like terrorist atrocities have ever been committed in the name of Israel is it? @holyland red
Want me to name the massacres? You already know the names of the villages. It's only been 66 years, people who have seen the massacres and fled before they have the same fate, are still alive.You could add to your weekend reading tasks a history book. Make sure it is not a PA publisher.
Want me to name the massacres? You already know the names of the villages. It's only been 66 years, people who have seen the massacres and fled before they have the same fate, are still alive.
Want me to name the massacres? You already know the names of the villages. It's only been 66 years, people who have seen the massacres and fled before they have the same fate, are still alive.
