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US President Joe Biden accused Israel of “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza, after previously telling Israel “…to be careful. The whole world’s public opinion can shift overnight…” US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer also criticized Israel for not doing enough to protect civilians: “There have been aspects of how the conflict was conducted in the north that we think did not show sufficient care for civilian life and those aspects should be ameliorated in the south.”
Is Israel indiscriminately bombing Gaza as the President claims?
The data suggests otherwise:
- Israel hit over 22,000 targets in Gaza, which, if you accept Hamas’ quote of 18,000 dead, amounts to less than one fatality per strike;
- An IDF spokesman estimated earlier in the month that there are two civilians deaths for every Hamas death, meaning 33% of those the IDF have killed are terrorists, which hardly looks indiscriminate given the nature of urban warfare; and
- Former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman argues that the IDF has killed 8,000 Hamas terrorists. Again taking that 18,000 number from Hamas as fact, this amounts to about 44% of those killed in urban warfare being terrorists.
The “indiscriminate bombing” canard also fails to take into account all the steps Israel has done to minimize civilian casualties. At the expense of telegraphing its attack plans to Hamas, Israel has spent significant resources and energy encouraging civilians to temporarily move to humanitarian safe zones, and dropping flyers, calling, texting, and broadcasting via radio and other means to get civilians out of harm’s way.
The Biden administration fails to account for the extent to which Hamas embeds itself within the civilian population, making it very difficult for Israel to avoid civilian casualties. Just some examples of Hamas’ war crimes include:
Stealing humanitarian aid
- Hamas commandeered humanitarian aid vehicles and shot people from the convoy;
- In a separate instance, Hamas operatives stole humanitarian aid from civilians in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, beat civilians and then drove off with the aid;
Firing from humanitarian zones
- Hamas fired rockets at Israel from humanitarian zones in Gaza. Hamas fired 116 rockets from one such zone towards Israel, with 38 of them falling within Gaza;
Using hospitals as military sites
- Hamas had at least 70 armed terrorists in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, which the IDF found, engaged, and captured;
- Hamas embedded itself in Shifa Hospital since at least 2008;
- Hamas fired on the IDF from inside the Indonesian Hospital. The IDF has also claimed that Hamas’ tunnel network runs underneath this hospital and that Hamas stages rocket launchers meters away from the hospital;
Using mosques as military sites
- Hamas had a combat training room in a mosque in Northern Gaza, equipped with a RPG launcher and a machine gun;
- Hamas stationed terrorists on the roof of a mosque in the Khan Younis area, which the IDF engaged. It is unclear from the reporting if a bomb and an entrance to a Hamas tunnel was in the mosque, or in the vicinity;
- In a separate instance, Hamas attacked the IDF from a mosque in Beit Hanoun;
Using schools as military sites
- Hamas fired on the IDF from a school in the Khan Younis area;
- Hamas terrorists were embedded in a school in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood. After killing the terrorists, the IDF found weapons in the classrooms of the school;
- Hamas attacked the IDF from a UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun;
- The IDF found a sniper rifle inside a teddy bear in one of the schools;
- The IDF found weapons inside UNRWA bags in a school;
- The IDF found parts of rockets and explosives, as well as a tunnel entrance, at Al-Azhar; University (in the Rimal neighborhood in Northern Gaza);
Other
- Hamas sent a group of 100 women and children to confront the IDF as the IDF was attacking Hamas’s Central Jabaliya Battalion compound; and
- The IDF found an anti-tank missile under an infant’s bed.
Rather than spending political capital on accusing Israel of indiscriminate bombing to appease Hamas, Qatar and Iran, the Biden administration should unequivocally support Israel’s war to destroy Hamas. The administration should also support Israel in its efforts to document Hamas’ war crimes so that the free world can try Hamas members for such crimes following the war. The complete destruction of Hamas, and the trial of Hamas members that remain after the war, will yield the best chance for peace
