Most Destructive in Recent History

Most Destructive in Recent History

The Associated Press had a story yesterday (December 21, 2023 ) – in fact, the lead story – titled: Israel’s military campaign in Gaza seen as among the most destructive in recent history, experts say.  The article reports about the extensive physical damage inflicted on the Gaza Strip by Israel’s military campaign, and compares this battleground’s devastation relative to battlegrounds in other wars. The article gives scant mention to the reason why this military campaign is so destructive – and only in the very last paragraph when many readers have stopped reading, or their eyes have glazed over. Of course, the reason this campaign is so destructive is because no other war has been waged against an army that conducts its warfare from an underground warren of tunnels that permeates the entire population center, requiring the destruction of civilian infrastructure only because Hamas is embedded in and under that infrastructure. The article also entirely neglects to mention that, under international law, Israel is entirely within its rights to bomb civilian infrastructure when that infrastructure is part of shielding military activity of combatants. This AP article, then, fails to give the context [I so hate using this word] for Israel’s actions, and is designed to engender disgust of Israel’s military activity without heaping any scorn on Hamas’ usage of civilians and civilian infrastructure – apartment buildings, mosques, schools and hospitals — as human shields.

A recent interview by Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk on Russian television puts this very much in perspective. When he was asked by the interviewer why Hamas does not let the citizens of Gaza seek protection from Israeli bombing in the tunnels, he replied: “The tunnels in Gaza were built to protect Hamas fighters, not civilians; protecting Gaza civilians is the responsibility of the UN and Israel.” So, this is why Gaza is being leveled.