Rafah bombings (Edited by Mumsnet)

[TwilightSkies]

Where the hell are all the Palestinians meant to go now?
They were TOLD to go to Rafah, that Rafah was a safe place.
It’s just open extermination at this point.

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator* *
You know they can go to the SAFE ZONES and that is a fact”

You do understand that the area of Rafah struck by the Israeli bombardment is within a designated humanitarian safe zone?

Hopefully this is an empty threat

Qatar says Israeli airstrike on Rafah could hinder mediation efforts

I mean, does it matter? Israel has made it clear that nothing will stop them. The negotiations are pointless if one party has no interest in a ceasefire.

Edit: I saw a video of a tiny baby, not much more than a newborn, dying in Rafah just before I posted this message so may be more jaded and upset than usual. Am fucking livid at Israel.

@ConnieCounter you're right probably not - always used to hang onto the idea that as long as there was some kind of dialogue then there was some kind of hope

I get the impression that this will not stop soon unless Israel made to stop and Hamas made to release hostages or bodies of them and step down. However, neither side seems willing to budge. Therefore, more innocents are dying. Its awful.

Grave mistake???
As I said in another thread they really don't give a crap who gets killed in the process
How many children burn to their death
Babies with charred bodies whilst their parents tried to protect them in flimsy tents after they were ORDERED to go there by the IDF.

You do understand that that is where the soldiers from IDF were killed by rocket and mortar attacks by Hams on the "humanitarian crossing," - YES??

Yesterday, a massive number of long range rockets were fired from that area at Israel's cities, yes!!!

HTH

So you don't understand that it was a designated safe zone?

It was in the vicinity of the Humanitarian crossing. It was an understandable target given that the IDF had gathered armoured vehicles there, near the Humaniitarian crossing in advance of their planned attack on Rafah.

The IDF already got their revenge there for that act, closing the crossing and thereby cutting off life-giving aid to the Palestinians.

Yesterday, a massive number of long range rockets were fired from that area at Israel's cities, yes!!!

8?

Absolutely wrong and senseless.

They cause fear and terror among innocent Israeli citizens. But they were not in the end able to cause harm due to the protective systems place which Israel has. Unlike the fear and terror caused to Palestinian citizens who went on to be actually annihilated by means of bombing and burning alive.

Have you ever stopped to look at the ratios of killed Israelis to Palestinians over the last decades?

There is no equal tit for tat.

So there's an exchange rate you're working on?

1 Israeli =? Gazans. Is that how hostage exchanges work too? 1 dead Israeli hostage =? Gazan detainees.

Make it make sense.

Ratios of killed Israelis to Palestinians over the last decades

Usual ratio 1:23
Current ratio 1:27ish

So you don't understand what a 'safe' or 'humanitarian' zone is, then. Might want to find out before claiming that it's safe for people to go to them or that it's ok to blow them up.

This website lays it out starkly too. 2024 will be horrendous.

Counting the Kids - Israel and Palestine

That is indeed how hostage exchanges work, and it's horrible.

The Israeli government established its answer to the question of whether a Palestinian life is of equal value to an Israeli life. Their answer is that they consider an Israeli life to be worth more. So, the 'exchange rate' in hostage negotiations frequently reflects that.

That graph of children’s deaths is extraordinary and shocking to see laid out.

Do you know how many Hamas fighters have been actually been killed so far? I cannot find this. Recently I heard an Israeli spokesperson mention 10,000 but that seems so few after all this time and so high a cost in the destruction of Palestine and its people ( as there were 30,000 or more at the e outset).

I saw the footage before it was blurred.
Yes, there was one decapitated baby in it. Approx 9-11 mos old.

That isn’t a threat. That is a realistic observation of how war crimes can and do derail peace talks.

The three areas are miles apart. Look at a map why don’t you.

The soldiers killed were 3.6km miles outside Gaza inside Israel near the Kerem Shalom kibbutz. The Kerem Shalom crossing was then closed in response, but there was no attack on the crossing itself by Hamas. Violent settlers had blocked it and stormed it previously.

The rockets launched by Hamas were launched from Eastern Rafah- which is a combat zone. There have been sporadic launches of rockets from Gaza during the entire war.

The airstrike was in western Rafah in a designated evacuation safe zone on what are clearly tents for IDPs. There is no proof that the Hamas individuals named by IDF were present or injured or killed in the airstrike. It would be nice if IDF would let UN investigators in or share their intelligence, as that would be good proof.

Yes risk would have been a better word than threat to use

No one really knows except perhaps Hamas who are keeping silent and IDF who apparently isn’t counting the number of Hamas they kill.

Posted upthread that US intelligence estimate only 30-35% of Hamas fighters have been killed but thousands more recruited - so who knows how many

Don't be ridiculous, are you saying there are no safe zones? It is hamas firing the rockets at civilians and the humanitarian crossing and that is a fact

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-claims-responsibility-attack-israel-gaza-border-crossing-casualties-2024-05-05/

Yes, I saw the estimate too and how it mentioned that the high civilian, especially child, death toll likely meant thousands of new recruits replacing the ones killed.

I don’t know what to think about a US think tank estimate though because it is in the US interest to publish numbers that make it look like Israel really really needs to be levelling Rafah while re-attacking North and Central Gaza at the same time. By saying only 30-35% killed, it is implied that close to 70% of Hamas are in Rafah.

Reuters is incorrect, the rockets landed in the Kerem shalom area near the crossing, but not on the crossing. One home in Kerem Shalom kibbutz was damaged, but no Israeli civilians were killed or injured because they have been evacuated.

The Kerem Shalom crossing was not the target and was not hit.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-799923