to not understand how you can fire missiles targeting civilians and it not be a war crime

[Itsaboatjack]

now I'm not especially knowledgable about the problems in the middle east but surely firing missiles into a city intentionally killing civilians is some kind of war crime?

splashy of course.

'Israel is targeting military targets' - yeah, right, like the home where 10 members of one family were killed, from grandparents to babies. The home that Israel initially claimed belonged to a Hamas leader only whoops, they had to admit they got the 'wrong' target. Which is inevitable when you fire into a densely populated urban area. It's like someone claiming firing on inner London is legitimate.

Oh Israel will be fine, they've got the combined diplomatic weight of USA and UK behind them

Edam Apart from Hamas admitting to using women and children as human shields, what do you think of Hamas firing on densely populated areas in Israel? Missiles have landed on schools, kindergartens, flats etc in Israel. The death toll in Israel has been low due to Israelis having safe rooms, the Iron Dome, and bomb shelters. How is Hamas legitimate?

150 Palestinian dead, 5 Israelis. Who do you think is the most aggressive, most deadly side here? And who are the bulk of the victims? Who ran out of medicines to treat the injured? Not the Israelis.

What most people want is an end to violence and killing full stop - a dead person is a dead person and a grieving family, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli. But you can't pretend that both sides are equally aggressive or suffering equally. 150 v. 5 says that ain't true.

I didn't say Hamas was either legitimate or illegitimate, btw. You'd have to ask Israel about that, given their leaders were jolly keen on supporting Hamas back in the day, as opponents to Yasser Arafat.

Israel is not targeting military targets, it is targeting votes. And making Gaza into a pile of rubble, a prison camp and exerting control and denying Palestinians any dignity wins votes - in the name of 'security'.

Looking at Palestine and Israel reminds me of David and the Goliath. The irony of it!

Edam I have already explained why there is such an equality in the death toll. It seems you overlooked that.

Anyone who thinks that Hamas are anything but a terrorist group should read this: Hamas charter
or watch this:

*inequality

If Palestine had security, if they had a reason to live, do you think groups like Hamas would get votes? Despite the fact that Hamas also did a lot for social welfare in Gaza, people would not vote Hamas if they had their freedom.

Interesting Freudian slip there, Splashy. As for explaining the hideous death toll, no, you tried to justify it, and failed. Unless you think blaming the Palestinians for not having enough medicines to treat the sick and not having the same infrastructure as Israel, when Israel controls the import of goods into Gaza, is somehow convincing? Maybe you could ask Netanyahu to provide missile defence systems to Gaza in the name of a fair fight. You'd be a long time waiting, though.

Edam Hardly.

Israel hardly has much control over the imports into Gaza anyway, when this many missiles have been smuggled in. If Hamas put as much effort into humanitarian efforts as it did into weapon smuggling then no doubt Gaza would be a much better place.

Have you read or watched the links I provided? You seem to be cherry picking information to reach your conclusions.

In case anyone is in doubt as to how biased the BBC is:
www.supremecourt.gov.uk/docs/UKSC_2010_0145_ps_v2.pdf

"150 Palestinian dead, 5 Israelis. Who do you think is the most aggressive, most deadly side here? ", I don't think this proves who is the most aggressive and who would like to kill the most of their enemy, just that one side is better armed than the other. And as for fair fight, if you we're fighting would you fight fairly so that you only used the exact same force as your attacker? If a burglar came at you with a knife and you had a gun would you set aside your gun and pick up a knife (exact same size of course, if you are taller maybe you get kneel down or tie one arm behind your back).

Hamas started with suicide bombs in 1992. It was the start of the peace process, there was plenty of hope then.

They wanted to derail the peace process, they didnt and dont want. They got their wish.

I agree that the civilian deaths are a tragedy. But there are people painting Hamas as some kind of benevolent society which just happens to have a few armed members. It's not.

Hamas is just as responsible for the high Palestinian death toll. Read the un goldstone report.

Both Hamas and Israel don't show sufficient care for Palestinian casualties although it would seem that Israel at least put a little bit of forethought in how to minimize them.