Due to the severity of the situation and the fast flowing news cycle, we have decided to create a general megathread for discussion regarding the conflict.

Informal/Satirical news sources are not allowed on the main feed of the community but you are free to post them in this thread.

Please remember that all community and instance rules apply to this thread hence keep is civil.

  • HMH@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Some facts about the Gaza Strip:

    • Population: ~2.3 Million
    • Area: 365 km² (141 sq mi)
      • 41 km (25 mi) long, from 6 to 12 km (3.7 to 7.5 mi) wide
    • Population density: ~6300/km² 1

    Gaza is very densely populated. In Gaza live as many people as in Houston. But Houston has an area of 1658.6 km² (640.4 sq mi). Thus Gaza has nearly five times the population density of Houston. New York City is the only city in the US with a population of more than a million and a higher population density than Gaza. 2 The tallest building in Palestine stands at 76.1 m (255 ft). 3

    A little less than half of the population of Gaza is made up of children. 4

    There are only three (“legal”) ways in and out of Gaza:

    • Rafah Crossing into Egypt in the south
    • Kerem Shalom Crossing into Israel in the south
    • Erez Crossing into Israel in the north

    Gaza has a very small port. It can only be used by small fisher boats. 5

    Israel built a wall and fences around Gaza. 6

  • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    IDF misinformation from the start of the conflict until now:

    1. Hamas beheaded forty babies

    Context: the reports of Hamas beheading babies came from an interview by i24 News of an IDF commander. This quickly spread through Western media outlets such as CNN, NBC, MSNBC, FOX News, the Telegraph, Daily Mail, etc. I haven’t done a comprehensive sweep of who picked up the story and who didn’t (and of course now it’s much harder to do so because of retractions, edits, my lack of direct TV access, and SEO), but from what I can tell AP News and Al Jazeera have been relatively reliable.

    Lack of evidence: 6 days ago, Anadolu (Turkish state-owned media) reported that: Israeli army says it does not have ‘confirmation’ about allegations that ‘Hamas beheaded babies’. This was later confirmed by other sources.

    Misinformation: 5 days ago, Biden stated "I never really thought that I would see, have confirmed, pictures of terrorists beheading children,” said Biden, who described Saturday’s attack as the “deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust”. The White House later posted a retraction of this claim: "A White House spokesperson later clarified that US officials and the president have not seen pictures or confirmed such reports independently,” The Post reported on Wednesday.

    2. Shani Louk, claimed to be naked, dead, and sexually assaulted

    Context: images circulated online about a video purporting to show Shani Louk, a German national attending the Nova EDM festival, on the back of a truck, face-down. Claims that she appeared to be naked, dead, and sexually assaulted circulated on the same media sources discussed above.

    Misinformation: given the videos we have, we know with a decent amount of certainty that the video being shown is of Shani Louk. However:

    A. She’s clearly not naked in the video and you can see that she is wearing black shorts as well as boots. A top is also visible (but she is face-down, so we can’t see much of it). Neither her shorts nor her boots appeared to have been removed. From what I can tell, she was initially wearing a long skirt that was likely lost in the chaos.

    B. Her family claims that she is alive and receiving medical attention at a hospital in Gaza, which does explain why they would be transporting her. There is visible blood on the back of her head, but she does not seem to be bleeding profusely when the video was taken.

    C. I will not comment on whether or not she was sexually assaulted.

    3. 260 dead Israelis at EDM festival

    Context: many news sources independently verified that 260 bodies were pulled from the EDM festival. Many sources reported that this was an act of terror with no strategic objective and a massacre of innocent civilians.

    Lack of context: Nova was held in Kibbutz Re’im, mere minutes from Gaza, and also mere minutes from the IDF Gaza Division’s Re’im base. Tanks are clearly visible in videos leaving the festival, as are armed personnel. Hebrew-language interviews of released prisoners are providing more insight into these attacks, but I do not speak Hebrew so I will refrain from commenting on this further. Hamas has claimed that fighters were told to avoid harming or killing civilians.

    Potential misinformation: Hamas claiming that fighters were told to avoid harming civilians does not mean that Hamas fighters did not harm civilians, obviously.

    Potential misinformation: the reports indicate that 260 bodies were found, but their origin has not been confirmed. We know that armed personnel discharged their weapons against Hamas fighters (and vice-versa). How many of the dead are civilians, IDF, armed security, or Hamas?

    Much of the media coverage on this conflict has been used to spread misinformation, even from traditionally “reliable” sources in the Western sphere. As a result, I would strongly recommend supplementing coverage of these events with those outside the Western sphere. The journalism being done is lazy.

    • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I had a frustrating conversation with one person around the “40 beheaded babies” claim. Snopes dug into the claim. The IDF never I think we’ll never be able to verify that particular claim. The flip side is that in the end, a dead baby is a dead baby regardless of how it got that way. My objection is that facts matter, particularly with claims of particular brutality or when the situation is a powder keg.

      Hamas has claimed that fighters were told to avoid harming or killing civilians.

      I don’t buy this for one minute. Not a minute. Palestinian civilian casualties are high because Hamas and other organizations operate from inside of neighborhoods as guerrilla forces. Israel has separate forces. You wouldn’t get massive civilian casualties from Hamas targeting the IDF’s bases. They can make all the claims they want, but it doesn’t fit with the facts.

      • Stylistillusional [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        A lot of these settlements have either contracters or the IDF directly providing security. So the idea that Hamas could have broken out of Gaza and just found all the soldiers neatly in their bases seems unbelievable. The IDF is an occupying force, not a European military where it’s just some dudes with their thumbs up their asses in a barracks near some nature reserve.

        Ultimately we can’t know how Hamas leadership told their soldiers to behave. But they do have a clear incentives not to condone the killing of civilians: they want to capture hostages and use them as leverage. They need to create the expectation that these hostages are treated fairly and can be returned safely so that it is entirely up to Israel whether it wants those civilians to die.

        Tragically, civilians always die in wars. Both sides always propagandise this to claim that it is the other side that is just killing civilians as policy. The facts however, are abundantly clear when it comes to the question of which side shows the greater disregard for civilian casualties.

    • GivingEuropeASpook@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      The impression I had gotten from interviews (Al Jazeera, the Guardian, Haaretz) was that Israeli civilian police were there and exchanged fire with Hamas but that it was HOURS before they came across any IDF personnel. I’ve been focusing on this less as the time goes on and the catastrophic situation in Gaza gets worse and worse, so maybe further sources have come out regarding the Nova Festival.

      Regardless I would like to see consequences to the people who authorized a festival so close to Gaza in the first place…

      • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        That’s the part that really doesn’t make sense to me.

        There’s literally an active military base RIGHT THERE. It’s literally based in Re’im. There’s no way the IDF could be that incompetent. It’s not like forces had to be deployed from elsewhere in the country.

        Supposedly, they had another location in mind but it fell through so they had to use Re’im with two days notice.

        • GivingEuropeASpook@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          I don’t know how to confirm this myself but I have read and heard that before anything else, after it was known Hamas fighters were inside Israeli territory, the IDF first move militarily was to start bombing Gaza. No one can argue honestly that the IDF defends Israelis - its literally just the most reactionary of religious Zionists that they serve.

          Secular Jewish Israelis? Nah they can fend for themselves for a few hours, we’ve gotta attack Palestinian civilians, says the IDF. And that’s not even bringing up that 20% of Israeli citizens ARE ARABS, some of whom were also attacked in their homes in Southern Israel 10 days ago, but of course the same people calling Hamas human animals will go after them next (not to suggest they aren’t already, only that Gazans face more immediate extermination).

          • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            That sounds pretty correct. From what I remember of the reporting at the time, we heard of the offensive, then immediately we had multiple reports, videos, and streams of the IDF bombarding Gaza.

  • AOCapitulator [they/them, she/her]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Israel is doing a genocide, the us and its puppets are funding or arming the genociders, and Europe is banning protests of the genocide.

    Western capitalist hegemony is a fascistic death cult that will destroy us all unless we destroy it first, and every day we don’t millions are condemned to horrific deaths

    • cosecantphi [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      I really wish I could have a permanent record of everything every liberal has ever said so I could easily demonstrate how full of shit they are in 10 to 20 years when they all collectively deny ever having supported Israel through the Palestinian genocide.

    • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      So far, it was only France that banned pro-Palestinean protests. But the French government is also far right, so it makes sense. Don’t equate their fascism to the rest of Europe, please.

      • foxinabox@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I understand its not about Europe but Switzerland banned several protests in big cities as well.

            • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
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              1 year ago

              I’m German, so no language barrier. Thanks!

              Edit: Holy hell, that poll. 65% support the ban of pro-Palestine demos because it’s “too touchy”. Media did a great job programming the public to think “pro-Palestine” is on par with “pro-Hamas”.

              • masquenox@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest supporters all throughout the Cold War - despite the fact that Germany’s security services have been festering swamps of nazi-ideology before all the WW2 rubble had been carted away.

                • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  1 year ago

                  The link is to a Swiss newspaper tho, which is why I was surprised.

                  One of the largest worker unions in Germany (ver.di) proudly and openly proclaims that they stand with Israel and they have been doing that for years. Now why are they doing this instead of focusing on their actual purpose? Senseless activism to avoid being labeled as nazis. In Germany, being a nazi is way worse than supporting a genocide.

    • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      The chance of a World War III happening is significantly higher by escalating the UA-RUS war than this. Palestine has no allies and they have been cornered for years. US just secures a clean genocide.

      • masquenox@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        It’s pretty obvious… the myth of Israeli invulnerability turned out to be just that… mythical. The Palestinians have done a good job proving that.

        • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          I talked to an Israeli (we were both vacationing in Vancouver, BC). There never was a feeling of invulnerability, but rather of containment and a tolerable level. Hamas would lob some rockets over the border, the Iron Dome would shoot them down, maybe some would get through. You learn to live with a certain amount of risk.

          What this attack shattered was the feeling that Hamas is a threat that could simply be managed and ignored. It should also shatter the illusion that continued mistreatment of the Palestinian is a viable way forward. Unfortunately, I think the Israeli leadership will only take the first lesson.

          • masquenox@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            There never was a feeling of invulnerability, but rather of containment and a tolerable level.

            I was referring to the propaganda we were fed about Israel during the Cold War - you can still see it in a lot of right-wing narratives about Israel.

            You learn to live with a certain amount of risk.

            Here in South Africa, we call it “laager mentality” - in the US, wars fade into the background, but in places like Israel (and Apartheid-South Africa) the “open-ended-war-with-no-end-in-sight” cannot fade into the background. And, eventually, it leads to… consequences.

            What this attack shattered was the feeling that Hamas is a threat that could simply be managed and ignored.

            It’s not Hamas - it’s Palestinians. Before Hamas it was the PLO, and if Israel (somehow) neutralises Hamas there will be another “big bad” Israelis will have to live in fear of. Israelis know that - they just prefer referring to Hamas to deflect from the fact that their colonial war has always been against the entirety of Palestinians.

            But yes… this attack has most definitely shattered the idea of “containment and a tolerable level.”

            Unfortunately, I think the Israeli leadership will only take the first lesson.

            A colonialist project can only act like a colonialist project - if it doesn’t, the colonialist state must cease to exist in it’s current form and become something else.

      • Joker@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        It’s about keeping Iran out of it so it doesn’t escalate. Have to demonstrate a willingness to get involved while doing the diplomatic work behind the scenes to de-escalate. They are telling Israel they can have their revenge on Hamas but they need to bring things down a few notches. Don’t occupy Gaza, don’t starve them out, don’t commit war crimes, make an effort to avoid collateral damage, etc. At the same time, they are telling Iran they don’t want a wider conflict but are ready to fuck them sideways if they even think about escalating. Israel doesn’t need any help fighting unless someone else piles on.

        • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          How’s that working out for the US?

          Starving ✅

          War crimes ✅

          Collateral damage ✅

          The US is toothless and their foreign influence is nonexistent even for a country that’s one of their closest allies.

          • Joker@discuss.tchncs.de
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            1 year ago

            They don’t. They care about keeping this from escalating into a very dangerous regional conflict with the potential to spread further. Israel is absolutely justified in going after Hamas. What they are actually doing is beyond what a reasonable response would look like. Nobody besides the bad guys cares if Israel goes and kills some terrorists, but they can’t displace a million people who had nothing to do with it and then starve them out. In a matter of days, Israel went from being the victims of a heinous attack to committing war crimes on a massive scale. That can’t be. It makes it hard to support Israel and we also can’t turn our backs on an ally. It’s an untenable political situation for the U.S. and risks a major conflict. The U.S. is serving its own interests.

  • doctorcrimson@lemmy.today
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    1 year ago

    Seems like a mistake to place the danger zone on that side of the Kerem Shalom goods crossing, but then again they left that moron Netanyahu in charge so I’m sure that’s no mistake.

    I heard Egypt actually warned Israel of the exact date of the initial attack and Israel still failed to react, it becomes harder every day to think this whole war wasn’t the intention of Israel leadership.