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Read other letters about this article
I'll actually agree that I don't think Hamas is hiding behind civilians per se.
In fact, they seem to be accurately reporting their loses and not trying to pretend they are civilians.
The problem is as you've written.
The Gaza strip area is 139 sqm. Its 1.5 million residents are actually crammed into a much smaller areas, mostly incredibly densely populated refugee camps. The Gaza strip can actually be likened to a few sardine cans piled on top of one another. Shelling or attacking Gaza from the air is similar to throwing a hand grenade into a small room crammed with dozens of people where heavy casualties are guaranteed. Because of its great density, any military attack on Gaza will kill civilians even if the attackers don't actually want to kill civilians,
I'll even go farther and state that Hamas can't really fight from non-civilian areas because they really aren't that many, and it would be futile. They'd instantly be destroyed, and nobody fights at such a disadvantage.
Plus, unlike what has sometimes happened, Hamas doesn't seem to be killing civilians in order to up the civilian death count. (I'm not saying Hamas itself has done this)
While Hamas does benefit politically from displaying civilian deaths, it appears that they are working to reduce the number of civilians killed and wounded.
But here you've lost your way
and the terrorist state of Israel certainly had no intention of sparing the Gaza civilians, fondly referred to by Israeli soldiers and civilians as "djukim" in the Hebrew vernacular, meaning cockroaches.
I'm quite sure that many Israelis have used such terms and worse, but you know that Israel is trying to spare Gaza civilians, because otherwise the death toll would be much much higher.
Even if only believe that Israel is doing so because civilian deaths hurt them politically, you know as a former IDF member that if Israel were not concerned about civilian deaths the number would be far far greater.
