Israel Strikes Designated "Safe Zone," Killing at Least 90 People and Injuring About 300

[Debater Slayer]

On Saturday, Israel struck a crowded area previously designated a "safe zone" in Gaza, killing at least 90 people and injuring about 300:

Israel said it targeted Hamas’ shadowy military commander in a massive strike Saturday in the crowded southern Gaza Strip that killed at least 90 people including children, according to local health officials. Hamas immediately rejected the claim that Mohammed Deif was in the area.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told journalists “there still isn’t absolute certainty” that Deif and a second Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, were killed. The strike took place in an area the military had designated as safe for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

The Gaza Health Ministry reported 90 dead and said at least 300 others were injured in the attack — one of the war's deadliest. Associated Press journalists counted over 40 bodies at overwhelmed Nasser Hospital nearby. Witnesses described an attack that included several strikes.

Air strike on Gaza 'safe zone' kills at least 90; Israel says it targeted Hamas chief Deif

An Israeli air strike that hit the densely populated Al-Mawasi area previously designated as a humanitarian safe zone near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Saturday killed at least 90 people…

www.france24.com

In an earlier article, doctors and other experts were also cited talking about the severe injuries, amputations, and maiming resulting from Israel's usage of shrapnel-packed weapons near refugee camps, tents, and civilian-populated areas in strikes on Gaza:

Israeli-made weapons designed to spray high levels of shrapnel are causing horrific injuries to civilians in Gaza and disproportionately harming children, foreign surgeons who worked in the territory in recent months have told the Guardian.

The doctors say many of the deaths, amputations and life changing wounds to children they have treated came from the firing of missiles and shells – in areas crowded with civilians – packed with additional metal designed to fragment into tiny pieces of shrapnel.

Volunteer doctors at two Gaza hospitals said that a majority of their operations were on children hit by small pieces of shrapnel that leave barely discernible entry wounds but create extensive destruction inside the body. Amnesty International has said that the weapons appear designed to maximise casualties.

Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon from California, worked at the European hospital in southern Gaza in April.

“About half of the injuries I took care of were in young kids. We saw a lot of so-called splinter injuries that were very, very small to the point that you easily missed them while examining a patient. Much, much smaller than anything I’ve seen before but they caused tremendous damage on the inside,” he said.

Weapons experts said the shrapnel and wounds are consistent with Israeli-made weapons designed to create large numbers of casualties unlike more conventional weapons used to destroy buildings. The experts question why they are being fired into areas packed with civilians.

An American military technician also explained the impact of the shrapnel-laden weapons when used in civilian areas:

Trevor Ball, a former US army explosive ordnance disposal technician, said the explosive sprays out tungsten cubes and ball bearings that are far more lethal than the blast itself.

“These balls and cubes are the main fragmentation effect from these munitions, with the munition casing providing a much smaller portion of the fragmentation effect. Most traditional artillery rounds and bombs rely on the munition casing itself rather than added fragmentation liners,” he said.

Ball said the metal cubes recovered by Adusumilli are typically found in Israeli-made weapons such as certain types of Spike missiles fired from drones. He said the doctors’ accounts of tiny entry wounds are also consistent with glide bombs and tank rounds fitted with fragmentation sleeves such as the M329 APAM shell, which is designed to penetrate buildings, and the M339 round which its manufacturer, Elbit Systems of Haifa, describes as “highly lethal against dismounted infantry”.

Some of the weapons are designed to penetrate buildings and kill everyone within the walls. But when they are dropped onto streets or among tents, there is no such containment.

“The issue comes with how these small munitions are being employed,” said Ball. “Even a relatively small munition employed in a crowded space, especially a space with little to no protection against fragmentation, such as a refugee camp with tents, can lead to significant deaths and injuries.”

Israeli weapons packed with shrapnel causing devastating injuries to children in Gaza, doctors say

Surgeons who worked in European and al-Aqsa hospitals describe extensive wounds caused by ‘fragmentation’ shrapnel experts say is designed to maximize casualties

www.theguardian.com

It is beyond an affront to human decency that there is still support for the atrocities, such as the above and others, that the IDF has committed and is committing in Gaza.

What will major Western powers do—primarily the US? Will they keep being silent or actively supportive of the IDF's actions militarily, geopolitically, and financially, or will they finally try to live up to even a semblance of what they claim are their values of "human rights" and "freedom"?

 

[Yerda]

What will major Western powers do—primarily the US? Will they keep being silent or actively supportive of the IDF's actions militarily, geopolitically, and financially, or will they finally try to live up to even a semblance of what they claim are their values of "human rights" and "freedom"?

Take a look at what happened to the people of Vietnam or Iraq and then ask yourself this question.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Take a look at what happened to the people of Vietnam or Iraq and then ask yourself this question.

Part of me wonders whether there is any way for abusive US hegemony to be sufficiently reined in except an unraveling propelled from within its own government by an event such as another Trump win, leading to significantly reduced global influence for the US.

I realize that such an event could get much worse before it could get better (if it could get better at all), but at this point, what alternative is there? The continuation of this heinous status quo?

 

[Harel13]

It is beyond an affront to human decency that there is still support for the atrocities, such as the above and others, that the IDF has committed and is committing in Gaza.

Not that I think you'd care but the IDF claims that the assault took place at a compound near the so-called safe zone.

I find it interesting, though hardly surprising, that you accept Hamas's facts on this.

 

[dybmh]

Part of me wonders whether

Part of me wonders why you trust yourself to KNOW what is actually happening so soon after an event like this.

Then I remember. Your previous posts didn't care about accuracy, fairness, or balance, in regard to this conflict. Just like a dog in heat.

 

[dybmh]

Not that I think you'd care

He cares. He cares a lot. That's the problem. Cooler heads prevail. That's why the IDF keeps beating these those thugs.

 

[dybmh]

I find it interesting, though hardly surprising, that you accept Hamas's facts on this

It's what happens when religion is replaced by politics. Or when politics IS a religion. In America, our founding documents separated Church and State for this very reason. However, they didn't take into account that Politics could BE a religion. That's a problem too, as we are seeing in America, and right here on RF too.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Not that I think you'd care but the IDF claims that the assault took place at a compound near the so-called safe zone.

The IDF are not amateurs; they would have known the expected results of striking near the safe zone. The resultant civilian death and injury tolls, whether in this strike or previous ones, are the same regardless of what the IDF claims.

I find it interesting, though hardly surprising, that you accept Hamas's facts on this.

Framing them as "Hamas's facts" even though many independent and major organizations and media outlets have made similar statements seems to me an attempt to discredit the extent of ongoing abuse. This is from the New York Times, hardly a Hamas-affiliated source in even the faintest sense of the word "affiliation":

Israel Struck Twice in Its Attack on Al-Mawasi, Videos and Photos Show

Visual evidence from Saturday’s strike in Gaza that left dozens dead appears to show that the Israeli military launched a separate strike near emergency vehicles.

www.nytimes.com

Also, saying it's "hardly surprising" strikes me as an attempt to discredit the person relaying the news instead of assessing what is being said, as if some secularist from the Middle East who supports a two-state solution would have any reason to trust Hamas. It's not the first time I have seen apologetics for the IDF's actions take the form of accusations of "accepting Hamas's facts" or some variation of that.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Part of me wonders why you trust yourself to KNOW what is actually happening so soon after an event like this.

Then I remember. Your previous posts didn't care about accuracy, fairness, or balance, in regard to this conflict. Just like a dog in heat.

He cares. He cares a lot. That's the problem. Cooler heads prevail. That's why the IDF keeps beating these those thugs.

Which "thugs"? The civilians who have been killed and maimed, or the people from various countries who side with them? Netanyahu said that he wasn't even "certain" whether the Hamas commander was killed in those strikes.

Cooler heads are clearly not prevailing, as evidenced by the fact that the likes of Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant are still in positions of power.

It's what happens when religion is replaced by politics. Or when politics IS a religion. In America, our founding documents separated Church and State for this very reason. However, they didn't take into account that Politics could BE a religion. That's a problem too, as we are seeing in America, and right here on RF too.

In your intemperate attempt to find a way to discredit the issue at hand, you seem to have missed that I'm not even affiliated with any religion or neglected to ask whether I am. It's as I said above: a lot of IDF apologetics almost default to trying to associate criticism of the IDF's actions with some affiliation with or acceptance of Hamas' claims or ideology.

 

[dybmh]

The IDF are not amateurs; they would have known the expected results of striking near the safe zone.

You don't KNOW what the IDF knows. Especially days after the event took place.

Your arrogance and ignorance are showing. Arguing from ignorance? Is that how you slay the debate?

This has got to be the best example of irrational thinking I've seen on this forum to date.

 

[Harel13]

Framing them as "Hamas's facts" even though many independent and major organizations and media outlets have made similar statements seems to me an attempt to discredit the extent of ongoing abuse. This is from the New York Times, hardly a Hamas-affiliated source in even the faintest sense of the word "affiliation":

Well, they both despise Israel, so there's that.

The Red Crescent reported significantly lower numbers. But you and the NY Times and many other news outlets pretty consistently prefer Hamas's numbers. Well, you do you, I suppose.

 

[dybmh]

In your intemperate attempt

It's true, dude. You're not thinking this through. You're either unwilling or unable to see this clearly. You do not have enough facts to judge what's happening in Gaza 1 week ago, much less what happened over the weekend.

It takes time for the outsider, at a distance, to get the full story. Case closed. Arguing from ignorance. Serving the Greek God liberalis-politicalis.

That's the entire anti-Israel agenda. Arguing from ignorance. What else ya got to discuss? Let me guess. Nothing. This is all you have?

 

[Debater Slayer]

Well, they both despise Israel, so there's that.

That seems to me a claim about the NYT that needs significant evidence to corroborate. Various media outlets have been accused by many people of bias whether for or against Israel, Palestinians, etc., so I think it would be quite unwise to accept such an accusation without ample evidence, especially when things are as heated as they are now.

The Red Crescent reported significantly lower numbers. But you and the NY Times and many other news outlets pretty consistently prefer Hamas's numbers. Well, you do you, I suppose.

I don't see anything about the total number of deaths and injuries in that link; only reporting about the number of dead recovered by one group, the PRCS, and the number of injured they treated or sent to another hospital.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said its emergency teams dealt with 102 injuries and recovered 23 bodies in the aftermath of the Israeli attack on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Mawasi.

In a statement on X, the group said that 70 injured people and 21 bodies were taken to the PRCS's Al-Quds Field Hospital, while another 22 injuries were transferred to al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis.

Not that the 23 killed and 102 injured are negligible by any means, but there's no indication at all that these are the total numbers.

 

[dybmh]

The Red Crescent reported significantly lower numbers

HAMAS and their friends: ".... you and your facts and figures. We don't need no stinking facts and figures. We're a meme-factory. We speak "baby-talk" and the world will listen to our cries!!! Bwahahahahah."

idiots.

 

[dybmh]

no indication at all that these are the total numbers.

^^ BIAS ALERT ^^

DS, you admit to a lack of information ONLY WHEN IT FAVORS YOU. That's a red-flag, dude. You got it bad. Confirmation bias. It's a cognitive fault. There is no cure, but there is treatment. It's called Agnosticism. It's the rational choice ONLY WHEN IT IS APPLIED EQUALLY.

 

[Debater Slayer]

It's true, dude. You're not thinking this through.

Just because someone has criticisms of the IDF's actions and doesn't agree with your assessments doesn't mean they're not thinking this through.

You're either unwilling or unable to see this clearly. You do not have enough facts to judge what's happening in Gaza 1 week ago, much less what happened over the weekend.

It takes time for the outsider, at a distance, to get the full story. Case closed. Arguing from ignorance. Serving the Greek God liberalis-politicalis.

The war has been going on for over nine months. I have not seen you acknowledge any abuse on the part of the IDF during that time, not even once or twice. How much time do you think people have to wait before they criticize bombardment that has claimed tens of thousands of civilians' lives and injured many more?

That's the entire anti-Israel agenda. Arguing from ignorance. What else ya got to discuss? Let me guess. Nothing. This is all you have?

^^ BIAS ALERT ^^

DS, you admit to a lack of information ONLY WHEN IT FAVORS YOU. That's a red-flag, dude. You got it bad. Confirmation bias. It's a cognitive fault. There is no cure, but there is treatment. It's called Agnosticism. It's the rational choice ONLY WHEN IT IS APPLIED EQUALLY.

And we're back to the same assumptions as before: people who criticize the IDF's actions must be accepting of Hamas' claims, have an "anti-Israel agenda," or have some other defect in their thinking or character. It just can't be that they're merely against the mass killing and injury occurring among civilians.

 

[dybmh]

that needs significant evidence to corroborate

^^ BIAS ALERT ^^

DS, you admit to a lack of information ONLY WHEN IT FAVORS YOU. That's a red-flag, dude. You got it bad. Confirmation bias. It's a cognitive fault. There is no cure, but there is treatment. It's called Agnosticism. It's the rational choice ONLY WHEN IT IS APPLIED EQUALLY.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Then I remember. Your previous posts didn't care about accuracy, fairness, or balance, in regard to this conflict. Just like a dog in heat.

I can think of exceedingly few people on RF who are more knowledgable, balanced, and calibrated in his comments than @Debater Slayer.
Your ad hominem is as ludicrous as it is loathsome.

 

[dybmh]

Just because someone has criticisms of the IDF's actions...

You don't KNOW the IDFs actions. You think you do, but you're fooling yourself.

 

[dybmh]

I can think of exceedingly few people on RF who are more knowledgable, balanced, and calibrated in his comments than @Debater Slayer.

Your judgement is compromised. Your religion is politics.