politics

Sometimes Hamas packs their whole family into the room above the tunnel shafts and forces them to stay to die proudly as martyrs.

God how ridiculous are the things you believe to keep yourself from seeing Israel is butchering mostly civilians. Why would Israel know the room is full of civilians before bombing? Imagine, you're whatever heinous evil you see Hamas as, and you're trying to avoid being bombed in your secret tunnel. Why would you pack a room full of civilians right above your location? Are you doing it in secret so IDF doesnt see where you are, if so that doesnt give you any protection because they wouldnt know about the civilians to be deterred from bombing anyway. Or in broad daylight to make sure they know civilians and you are there, in this war where the presence of civilians has not stopped them from leveling neighborhoods at all.

This is not the uplifting story you seem to think it is. Someone rung this poor random guy and made him evacuate his entire community under extreme time pressure, only to destroy all the infrastructure so they can never return.

Three buildings were destroyed. As Mahmoud watched the destruction, the man on the phone said three more buildings would be bombed and then the residents would be allowed to return.

But a change of orders came suddenly.

They would bomb the full row of apartment blocks on the eastern side of the street, Mahmoud recalls being told.

This was more than 20 tower blocks, and hundreds of homes.

"There were people we hadn't evacuated yet because there was no warning about those buildings. I told him, 'At least give us until morning, in night time, where will the people go?'

"The answer was, 'The orders have been received, and we will bomb all towers within two hours.'"

Mahmoud screamed at people to clear the area, running from block to block.

Residents describe chaotic scenes of adults shouting and children weeping. Some parents and children lost one another in the melee.

Despite the panic, Mahmoud stayed on the phone the whole time, trying his best to delay the bombing.

The voice on the other end of the phone continued, without emotion.

"He even told me, 'Take your time. I won't bomb unless you give me permission.'

"I said 'No, it's not my permission. I don't want you to bomb anything. If you want me to evacuate, I will evacuate for the safety of the people, but if you want to bomb, don't tell me you need my permission.

And towards the end:

Mahmoud and the man who called himself Daoud kept speaking until the streets went quiet. Then the calls abruptly stopped without any further instructions for the people of al-Zahra.

"They didn't tell us to go back to our homes, or to evacuate or leave the area. So people waited until noon, and then they started to move," Mahmoud says.

In the hours and days that followed, the community of al-Zahra, like many in Gaza, disbanded.

"Even for the people whose homes were still standing, there are no services left… the sewage systems are damaged, there is no bakery, there is no supermarket, there is no water, no electricity," Mahmoud says.

They didn't care about this man. They took everything he had apart from his actual life and he had done nothing wrong. You think it is a story of IDF benevolence but it is literally a war crime.