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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. YZF · · focus · HN ↗
      The buildings were levelled with bulldozers for the most part after the civilians left during combat operations against the tunnel infrastructure and any remaining combatants. Not sure what the &quot;surgical strikes&quot; comment is about. Are you asking why weren&#x27;t open spaces destroyed or attacked?
      1. a_paddy · · focus · HN ↗
        How does bulldozing a family home have any affect on a tunnel?
        1. JumpCrisscross · · focus · HN ↗
          &gt; How does bulldozing a family home have any affect on a tunnel?

          The tunnel entrances and exits are tremendously hard to find. Some of them were located in private residences.

          But Israel has an oil &amp; gas industry. They have equipment that can look underneath a quiet city. If tunnel elimination were truly the goal, temporarily displacing the population while clearing operations took place should have been sufficient. As it stands, simply bulldozing over the entrances probably doesn&#x27;t actually destroy the tunnels. It just hides their entrances.

          1. 21asdffdsa12 · · focus · HN ↗
            The problem is that the homes are booby trapped. US would not send soldiers into iraq towns too- one trap - one ambush, and its artillery o clock.
            1. estearum · · focus · HN ↗
              Can you link to any documented cases of the US leveling a city after encountering a trap or ambush?
              1. 21asdffdsa12 · · focus · HN ↗
                <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Battle_of_Basra_(2003)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Battle_of_Basra_(2003)
                1. themgt · · focus · HN ↗
                  I was more opposed to the Iraq war than 99.9% of Americans, and this is just ahistorical bullshit.

                  You can go look at Basra right here:

                  <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;place&#x2F;Basrah,+Basra+Governorate,+Iraq&#x2F;@30.5132736,47.7806886,14224m&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;maps&#x2F;place&#x2F;Basrah,+Basra+Governorate,...

                  Over a million people live here. The estimate was that &quot;448 to 593 civilians were killed due to coalition military operations&quot;, orders of magnitude less than Israel has killed. Basra was not wiped off the map or seized and annexed by coalition forces while the population was herded into a concentration camp.

                  It is simply slander against the US military to suggest they have in the 21st century done anything like what the IDF has done in this genocide.

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