Guess which building first demolished to the ground by Israel military in Gaza at the beginning of the conflict? No price of getting the right answer, it's the Watan Tower building that hosted most of Gaza Internet Sevice Provider (ISP) companies Paltel and Jawwal and their infrastructure. It was also a hub for several international media outlets, including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera [1],[2],[3]. We are somewhow supposed to believe by Israel propaganda that the demolition of the Watan building is necessary to cripple the resistance but in war truth is always the first casualty that further leads to countless human casualties.<p>[1] Israels warns Palestinians on Facebook but Israel bombing decimated Gaza Internet Access:<p><a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/10/12/israel-gaza-internet-access/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://theintercept.com/2023/10/12/israel-gaza-internet-acc...</a><p>[2] #KeepItOn: Telecommunications Blackout In The Gaza Strip Is An Attack On Human Rights:<p><a href="https://m.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO2310/S00117/keepiton-telecommunications-blackout-in-the-gaza-strip-is-an-attack-on-human-rights.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://m.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO2310/S00117/keepiton-telecom...</a><p>[3] Destruction of Watan Tower: A Blow to Press Freedom or a Military Necessity?<p><a href="https://bnn.network/world/palestine/destruction-of-watan-tower-a-blow-to-press-freedom-or-a-military-necessity/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bnn.network/world/palestine/destruction-of-watan-tow...</a>
Hopefully news crews brought their satellite broadcasting equipment. It's important for the world not be blocked off from seeing what's going on regardless of which side you support.
History suggests expunging determined, fortified, modern militants embedded in a civilian population <i>never</i> goes well. The expunger loses or gets a pyrrhic victory, even with a huge economic advantage.<p>Honestly, however dire the need, I don't see what Israel is thinking. If Israel, the US, Europe, China and Russia all held hands and invaded the Gaza strip together, they <i>still</i> probably couldn't route out Hamas.
Someday, people in the western countries will mourn the lives lost and wish they could help in time. Except this is the time. Not after the fact and a few remains. This is an occurring theme.
I wonder what is the tipping point for the Arab world. What is the magic number, 10k,20k,100k dead. Does it get to a point where Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon even Jordan, SA, etc start to say enough is enough.<p>This could turn into a pretty big war, dragging in all kinds of countries. If they end up destroying all of Gaza and killing 50k and no one does anything then the Palestinians should understand they have been abandon by the Arab world and have no future.<p>Interesting times...
The feeling I get from the article AND some of the comments here is that the Palestinians / Hamas did nothing but to sit and wait for Israel to invade & bomb Gaza to dust. It is completely Israel's fault... Wondering why they didn't go into Gaza before Oct 7th...<p>This is also called playing the victim...
The article sympathizes with only with one side of a horrible war, and only about losing its internet connection. It's surrealistic. It's like reading an article about Berlin citizens losing telephone connection in May 1945.
> Taking Gaza completely off the grid while launching an unprecedented bombardment campaign only means something atrocious is about to happen.<p>A war is happening of course. Communications are critical to military operations, and Hamas has been happy to use civilian infrastructure for military purposes. Of course Israel is going to destroy it all.<p>Sure, Hamas can still use older tech like radios. But that's a huge win for Israel's signal intelligence units: radios are much easier to intercept than internet connections, especially fiber.
Nearly all of the over 7k people killed in Gaza in the past few days are civilians. Sure Hamas, with the help of the media framing of this as a 9/11, gave them a good Casus belli, but Israel has always been good at finding Casus bellis.<p>When Israel again invaded Gaza in 2014, they killed 2,310 people, 70% civilians and lost 67 soldiers in return. Even more destructive was the 7-10k homes completely demolished and 87k homes severely damaged.<p>Since 2008 until before the recent invasion of Gaza, Israel has killed 6,407 Palestinians—mostly civilians—and lost only 308 Israelis in return.
Watching mainstream news as well as tier-2 and -3 outlets perfect the passive voice has been validating for recognizing how status quo services specific political and ideological alignments despite assumptions of an ideal impartiality.