What was the purpose of this level of destruction?

[Stripes56]

Gazans are returning to their homes and are horrified to see the level of destruction. Their joy mixed with despair.

www.timesofisrael.com/gazans-joy-over-ceasefire-tempered-by-shock-as-they-return-to-destroyed-homes/

We can feel joy that the hostages are returning home, relief that Hamas will be sidelined - but how do we reconcile with the death and destruction that has happened in Gaza?

We don’t. People need to push for real change in Gaza and the West Bank, for better conditions, rights and a decent state for Palestinians so we don’t repeat the cycle 15 years later.

And we need to push for justice so the Israeli leaders realise that they can’t commit such heinous acts and just go back to governing as if nothing happened.

From a personal standpoint I’ll never forget how the world leaders looked away, ignored their own people and made a mockery of international law.

I hope Trump does continue to strive for the Nobel Peace prize -by ensuring that there is a reasonable two state solution for Palestinians. The ceasefire is insufficient itself. For the sake of Palestinians and for repairing Israel’s reputation.

I am not so sure what will happen to Israel’s leaders. Netanyahu still faces fraud charges but I don’t think he will ever set foot in the ICC. His travels may be severely restricted due to the ICC warrant though.

The level of destruction is due to nearly all buildings having boobie trap bombs planted inside by Hamas.
The safest method to diffuse these was for the IDF to blow them
Up in a controlled approach.
If the IDF had gone building to building and dismantled them one by one the war could of continued for a greater period of time.
Ironically the buildings would of been levelled any way by returning palenstian people.
The lack of military understanding from the by standing Western populations explains why this war is totally misunderstood - ignorance is not a defence.

@juggleit So they completely flattened entire areas as individual the buildings could be booby trapped?

So was the IDF planing on going into flattened areas of Gaza city for direct fighting with Hamas? There would have been no point as everything and everyone in the area would have been blitzed.

Good Lord 🙄

Can you link to that @juggleit?

The level of destruction is due to nearly all buildings having boobie trap bombs planted inside by Hamas.

Unprovable, likely untrue but still no excuse.

Suppose it were true. Bombing was never the answer. Negotiations have always been the only way. Hostages in return for political prisoners held without trial. In return for statehood. Which is what the Palestinians should have been given a long while ago.

If it were Israelis being held in those booby trapped buildings you would be singing a different tune.

So nearly all of the buildings, the roads, the water systems and the farmland was all booby trapped ?

thanks so much for explaining that. Due to my lack of military knowledge, it was raising a red flag for me that Gaza was bombed so relentlessly.

And why had Israel started clearing the rubble?

I wonder what will happen when Israelis and their supporters have to acknowledge the enormity of what they did? It will not be possible to hide behind these bizarre fabrications forever. The evidence will be overwhelming.

The point was to eradicate Hamas.

Exactly.

I can’t quite grasp whether is it feigned ignorance or naivety when people ask this question.

I’m sure Palestinians know. They managed to evacuate Rafah with unprecedented speed so Hamas could turn the whole area into a booby trap for the IDF.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-807932

Soldiers were also being killed when manually defusing booby traps and it was estimated it would take in excess of 2 years to remove them all using sappers in a report by a military expert I read ages ago.

No army would put their soldiers at risk like that so it’s unsurprising they use a method of less risk as it is their duty to protect their soldiers the same as any other army of a democratic country.

The 350 miles of tunnels under Gaza (described as a spiders web) impact the foundations of buildings on top of them as well.

Construction and destruction of the tunnel network in Gaza have contributed to the widespread collapse of buildings and other infrastructure
^^
The extensive nature of the tunnels, many of which are deliberately built under civilian areas, means that combat operations targeting them can cause devastating damage above ground.
Key impacts on buildings include:

• Targeted destruction: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have directly targeted buildings concealing tunnel infrastructure or used by Hamas for military operations, causing them to collapse. During the 2021 conflict, an Israeli airstrike targeting a tunnel system in Gaza City brought down three residential buildings, killing dozens of civilians.
• Booby-trapped tunnels: Tunnels connected to above-ground structures can be rigged with explosives. In June 2025, a booby-trapped building in Khan Younis collapsed on Israeli soldiers who were searching for tunnel entrances, killing four.
• Destabilized foundations: Military analysts suggest that repeated airstrikes targeting tunnels with powerful "bunker-buster" bombs can destabilize the ground beneath buildings, compromising their foundations and leading to collapse.

Can you imagine if the IDF had left whole areas of Hamas booby trapped buildings and who would be blamed when civilians returned and the inevitable happened?

I don’t think it will happen for now.

I think it will be brushed under the carpet by this US led peace effort. Trump doesn’t have an interest in human rights, lasting peace…. He wanted the images that were making him look bad to stop coming. There will be no acknowledgement.

Hopefully in the future, with different people involved, there can be an acknowledgment of the enormity of what has happened in Gaza.

Even from an Israeli perspective I was even just thinking while , listening to one of the hostages family on the radio. There is something horrible that I can’t put into words there about the victims of 7/10 and how the Israeli government harnessed that pain and used it for evil basically. Horrific things happened to them and instead of talking about these very awful, very real things. The Israeli government were pushing this narrative of things that did not happen - like the beheaded babies and the burnt children. Like the real painful stories weren’t enough for them or something.

There will be a lot to unpick here by Israeli society generally. But probably not right now.

As I said on another thread, this will be very traumatic for Israelis. Right now they can live with denial. But time will shine a light on their actions, and truth will out, as it always does with time. Today's children will have to accept as adults what their parents did. It won't be easy.

Thank you 🙏

Israel are damned either way - people will find the evidence they are looking for - and this is mostly evidence provided by a death cult - I don't think the dots have been fully joined up by those opposing Isreal.
Just for context in relation to the percentage of murdered civilians during the Hamas slaughter, the equivalent death toll would be 8,000 people slaughtered in the UK. How would be all react to that one then?

THIS fact alone is why I support Israel to retaliate, with ‘MILiTARY’ action to defend itself and protect its borders and civilians.

Out of interest if it turned out that not every single building was booby trapped , would you change your mind and stop defending the way the military action was conducted?

Can you imagine if the IDF had left whole areas of Hamas booby trapped buildings and who would be blamed when civilians returned and the inevitable happened?

Oh, I get it now, silly me! What Gazans don’t realise is that the IDF razed their homes to the ground for their own good! Glad you explained that.

No, because no military action will ever be 100% right - how can it ever be? No doubt there will be war crimes uncovered as has been always been the case in most wars but these cases are in the minority and not the majority.

Isreal’s military actions are held to such a high level of accountability and scrutiny and yet they fight against a regime that does not ‘engage’ in the ‘rules’ of war and there are many ‘international law contraventions’ that Hamas engage in, including blowing up and shooting its own ‘civilians’ are the most documented ones.😞

We have all witnessed a war on children, healthcare workers and innocent civilians. Our leaders have a lot to answer for. Free Palestine

It will be in that paper Propaganda news 🤣🤣

< goes off to check YouTube >

Here it is. It’s entitled

‘How to convince myself Israel aren’t to Blame’. Check it out there’s even a long section advising mumsnetters on derailing aswell

So were the children shot by snipers also booby trapped? And the ambulance workers buried alive? Were they also booby trapped? Silly me. I didnt know everyone in Gaza was booby trapped and thus needed to be ‘cleared’ before the surviving people of Gaza could return.

Wow there’s a lot of mumsnetters on this thread upset that we’re now seeing whats really been happening all this time
Now whats left of the press are allowed back in
Flooding threads all the time with these lies.

History won’t forget what has happened to Gaza by the bombs and snippers of the IDF.

It shocking that the pro Israeli supporters continue to deflect these threads
Have they no empathy

This is a thread about the state of Gaza ffs
Shame on you posters with your Israeli propaganda

They’ll be telling us next week Israel were just there as a peace keeping force.
Or at least convincing themselves of it

Lies. Lies. Lies.

The war crimes will be in the majority. Studies have already shown the % level of civilians murdered by Israel in Gaza in the last two years exceeds all other wars
That information comes from Israel