70 Percent of Gaza Homes Destroyed, Stunning Before/After Images

The Wall Street Journal has some amazing scrolling and interactive before and after images.

Please consider The Ruined Landscape of Gaza After Nearly Three Months of Bombing

That is a gift link courtesy of the Journal. Here are a few snips.

The war in the Gaza Strip is generating destruction comparable in scale to the most devastating urban warfare in the modern record.

By mid-December, Israel had dropped 29,000 bombs, munitions and shells on the strip. Nearly 70% of Gaza’s 439,000 homes and about half of its buildings have been damaged or destroyed. The bombing has damaged Byzantine churches and ancient mosques, factories and apartment buildings, shopping malls and luxury hotels, theaters and schools. Much of the water, electrical, communications and healthcare infrastructure that made Gaza function is beyond repair.

Most of the strip’s 36 hospitals are shut down, and only eight are accepting patients. Citrus trees, olive groves and greenhouses have been obliterated. More than two-thirds of its schools are damaged.

The destruction resembles that left by Allied bombing of German cities during World War II. “The word ‘Gaza’ is going to go down in history along with Dresden and other famous cities that have been bombed,” said Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago and the author of a history of aerial bombing. “What you’re seeing in Gaza is in the top 25% of the most intense punishment campaigns in history.”

Three months ago, Gaza was a vibrant place. Despite decades of Israeli occupation, sieges and wars, many Palestinians enjoyed living there beside the Mediterranean Sea, where they gathered in cafes and seaside restaurants. Families played on the beach. Young men crowded around TVs in the evening to watch soccer.

Today, Gaza is a landscape of crumpled concrete. In northern Gaza, the focus of Israel’s initial offensive, the few people who remain navigate rubble-strewn streets past bombed-out shops and apartment blocks. Broken glass crunches underfoot. Israeli drones buzz overhead.

In the south, where more than a million displaced residents have fled, Gazans sleep in the street and burn garbage to cook. Some 85% of the strip’s 2.2 million people have fled their homes and are confined by Israeli evacuation orders to less than one-third of the strip, according to the United Nations.

Questions Abound, Many Unanswerable

The immediate question on many minds is: Who’s to blame?

Some will blame Hamas for starting this war. Others will blame Israel for Palestinian suppression. No one will change anyone else’s mind.

Hamas wanted to provoke a response and it did. Many Palestinians cheered Hamas in Gaza and the US.

Chanting ‘700,’ Pro-Palestinian Activists in New York Fete Hamas Attack

Flashback October 9, Chanting ‘700,’ Pro-Palestinian Activists in New York Fete Hamas Attack

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Sunday in New York celebrated Hamas’s massive deadly terror attack against Israel, as supporters of the Jewish state held rallies to mourn and express outrage over the slaughter.

Several hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in Times Square, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Resistance is justified,” “Globalize the intifada,” and “Smash the settler Zionist state.”

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” they chanted. Some made mock crying gestures toward the Israelis to taunt them.

Among the pro-Palestinian side, the mood was celebratory and spiteful. Demonstrators chanted “700,” apparently referring to the confirmed number of Israeli fatalities in the attack so far, and held up the number seven on their hands while making throat-slitting gestures. Others flashed victory signs with their hands while shouting insults.

Is anyone aware of Israelis marching on the streets cheering the death of over 20,000 Palestinians, flashing victory signs?

Palestinian Death Toll

On December 20, the BBC commented on What Gaza’s Death Toll Says About the War.

At least 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been reported killed since Israel began bombing the territory in the wake of Hamas’s 7 October attacks.

On average, nearly 300 people have been killed each day since the start of the conflict, excluding the seven-day ceasefire, data from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry indicates.

Israel began its military campaign in Gaza in the wake of Hamas’ attacks, in which 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians. 

“What we’re seeing in terms of civilian deaths has already far outpaced rates of harm from any given conflict we have documented,” said Emily Tripp, director of Airwars, an organisation which has monitored civilian deaths in wars and conflicts since 2014.

Current Estimate

The current death toll estimate is 21,672 Palestinians with 56,165 more injured. That’s roughly 1 percent of the 2.2 million Gaza population.

With 70 percent of Gaza homes destroyed it will likely take decades to reconstruct. But before reconstruction can begin, the war must stop.

More Questions

Q: When will the war stop?
A: No one can say, it depends on conditions.

Q: What conditions?
A: Israel has three conditions, see link below.

On December 26, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Names Three Prerequisites for Peace

1. Hamas must be destroyed.Hamas’s leaders have vowed to repeat the Oct. 7 massacre “again and again.” That is why their destruction is the only proportional response to prevent the repeat of such horrific atrocities. Anything less guarantees more war and more bloodshed.
2. Gaza must be demilitarized. Israel must ensure that the territory is never again used as a base to attack it. Among other things, this will require establishing a temporary security zone on the perimeter of Gaza and an inspection mechanism on the border between Gaza and Egypt that meets Israel’s security needs and prevents smuggling of weapons into the territory.
3. Gaza will have to be deradicalized. Schools must teach children to cherish life rather than death, and imams must cease to preach for the murder of Jews. Palestinian civil society needs to be transformed so that its people support fighting terrorism rather than funding it.

How Long Will Those Three Requirements Take?

• Arguably a better question might be: Are those conditions even possible?
• Regarding point one, If the leadership is destroyed, will others spring up?
• Regarding point two, how long is temporary?
• Regarding point three, numerous questions arise: Who will teach the Palestinian kids? How many decades will it take to remove hatred?

I keep asking questions for which there are no clear answers. I started this article with one question in mind.

Hello Hamas, Was it Worth It?

I wonder if the idiots cheering the slaughter of innocent kids at a concert are cheering now. Idiots being idiots, who knows?

Asking who is to blame is the wrong question because no one will convince anyone else and also because blame leads to retaliation.

We need to start somewhere, but where and how is that?

Until Palestinians reject massacre of civilians outright and are willing to turn in Hamas militants, violence will only beget more violence.

70 percent of Gaza has been destroyed. Was it worth it? If so, what was achieved?

Source: https://mishtalk.com