to think that putting explosives in devices such as pagers and walkie talkies can lead to indiscriminate injuries and killings

[cakeorwine]

Let's get the first thing out of the way - it's not right to fire missiles and rockets at people - as that can cause indiscriminate injuries as well.

Putting explosives in devices such as pagers and walkie talkies - it sounds clever. Just send a signal and an explosion goes off potentially injuring and killing your opponent who has it. It will also disrupt communication methods.

But once you put the explosive in it, you lose control of where it goes and when it gets blown up. It could be a child has it. It could be on a plane - and might not be picked up by security.

You don't know where it ends up. Which means that it has the potential for unintended consequences.

What about any that didn't go off? Are there objects that have been booby trapped and are just potentially waiting to explode - and who knows where they are? The thing about booby traps is that you just don't know who will set them off.

Booby traps seem to be against the International Humanitarian Law if they can injure civillians.

Customary IHL - Rule 80. Booby-Traps (icrc.org)

To the plane itself? Very little in all likelihood as the charges would be small and probably very deliberately less than required to blow a hole in a plane - they're pretty strong really.

It would also need a signal to have triggered it, and if they're using rf/microwave for triggering that it would be unlikely to have picked up that type of signal in the air.

The stated aim of the Israeli government is to get rid of all the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. And they are being bankrolled by the US to achieve this. They claim part of Lebanon as part of Greater Israel. If the indigenous people of an occupied country want to resist the takeover, or the starvation, destruction of hospitals/schools/infrastructure et etc, I’m not surprised. I’m just astonished that so many people can ignore the appalling suffering of so many, making 2 million people homeless. Russia has been sanctioned for far less in Ukraine, where at least they have two actual armies ‘fighting’ each other. More children have been slaughtered in Gaza since October 7th than in conflicts worldwide in the past five years, and don’t forget all those left orphaned, maimed and traumatised. You picked one incident where the Druze kids were playing football. Remember the Palestinian kids playing on the beach who all got shot? The little girl and her family who were all murdered - along with the two medics who tried to reach the family? Quite apart from the other thousands. And if people come to steal your home,or your farm, your animals, destroy your business, would you do nothing? Most Israelis are immigrants who have two passports. Most Palestinians only have ‘travel documents’ . And on and on

I agree if the op's main criteria is this ratio then this operation was very focussed

What would have been your stance if Palestine had had the infrastructure to commit this attack on Israel?

It has done all this. I was listening to the world service. This type of thing hasn't been done before

The whole aim of this is to aggravate a war with Lebanon and Syria. Zionist Israelis believe that the borders of Israel should cross further into these areas.

It's all very frightening and Israel need to be held accountable.

Ah, that's alright then.👍

Ratio was irrelevant when Hitler gassed the Jews. When Hamas butchered men, women and children. When Al Qaeda flew planes into civilian towers. When Putin bombed schools, hospitals and seperated 60,000 Ukranian children from their families.

Your views are irrelevant. So are mine. Let those that want to fight get on and do their work. You in your armchair are neither involved or will make a difference.

Does anyone know if this is possible to happen with smart phones? Smart meters? Other devices? Or is there something about a pager that makes them vulnerable? Seems very 1990’s tech, can’t believe they’re still for sale anywhere.
A year or so ago I was chatting to a chap who was adamant he wouldn’t have a smart meter as “the Chinese will be able to hack them and turn the power off” I smiled and nodded, but now, it doesn’t actually seem so far fetched!

I think it's about 2 things:

Everyday objects filled with explosives - so you can't be confident that it will explode when you want it to and who it will explode next to.

The unintended consequences of an explosion - such as on a plane, a driver on a bus etc.

Only if you have C7 injected into it from a stock room in Budapest, or Cork, or Madrid, or Hong Kong before you take delivery.

It's just evil

I hate humans, we're a fucking virus

This is a shocking event, in the same way that October 7th was shocking.
I just don't and can't understand this hatred, it just runs so deep, and seemingly won't be stopped.
I can't see an end unfortunately.

@user8634259076 Any device that has had a small amount of plastic explosive added to it could be used, as long as that device is using radio frequency that a signal can be sent to. Hezbollah were using pagers instead of phones as phone signals can be tracked and traced. Similar with walkie/talkies (probably military grade radios rather than the junk you can buy on Amazon!).

Do you think they care? If it's an innocent child, woman or man?

They don't. They murder indiscriminately.

This!

Whilst I obviously think October 7th was utterly despicable and should never have happened, surely you can see why Palestinians would have a deep hatred of the Israeli state?

Yeah, that's the point. Why do you think they are minimising killing civilians by using this rather than missiles? They want to kill everyone in their path.

I wait with bated breathe the toasters, air-fryers, coffee machines and other goods that terrorists typically buy to kill Jews. All those items that will - according to a victim-blamer's view - explode tomorrow because Mossad are a bunch of fuckwits who cannot tell the difference between a readily available domestic item and a device with which terrorists plan to kill their children.

The devices were modified to add 3g PETN explosive charges. It’s not a stock device, it’s a booby trap.

Not in 'the same way' at all. Ridiculous.

Absolutely I can see the hatred on the Palestinian side @Saltedbutter and I can also see that hatred on the other side.
My only question is how will this end.

Ok I am out.

Hezbollah are a terrorist organisation the size of an army. It was always going to be hard for Israel to target them while minimising civilian casualties but Israel has gone out of its way to do that and done it very successfully. There could hardly have been a more surgical strike. Bombs and mines kill far more indiscriminately. (The Iranians used to clear minefields by shackling children together and making them walk across.) Do you imagine Hezbollah would have gone to this effort to avoid civilian casualties?

When Israeli agents assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader, recently, the bomb used was designed to minimise risk to bystanders and the agents put themselves in great personal danger to ensure no innocent people were in the room when it was detonated.

The pagers and walkie-talkies were not distributed to the general public and the explosives were not designed to maximise casualties.