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by oscaracso 296 days ago
That is an interesting statistic, but India is a subcontinent while Gaza is one marathon long. I would anticipate need to travel to vary inversely with area. Wouldn't it be queer if, at most, 6% of Manhattanites stepped foot off the island each year?
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richardfeynman 296 days ago
Two clarifications. First, I’m talking about exits, not unique people. Pre-war Gaza logged ~500k documented exits/year (via Israel and Egypt) out of ~2 M residents; India logged ~21.6 M departures out of ~1.4 B. Both are trip counts, so repeat travelers are included.

Second, area is a red herring. Cross-border mobility is driven by policy, permits, visas, income, and border agency capacity—not square kilometers. Manhattan is integrated into a national customs/transport network; Gaza isn’t. Despite severe restrictions, Gaza still had hundreds of thousands of recorded border crossings annually.

That’s why the literal “open-air prison” claim fails. Prisons don’t run departure counters. If the term is metaphorical for harsh movement controls, say that. But if it’s meant literally, the exit data contradicts it.

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oscaracso 296 days ago
I think we disagree on a great many things and it probably will not be resolved through an accounting of facts or reasoned argument. I will mention that as far as 'red-herrings' go, the OP did not mention 10/7 when they called Gaza an open air prison.
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richardfeynman 296 days ago
Indeed, I can see facts won't sway you, or most people in the pro-Palestine camp.

Also, I didn't mention the 10/7 attack either. The narrative that gaza is an open-air prison has existed for years, and it has been manifestly wrong for years; that hasn't stopped anyone from claiming it.

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chaps 296 days ago
You did in your first comment of this thread on August 31, 2025 at 5:51:18 AM GMT.

https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/item/45080674.json

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richardfeynman 296 days ago
Is your reading comprehension off? I said it wasn't an open air prison, which it isn't.
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chaps 296 days ago
The only thing that I'm responding to is the first three space-delimited tokens in your post, which was "Prior to 10/7,".

Webster's dictionary defines "mention" as:

  > the act or an instance of citing or calling attention to someone or something especially in a casual or incidental manner
So yes, you did mention "10/7".
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