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Updated Google Maps shows destruction of the city of Rafah

943 points · 947 comments · slowin

  1. bognition · · focus · HN ↗
    Its really telling to see the destruction limited to where the structures used to be rather than to all of the surrounding green spaces. If the destruction of civilian dwellings was purely an accident you'd expect to see the destruction spread evenly over the area. Instead it looks much more like a prolonged set of surgical strikes to destroy the buildings while preserving as much of the surrounding areas as possible.

    For a great example of this, look at this pin <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maps.app.goo.gl&#x2F;ZcMbdFcx87PrqoYNA" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maps.app.goo.gl&#x2F;ZcMbdFcx87PrqoYNA

    And here&#x27;s a pin of where the farms were spared <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maps.app.goo.gl&#x2F;iZbbTH4iH27FCz4s9" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maps.app.goo.gl&#x2F;iZbbTH4iH27FCz4s9

    1. biimugan · · focus · HN ↗
      I don&#x27;t quite understand your argument here. In your first pin I&#x27;m struggling to find a single building that isn&#x27;t leveled, or at least severely damaged. Even buildings far away from the city center in the boonies are leveled.
      1. cogman10 · · focus · HN ↗
        They are saying that this is genocidal destruction. In a war sometimes civilian infrastructure is hit as collateral. But here, all infrastructure is destroyed and it&#x27;s clear this wasn&#x27;t done by 1 or 2 errant bombs but rather because of direct targeting. It can&#x27;t be argued to be an accident because in farmland you see no bombs which hit the farmland by mistake. In other-words, this is entirely purposeful.
        1. YZF · · focus · HN ↗

          [dead]

          1. pjc50 · · focus · HN ↗
            &gt; evacuation orders. This prompted an estimated 1 million to 1.4 million civilians

            &quot;Evacuating&quot; a million people who will not be allowed to return is &quot;ethnic cleansing&quot;.

            1. SiempreViernes · · focus · HN ↗
              It&#x27;s not even evacuation because the IDF does not provide facilities to go to, it&#x27;s just forced displacement.
              1. someonebaggy · · focus · HN ↗
                And the one major time (and probably many more unreported) that they did provide an evacuation site, they waited for the evacuation, then bombed the shit out of the evacuation site claiming &quot;Hamas is here lol&quot;
                1. YZF · · focus · HN ↗
                  Well. Hamas was there. Those attacks targeted specific people and we know they were killed. Israel did not bomb the shit out of the evacuation site, the number of civilians killed in Al-Muasi was extremely low. A lot less than e.g. the allies killed in Mosul where they did not evacuate the population.

                  Mohammed Deif. The head of Hamas&#x27; military wing. Was killed in the humanitarian zone. Rafah Salameh. The head of the Khan Younis brigade. Was killed in the humanitarian zone.

                  These claims are repeated a lot. They are baseless. A critical mind and a bit of research will prove that to you.

                  It doesn&#x27;t matter what Israel does. In Rafah Israel objectively and measurably did much better than western armies fighting against Mosul in terms of civilian casualties (and you can include those in the humanitarian zones, still better). But Israel is held to a higher standard.

                  EDIT: And more: Yassin Rabia, Khaled Nagar, Osama Tabesh, Ayman Mabhouh, Samer Ismail Khadr Aby Daqqa. Fact check me. Also Israel has documented rocket launching from humanitarian zones. Israel has also retrieved bodies of hostages (including Hersh Goldberg) from tunnels under humanitarian zones.

                  1. someonebaggy · · focus · HN ↗
                    If you just kill everyone you do often kill the people you were looking for as well.
            2. YZF · · focus · HN ↗
              1) They will be allowed to return.

              2) It is a requirement by international law.

              3) If we compare this to the Battle of Mosul. Which is a pretty good comparison. They are very similar. That battle had a much larger civilian casualty count. The allies there decided to not evacuate the population and the result of that was a much larger number of civilian deaths. Are you proposing that Israel should have done the same? I.e. not evacuate the population and have a significantly higher number of civilian casualties? Do you feel that if Israel did that it would enjoy a similar support as the allies had when they went after ISIS in Mosul?

              Basically Israel did the right thing here. Provably better (judging by the number of civilian casualties) than the western armies that allied against ISIS did in Mosul. The ethnic cleansing allegation is not supported by evidence and really can&#x27;t be proven until the war is over.

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