The United Nations human rights office said on Friday that an Israeli offensive in Gaza's border town of Rafah could not be allowed to happen because it would cause massive loss of Palestinian lives.
"This must not be allowed to happen."Defying international calls to halt its military operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel would push on with its offensive against the Hamas movement that runs Gaza, including into Rafah, which he described as "the last Hamas stronghold".
About 1.5 million people are estimated to be crammed into Rafah, on the southernmost fringe of the enclave against the border with Egypt, most of them having fled homes further north to escape Israel's onslaught.Israel will push on with its offensive against Hamas, including into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite growing international pressure to stop, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas after its fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253, according to Israeli tallies. More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel's subsequent offensive, Palestinian health authorities estimate, prompting worldwide criticism and condemnation.
"There is international pressure and it's growing, but particularly when the international pressure rises, we must close ranks, we need to stand together against the attempts to stop the war," he said.
@PersistentSeafowlGreen3mos3MO
War? Is that what you call this? There’s a name for killing 29,000 people this way, yes. Bombing cities, refugee camps, hospitals, telling people to go to a place and then bombing them there, reducing all that lived to rubble with overwhelming and unanswerable force. Argue that you have a reason to kill that many innocents, yes, if you will. But let’s not call it “war.”
@PanickyF3deralistRepublican3mos3MO
Did you hear that Russia? China? ISIS? To win a war against a western country, all you need to do is commit a massive war crime attack against civilians, and then embed yourself among the people, hospitals, schools, etc.
When the western country dares to attack back, simply broadcast the people who you embed yourself with and their suffering. Remember to say the word “Genocide” every 11 seconds (repeating it over and over will make it true)
Do this, and the western countries citizens will demonize the government for you! They are already so self-hating that your own atrocity will… Read more
@PersistentSeafowlGreen3mos3MO
It ought to be plain as day by now that the war on Gaza has little to do with releasing the hostages -- if 29,000 dead and destruction of 60 percent of buildings and displacement of 2 million hasn't worked, why would more death and destruction in Rafah work? It makes no sense.
Netanyahu's goal is to devastate and ethnically cleanse all of Gaza, an impossibility because of the sheer numbers.
Mr. Leonhardt also fails to mention that our government is funding and enabling this death and desolation. It's time to ask President Biden and members of Congress supporting the war with our tax dollars how they think they are solving any problem by financing the war.
@PanickyF3deralistRepublican3mos3MO
Why would the war be about releasing the hostages? They were ATTACKED brutally. The hostages are secondary to defense and security of the country from further attack.
Why would negotiating with the terrorists for hostages be the first priority? This would be immediately rewarding their attack by giving them what they want and quite obviously incentivizing further attack.
Our own government knows better than to do this. Most governments know better than to do this. Yet we somehow expect Israel to give in to Hamas demands, withdraw troops and release massive numbers of their prisoners? Why woul… Read more
@PanickyF3deralistRepublican3mos3MO
Why are the people of Gaza not rallying for surrender?
Hamas, a third rate militia at best, started a war with THE regional superpower, not to mention nuclear power. They have been decisively beaten. Hamas has brought destruction to Gaza and everyone in it. They cannot win but the people of Gaza can still lose.
Release the hostages and end the war.
@CentristPaisleyDemocrat3mos3MO
Yes, it's war.
Have you ever seen a picture of what Berlin looked like in 1945?
Or what Seoul looked like in 1952, after it had been fought over 5 times?
Except the pictures won't give you the stink of the tens of thousands of bodies rotting under the rubble.
People in the West seem to have forgotten what high-intensity conventional warfare in populated areas is like.
They used to know. Eg., in the month before D-Day we bombed the French railway network to prevent the Germans from using it to shift their reserves.
That worked. It also killed 30,000 French civilians -- about 1,000 a day from an allied nation.
Nobody said a thing, not even de Gaulle; it was necessary and the French civilians caught in the crossfire were just SOL.
Welcome to Planet Reality, where war is like that. Always was, is now, and always will be, world without end.
There are harsh consequences for electing terrorists to lead your government and hiding their fighters in your homes, schools, and hospitals. They knew they were human shields, and now they’re complaining about it? This was how it was always going to end.
@CurlewMikeySocialist3mos3MO
considering elections were held 20 years ago and most the population didn’t exist/were too young to vote, saying the population elected Hamas is disingenuous at most. Most the people in Gaza had no choice in Hamas being their governing power.
Hamas systematically integrated its military infrastructure under every major civilian facility in every city in Gaza, which is the worst War Crime imaginable.
But Israel is in the process of defeating Hamas.
Rafah in southern Gaza is the only remaining Hamas stronghold, and is the source of most the remaining rockets being fired into Israel.
So the next step is for Israel to take Rafah, and then the rockets will stop.
At that point, Hamas will be defeated, and must surrender.
@CurlewMikeySocialist3mos3MO
we will soon know, will we not? That could be a good resolution. Much more predictable, I think, is that thousands more Palestinian chikdren are killed, while the most important Hamas figures escape via Egypt into Qatar or elsewhere. Meanwhile Hamas is supposedly growing on the West Bank.
@Patriot-#1776Constitution3mos3MO
You don't mean to say that a WAR might kill some people? *GASP* I thought war was SAFE! Well, maybe the Palestinians should have thought about THIS before they attacked Israel through Hamas!
@9CJ6CB63mos3MO
Hamas attacked in response to Israeli occupation, and the people didn’t do most any of that. The VAST majority of the people there have done nothing, and Hamas mostly operates outside of the area in the first place, so the people themselves are not at fault, nor do they deserve this. I don’t blame their people for fighting back against extremely obvious genocide, the leaders of the Israeli government and the IDF have been openly calling to curbstoml the people of Gaza and the West Bank, there’s no denying how obvious their intent is.
@ISIDEWITH3mos3MO
If a government justifies military actions by citing self-defense, where should we draw the line between defense and aggression?
@9KPFJMQ3mos3MO
There is no self-defense when you’re killing civilians on armed civilians
@ISIDEWITH3mos3MO
What value do you think should be placed on a single human life during times of war?
@9KPGY4Q3mos3MO
I think human life a valuable and not should be lost during times of war
@ISIDEWITH3mos3MO
Is it possible to achieve peace through military force, even if it leads to massive loss of lives?
@9KPGJ3F3mos3MO
No i think we should just leave and let them all fight each other, there will always be conflict in the middle east because of their religious beliefs.
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