[gryzzly]

not wearing uniform, attacking civilians, capturing hostages and holding your own civilian population hostage by violently taking over the commercial distribution of free humanitarian aid can not be called legitimate in any way

[tdeck]

The IDF captures Palestinian civilians, dresses them in IDF uniforms, and forces them at gunpoint to walk in front of their military while conducting military operations in Gaza. Every accusation is a confession.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/11/03/israel-gaza-...

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/24/middleeast/palestinians-human...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israeli-soldier-palestinians-hu...

[YZF]

None of the articles say what you claim. There's no mention of dressing civilians in IDF uniforms. The claim is they are forced to enter suspected booby trapped building, not "conducting military operations". It's quite possible that this happens sometimes, and yes it's not supposed to, but that's war for you.

From the CNN article btw: "The soldier said that he and his comrades refused to carry on with the practice after two days and confronted their senior commander about it. Their commander, who first told them not to “think about international law,” saying that their own lives were “more important,” ultimately relented, releasing the two Palestinians, the soldier said. "

This goes to show you to what degree Israeli soldiers do consider the international law and these sort of moral questions. They would rather risk their own lives. But yes, over a long war of this kind the threshold is going to become lower. It's the Hamas choice to keep fighting the way it does (booby trap every civilians building e.g.).

Now find me the Hamas "soldier" who refused to carry out orders to murder civilians or refused to hold civilian hostages and got their commander to free them. Let's see where's the moral equivalence.

[dttze]

From that same CNN article:

> “They dressed us in military uniforms, put a camera on us, and gave us a metal cutter,” he said. “They would ask us to do things like, ‘move this carpet,’ saying they were looking for tunnels. ‘Film under the stairs,’ they would say. If they found something, they would tell us to bring it outside. For example, they would ask us to remove belongings from the house, clean here, move the sofa, open the fridge, and open the cupboard.”

[YZF]

Fair enough. I missed that while scanning through it. The evidence of one Palestinian but sure. Could have happened.

I know this is a tough one but the question is what are the norms. One anecdote (including one unit where this is practiced) doesn't answer the question. The anecdotes are just that. This practice could have happened 10 times out of 100K, could have happened 100 out of 100K, could have happened 1000 out of 100K.

I'm pretty sure this is not the norm. I.e. that all/most/many IDF units advance in Gaza by capturing Palestinians, putting them in IDF uniforms, and sending them in the front. Very very far from it.

I would rather we had zero stories like this one.

[YZF]

Edit window is past but I just want to make this absolutely clear that these sorts of actions are war crimes. The people responsible for these should face consequences. I'm pretty sure they're illegal (there has been a Supreme Court ruling on these practices) and also go against IDF rules.

War crimes happen during wars. The French, the Americans, the British, The Australians etc. etc. have all committed war crimes in all their wars since WW-II (and before, that concept didn't exist). In terms of accountability in those militaries it's O(0). The IDF has on many occasions put soldiers on trial for violating rules of war. It's a core value in the IDF to fight morally. And yes, in today's Israel and today's war it's not the same as it has been but relative to western armies it's within the practiced norms. Relative to Hamas whose strategy and tactics are one big war crime there's no comparison.

[michaelsshaw]

You're right, Hamas should focus on uniform production(they wear uniform bandanas BTW, watch their videos) while Gaza has a higher proportion of destroyed buildings than Germany in ww2. You certainly got your priorities straight.

[YZF]

They have other problems that are higher priority apparently: "A 22-year-old Palestinian man was tortured and killed by Hamas militants after he criticized the group publicly and participated in rare anti-Hamas protests in Gaza, his family said.

Uday Rabie was taken last week by dozens of armed fighters with Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, his brother Hassan Rabie told CNN on Tuesday." - https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/01/middleeast/uday-rabie-palesti...

And by the way, while they do have uniform, they don't wear them when they fight. Only for celebrations like their marching of civilian hostages. Gaza also has a higher proportion of structures used for military purposes (like all of them?) then Germany in WW2. There have been cities in Germany during WW-II that have been completely destroyed - we can pick that as a comparison. Picking entire Germany vs a tiny area is not reasonable.

[int_19h]

Not massacring civilians by the hundreds would be a good start.

[michaelsshaw]

And what about by the tens of thousands?

[YZF]

The IDF is not "massacring civilians by the tens of thousands". You could argue the IDF is very loose with its targeting and is willing to go after military targets even if many civilians get hurt. The Hamas was significantly looser with their targeting with 10's of thousands of rockets fired randomly into population centers.

The situation is completely different. One action is a defensive response and the other was an offensive initiative. There is no reality in which the Hamas attack can be framed as defensive or justifiable by any western values. The IDF response however is very much in line with what western nations have actually done, e.g. the US response to 9/11, the response to ISIS, WW-II or any other war you can think of.

The US went to the other side of the world to get the people it thought wanted to harm it. There wasn't even any real threat to its territory or people. It was simply about deterrence and getting even and it was significantly more heavy handed. Similarly other western powers that went after ISIS. Israel to contrast is facing an existential threat and parts of the country are/were unlivable because of the threat of attacks. It has no option other than the complete removal of Hamas from Gaza (and Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon which has largely been accomplished).

[michaelsshaw]

>The situation is completely different. One action is a defensive

There's nothing defensive about embarking on a self-described colonial endeavour.

[YZF]

There's no colonial endeavor. Jewish people returning to their historical homeland is not a colonial endeavour. Arab expansion in the middle east is a colonial endeavor. European expansion to the Americas and other places is a colonial endeavor.

I don't know where you live, your nationality or heritage, but you're likely more of a colonizer than any Israeli. Since most are. I'll bet you think you have the right to defend yourself, your family, your nation.

EDIT: Also I should thank you for saying that. A lot of people try to pretend that if only Israel behaved differently then everyone would live happily ever after. Most do not even understand what "Palestine" is and what "Israel". Where's the West Bank and where's Gaza. But the Palestinians and the Arabs believe the Israelis are colonizers (of the entire region) and invaders and therefore they have the right to kill them, civilians or otherwise, until they repel them out of the region and Israelis do not have the right of self defense. This is of course absurd and would discourage many people from supporting their cause so they try their best to not say this outwardly. The truth is that if the Palestinians and the Arab countries recognized the Jewish people's legitimate rights in the region and were looking for peace we'd have peace a long time ago.

[gryzzly]

https://www.euronews.com/2025/04/03/hamas-run-health-ministr...