How the hell did we get to the point that saying “maybe you should stop indiscriminately bombing the hell out of civilians” was at all controversial?
This is such a good question
That’s obviously a misrepresentation of the opposing point of view, whether you agree with it or not. It’s more like “Imposing a ceasefire prevents Israel from retaliating against Hamas killing 1200 civilians”.
I wouldn’t call it a misrepresentation. That’s the form of retaliation they’ve decided to take, so if you are of the opinion that preventing Israel from seeking that retaliation is bad, you have to be fine with indiscriminate bombing of civilians.
Using loaded words like “indiscriminate” that carry a specific wartime meaning is not helpful in this case. The bombing of Dresden was indiscriminate. Israel using PGMs on specific buildings is not. Plus, the bombings aren’t even the main reason for public outcry — it’s the blockade (rightfully so).
What are we trying to be helpful about, exactly? Nearly 20k dead over the course of a couple months is plenty indiscriminate.
Where did you get that 20k figure?
I like how I get downvoted just for asking for a source. That article has mixed feelings about the reliability of the 20k estimate, but even if it’s only half that, it’s a lot of dead civilians.
The problem faced by the IDF is in fighting an insurgent force that deliberately embeds itself into the civilian population of a very densely-populated area with shoddy building quality. There’s basically no way to fight Hamas without innocent Palestinians getting caught in the crossfire. I do think Israel has made its point and am glad that most of the world is pushing for a ceasefire now.