1y ago

'I’m calling from Israeli intelligence. We have the order to bomb. You have two hours'

www.bbc.com 'I’m calling from Israeli intelligence. We have the order to bomb. You have two hours'

An extraordinary warning call to a Palestinian dentist starts the panicked evacuation of a Gazan neighbourhood.

By Alice Cuddy BBC News, Jerusalem

The call to Mahmoud Shaheen came at dawn.

It was Thursday 19 October at about 06:30, and Israel had been bombing Gaza for 12 days straight.

He'd been in his third-floor, three-bedroom flat in al-Zahra, a middle-class area in the north of the Gaza Strip. Until now, it had been largely untouched by air strikes.

He'd heard a rising clamour outside. People were screaming. "You need to escape," somebody in the street shouted, "because they will bomb the towers".

168 comments

Everytime I read an article like this, my immediate reaction is posting a comment expressing my disgust with the Israeli State's actions and everytime I hesitate because I don't want to suffer the inevitable wave of people defending the Israeli State's actions as somehow justifiable because Hamas did something vile first.
It's a continuing cycle of violence and the Israeli State holds a humongous power advantage. They don't use that power disparity to deescalate and integrate the Palestinian people to prevent Hamas from having support. Instead they do shit like this where they drive Palestinians straight into Hamas' hands, because the Palestinian people are given no other option to turn to.
- Your last point is why I feel like what Israel is doing is just straight up illogical, even from a purely selfish point of view. The only thing they are doing here is basically proving Hamas "right" in the eyes of many Gazans, and fueling a fervent desire for revenge. If someone living in Gaza wasn't already a terrorist, they sure as hell are much much more likely to be one now.
  Imagine how you would feel if your home and possibly moved ones were bombed like this, losing you everything or nearly everything you hold dear. You lose autonomy over your own life, you lose your independence and rights. I imagine it feels a lot like losing rights as a minority, or something like getting an abortion becoming illegal, turned to the extreme. And these things being threatened to be done to me already cause me to feel strong contempt against the perpetrators. If pushed far enough, things like this would cause me to become a "terrorist", in the sense of being willing to strongly resist it in an attempt to maintain my rights and autonomy.
  But of course, whether I would be called a terrorist or not depends on how it's framed, and how much compassion or understanding people would give me. Hell, in the US LGBTQ+ activists, or anti-racist/anti-fascist activists are already called terrorists sometimes.
  
  Their plan is to eliminate all Palestinians and take their land. The more each side escalates, the closer they can get to that; sure, some Israeli may die, but that gives them justification to exterminate scores of Palestinians every time.
  
  There are three lenses through which the Israeli government's actions make sense:
  They are supremacists who were looking for an excuse to escalate an ethnic cleansing they have no way to complete without a goddamn good framing for the Western press.
  They're a far right government looking to appease far right voters who only want to solve a blood conflict with more blood, and never by taking advantage of their superior position to force de-escalation. These are politicians merely trying to conserve their own seats, no matter ethical considerations or what's good for their country.
  Racism, ethnic supremacism, religious bigotry, emotional meltdowns and the unability to see a conflict in any other way than seeing you as the first and last victim are all great ingredients to enter into a spiral of terribly irrational decisions. All of these ingredients are present in the Israeli government and in a good portion of Israeli society.
  
  I think in the eyes of the Government it makes a lot of sense to act the way they do, it’s a great casus belli that has been dropped into their lap to ‘finally’ wipe out Gaza.
  
  No, what Israel is doing makes sense from a strictly selfish point of view.
  The question of 'Why doesn't Israel integrate the Palestinians?' is a good one. The answer is numbers.
  Israel was founded as a Jewish ethnostate. Those who have immigrated there have done so because they wanted to live in a Jewish ethnostate. So one of the core values of the country is that it is primarily a place for Jews.
  If Israel absorbed the populations of Gaza and the West Bank into Israel, the Jewish population would become a minority in Israel if not immediately then within a generation.
  I don't agree with the idea of ethnostates in general and I do believe establishing Israel as one was a mistake.
  ... But if you imagine the viewpoint of someone who does want a Jewish ethnostate like so many in Israel you can see why this solution is a non starter.
  
  It's because their corrupt far-right government wants to wipe out Palestinians. That's their end goal apparently.
  I just hope enough decent people both Palestinian and Israeli get the fuck out of there before the genocide shit show truly begins.
  
  A bit of a sidenote but I think you'll be very happy about Hamas' stance on abortion or lgbtq+ rights
- May Hamas, the Israeli gov't, and the IDF spend an eternity in Hell for the crimes they've committed against humanity and innocent civilians.
  If the mods/admins want to ban me for saying that, feel free. I don't want to be part to any group that supports and advocates for murders and war crimes.
- Imagine trying to justify thousands of murdered children because some people decided to attack a festival.
  An attack, I might add, the government had been informed of and bafflingly did the opposite of adding protection to heavy traffic areas...
  
  That's because Netanyahu has a long history of supporting Hamas for his own political gains.
  For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces, Times of Israel, 8 October 2023
  Thus, amid this bid to impair Abbas, Hamas was upgraded from a mere terror group to an organization with which Israel held indirect negotiations via Egypt, and one that was allowed to receive infusions of cash from abroad.
  The symbiotic relationship between Netanyahu and Hamas, The Hill, October 22, 2023
  Netanyahu’s policy, however, was in direct opposition to most of the Israeli defense and security establishment, which viewed cooperation with the PA to be in Israel’s security interest. Fans of the Netflix series “Fauda” will recognize that cooperation. Most security experts felt the PA needed to be strengthened, not weakened.
  Since returning to power in 2009, Netanyahu made no secret of his desire to keep Hamas and the PA apart for his own political purposes. For example, in 2017, the PA and Hamas were negotiating a possible takeover by the PA of civilian control of the Gaza Strip. Even though the United States and Egypt supported this reconciliation, Netanyahu was adamantly opposed — lest it empower the PA.
  Why Netanyahu helped fund Hamas and how that backfired for Israel, India Today, November 1, 2023
  “Whoever is against a Palestinian state should be for transferring the funds to Gaza, because maintaining a separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza helps prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Prime Minister Netanyahu as saying in 2019.
  Video: Ex-Saudi intel chief accuses Israel of 'funnelling' Qatari money to Hamas, India Today, October 31, 2023
  Prince Turki al-Faisal's accusation against Israel comes days after a report by Reuters, citing a source privy to the matter, stated that Qatar's financial aid to the Palestinian families in Gaza passes through Israel. The funds are transferred electronically from Qatar to Israel, following which Israeli and United Nations (UN) officials hand-carry the same over the border to the Gaza Strip.
  How Netanyahu's Hamas policy came back to haunt him — and Israel, CBC News, October 28, 2023
  Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, told the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth in 2013 that "if we look at it over the years, one of the main people contributing to Hamas's strengthening has been Bibi Netanyahu, since his first term as prime minister."
  In August 2019, former prime minister Ehud Barak told Israeli Army Radio that Netanyahu's "strategy is to keep Hamas alive and kicking … even at the price of abandoning the citizens [of the south] … in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah."
  Netanyahu's current finance minister, West Bank settler Belazel Smotrich, explained the approach to Israel's Knesset channel in 2015: "Hamas is an asset, and (Palestinian Authority leader) Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) is a burden."
  "But each time Netanyahu was asked, 'Why don't you negotiate with Abbas,' he would say, 'I can't negotiate with a Palestinian Authority that doesn't represent all Palestinians.' And so he would use Hamas and this division to justify his absolute objection to any negotiated peace agreement."
  Liberman: Netanyahu sent Mossad head, general to Qatar, ‘begged’ it to pay Hamas, Times of Israel, February 20, 2022
  “Both Egypt and Qatar are angry with Hamas and planned to cut ties with them. Suddenly Netanyahu appears as the defender of Hamas, as though it was an environmental organization. This is a policy of submission to terror,” he said, adding that Israel was paying Hamas “protection money” to maintain the calm.
  Netanyahu: Money to Hamas part of strategy to keep Palestinians divided, Jerusalem Post, March 12, 2019
  The prime minister also said that, “whoever is against a Palestinian state should be for” transferring the funds to Gaza, because maintaining a separation between the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza helps prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
  
  Didnt they attacked kibboutz ?
- I posted this article even though I nominally support what Israel is doing here. This war has a legitimate human cost and there's no reason to belive that reasonable people will never view that cost as too high.
  I think the story painted here shows both the horrid cost on civilian life that these bombings have and the extensive efforts to avoid civilian casualties that the IDF takes.
  Short of an Jeff Bezos takeover of Gaza to turn it into the world's biggest Amazon warehouse, I literally don't know what could possibly solve the situation. It's clear from the cheering crowds praising raped corpses that there's too much hatred to reasonably integrate Gaza into greater Israel. And it's clear from the massive terror the Muslim Brotherhood caused in Egypt, that they could never integrate into an Egyptian society . And is clear from the 4-6x Marshall Plan per person they've received in aid that aid to Gaza is a black hole that will never lead to a thriving society. After 2004 I remember this optimism and a belief that this Israel/Palestine thing was really back on pace for a 2 state solution. And now I just don't see it.
  
  Some solution has to be found. If Israel just empties Palestine of Palestinians and claims it all as Israel, that won't give them the safety they want from attacks by nutters. The crazy thing that is, there are right wing nutters in Israel wanting to exactly that. Ethnic cleansing is no way to peace. Even the US won't support them doing that. Even doing it salami slicing with nutty settlers isn't going unnoticed.
  There needs to be a justice system to deal with nutters. You can't deal with harsh collective punishment. It's a nutters response that just creates more nutters on the other side. Which nutters of the side partly want to justify their own nuttiness and to create more of them on their own side.
- the inevitable wave of people defending the Israeli State’s actions
  I think that wave has broken. They were a very vocal minority and some of them have been banned already.
- Post it anyways and block all of the disgusting comments afterwards, you'll be gradually cleaning up your Lemmy experience as you do
  
  See, on one hand that seems like a good idea, but whilst people can have reprehensible views on one topic they might also have reasonable contributions for another.
- Most of the working class stands with Palestine.
  
  Citation needed.
- I feel the same way here (Lemmy) because I support Israel. Funny, how being a minority works.
  EDIT: to be fair, I don't have the numbers to claim who is a minority or not.
  
  If you feel the need to express your unswerving support for the actions of the Israeli state under this news article, please tell us, how you see the mass destruction of civilian homes justified and necessary.
  Usual disclaimer: I support neither side here. Both use horrible methods to achieve their goals and I hope for a ceasefire and improvement of both governments. From my limited information a revolution will likely be needed in case of Palestine, in Israel elections may suffice.
  
  Poor fucking you. Could try having some sympathy for the kids killed in a paediatric hospital in the last week.
  
  It's so cool how people who support a genocide will just straight up tell you like this.
  
  Funny how you just completely confirmed OPs hesitancy to post. You are not a minority for supporting the IDF.
  
  Notice how the comment you replied to, despite claiming they "always get hate" has nothing but supportive people upvoting, while you have 3 angry lions going for the neck because you dare to say you support Israel...
  It has come too far to ever work. This community, @world, is no longer a place for biased news. I have had to block for a long time, but just came back to see if it was still such a mess. Turns out it is.
  The worst thing is that the mods here are directly supporting this.

This story made me cry. I am disabled and not always mobile. There are loved ones in my family who are elderly, cannot walk far, and depend on medication.
I cannot even imagine what it must be like to try to evacuate at short notice, with nowhere to go.
- It is brutal, just incredibly sad. Israel’s military has a long history of weaponizing disability, as you may know, and it’s been illuminating to examine that further.
  When you’re ready, the excellent disability-focused podcast Death Panel offered some insights I had never encountered elsewhere. Please listen to the following episodes on SoundCloud or wherever you would like. I hope they can offer some solace and empowerment.
  Public Health and Palestine with Danya Qato
  Body Politics with Jasbir Puar
  
  Thank you.
- I cannot even imagine what it must be like to try to evacuate at short notice, with nowhere to go.
  It's a radicalizing experience, to say the least.
- they need to go south - that's somewhere.
  
  they need to go south - that's somewhere.
  You're either incredibly ignorant or deliberately trying to incite hatred.
  Go south??
  You mean to this refugee camp that Israel told them to go to, that they then bombed anyway?
  
  Ah yes, please leave your home, with everything in it included, all your memories, possessions, everything and leave within 2 hours "south". Just generally "south". Oh and you can't come back btw, your house wont exist.
  
  Tf?..
  
  Isrealis should just move to Florida instead of settlements.
  Problem solved.
  
  everyone needs to block this absolute garbage troll
  
  Where Israel is also bombing rofl please just stop

I can't imagine packing up and leaving in 2 hours with my whole family and all my cats and everything
- You dont have two hours to pack. You have two hours to not be in the area anymore
  
  That's literally what they said tho
- If you still live in Northern Gaza to this day, after all that's being going on, and all the warnings to GTFO... you better keep your cats and belongings pre-packed and ready to be several blocks away in 30 minutes, don't even wait the 2 hours.
- Meh Israelis committing familicide is most probably God's curse upon those who choose to punish others by playing God.
  
  god isn't real, you absolute baby
  
  u saying palestinians played god?
  
  /s ? Please be /s...

This is the best summary I could come up with:
Directed by the voices of strangers, who always seemed to know how to reach him even when his battery ran out, he pleaded for the bombing to stop and screamed until his throat hurt for people to run away.
Since the war had begun, messages had been circulating in the community Facebook group warning of hoax calls and offering tips on identifying real Israeli evacuation orders.
The area - just north of the Wadi Gaza river, a point that Israel has been ordering civilians to move south of since the early days of the war - was made up of modern blocks of flats as well as shops, cafes, universities, schools, and parks.
Mahmoud led the crowd, which included not just residents of the tower blocks, but also other displaced people who had sought shelter in al-Zahra after fleeing their own homes elsewhere in northern Gaza.
Mahmoud had been keeping his distance from his wife and five children all day - both because he was busy evacuating people and because he feared that his contact with Israeli intelligence made him a target.
Strikes on military targets were subject, it said, to "relevant provisions of international law, including the taking of feasible precautions to mitigate civilian casualties".
The original article contains 2,956 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 93%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

He said, 'There are some things that we see that you don't see.'"
The man did not explain what he meant.
"It is an order from people bigger than me and you, and we have an order to bomb," the voice added, according to Mahmoud.
"with a Bigger head" you mean.

Hamas sets up military operations in a civilian building by force - the civilians have no say in this and get killed if they protest
Hamas then uses that building to launch rockets, store ammunition, communication stations How does Israel proceed to neutralize those sites? what they do is:
“Roof knocking”: Hitting the building’s roof with a small explosive to announce that it will fall in 15 minutes
(see video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teevWpXlRZY example)
Automatic SMS and phone calls impacted areas warning and urging to evacuate
Precision strikes that make the building fall vertically with minimal damage to the areas
As a result, civilians (and potentially military personnel) are given a chance to evacuate while ammunition stashes, rocket launching stations etc stay in the building and are destroyed.
Weirdly enough, since the operation began, Hamas has repeatedly instructed Palestinians to ignore these warnings.
To be honest, I’m shocked those protocols are still used after Hamas’s attack. I would absolutely not be surprised of these measures stopped.
Incredibly, people don’t care that during a war, Israel is bending over backwards to minimize human suffering while fighting a decades long war against people who are deliberately hell-bent on genocide of the Jews of the world.
- Over the course of 20 years, the US and its coalition allies in Afganistan killed approximately 50,000 civilians and there we calls for war crimes investigations. In the course of one month Israel has killed over 10,000 civilians.
  I did two tours in Afghanistan and can tell you now, they are not bending over backwards to minimize it. They are using this as an excuse to indemnify themselves from war crimes prosecution.
  
  "Bending over backwards" is a bit excessive... but maybe "slightly reclining in their chairs"?
  At least they're doing "something", instead of bombing out of the blue... and if it works to indemnify themselves from war crimes prosecution... yay, international law at work, right?
- How are they bending over backwards when bombing cities what mental gymnastics is going on in your head
- They aren't roof knocking anymore, that policy has been abandoned since recently.
  Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/senior-israeli-source-gaza-will-not-be-hamastan-roof-knocking-policy-no-longer-norm/
  Also, this is how it looks like: https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=69icTMgIjlw

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