The Israeli campaign in Gaza began as a response to the October 7 attack and its particular brutality. It is wrong, however, to view the Israeli fighting as a case of reciprocal brutality.
nationalinterest.org
This is a long but interesting read comparing the ratio of civilian to combatants deaths in the Israel vs Hamas war with the ratio of those deaths in other recent wars.
This is an interesting article. Regardless of war civilian to military death ratios, wars must not be fought. Both sides (Hamas for instigating the war and not accepting peace, and Israel's politicians for not making a good enough peace treaty) are in the wrong here.
But, for reader convenience, here is a condensed summary of the article posted by
@Vambram. I have started giving article summaries recently, as a lot of folks have not read the articles posted here:
The article by Russell A. Berman, published on March 19th, 2024, focuses on the issue of civilian fatalities during the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the implications for American foreign policy. The author raises concerns about the accuracy of the widely disseminated figure of 30,000 civilian deaths, which has been used by political leaders like President Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren to criticize Israeli actions.
Berman notes that the Gazan authorities do not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, leading to potential inaccuracies in the data. He also points out that reports of Israeli responsibility for civilian fatalities may not always be accurate, as demonstrated by the case of the Al-Ahli Hospital rocket strike, which was initially blamed on Israel but later found to have been caused by a misfired Palestinian rocket.
The author then examines the significance of the 30,000 death toll in comparison to other cases of urban warfare, such as the Russian assault on Grozny and the Battle of Aleppo. He finds that while civilian deaths are high in these conflicts, the ratio of military to civilian fatalities in Gaza is lower than both examples.
Mr. Berman also looks at the Iraq War as a reference point and finds that the ratio of enemy combatant to civilian deaths in Gaza is likely to be between 1:15 and 1:4, depending on the source. He concludes that by UN metrics, civilian casualties in Gaza are low compared to other wartime situations.
Finally, the author emphasizes that the evaluation of fatalities is not intended to minimize the tragic losses in Gaza but rather to provide context for informed policy decisions. He argues that it is important for American foreign policy not to be driven solely by misunderstood or inaccurate casualty rates, and for public debate on the issue to be based on reliable information.
