[euzi]

Very few aids were allowed to enter Gaza until they negotiated for it as part of the truce deal.

It is absurd that we are blaming Hamas for not digging tunnels to accomodate 2 million people instead of blaming those who flattened dozens of residential blocks, and bombed schools and hospitals.

[meowtimemania]

I think the point is that it shows that Hamas doesn't prioritize the life of its citizens. Israel is not right to bomb Gaza, just like Hamas wasn't right to massacre hundreds in Israel. Hamas likely did their actions knowing that Israel's response would be extreme.

[YZF]

We're blaming Hamas for everything and we're blaming Palestinians for electing and supporting Hamas. The story of the tunnels and the shelters is just one anecdote in the tragic events.

I'm pretty sure Israel did not bomb hospitals. Maybe schools. Flattened residential blocks certainly, after warning civilians to evacuate. Mosques were bombed.

Both schools and hospitals lose any protection they might enjoy under the Geneva convention if they're used for military purposes. Israel doesn't really benefit from bombing a school that isn't used in a fight against it, quite the opposite, Israel is losing support by doing that. At the same time Hamas gains an advantage by using these facilities because it grants him immunity. It's really not that complicated to understand.

Israel does benefit from flattening residential areas because it's taking out cover for Hamas. The rubble blocks tunnel entrances. Booby traps and mines will detonate. It's tactically removing an advantage from Hamas who would prefer to fight in the built up areas at close quarters. In war you don't want to get into symmetric fights, you want to use your overwhelming strengths to neutralize any advantage of the enemy. It's not like he's got a knife I'll bring a knife, it's more like he's got a knife, I'm gonna drop a bomb on the building he's in from an F-16 and then shell it with artillery and then have some tanks fire at him for good measure and then run him over with the tanks. There's also an element of deterrence (to the Palestinians but also to other actors) by inflicting a lot of damage.

In terms of the Hamas, martyrdom is a core value, so number of martyrs isn't a factor, especially if it's not the billionaire in Qatar being the martyr. "Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes,”. Hamas wins when more Palestinians are dead. The things "we" value in the "west" like well being, prosperity, peace, empathy, whatnot are not factors. We're talking about the same Hamas that recruited and sent hundreds of people into Israel to blow themselves up with random strangers in the early 2000's. They won't only not protect people, they'll get them to blow themselves up or engage in suicidal missions (which was one possible outcome of the Oct 7th attack, that a much larger portion of the attacking force would get killed and the damage inflicted would be much smaller).