Why It's Hard to Believe Israel's Claim That It Did Its Best to Minimize Civilian Deaths

[Galraedia]

Among the difficult reports streaming in from Gaza over the past few weeks, two especially painful events have captured my attention.

The first was the shelling of a UN school building in Jabaliya, where a number of families that had escaped or been forced to flee their homes had taken refuge. At least 15 civilians were killed, and dozens more wounded. Israel argued they were targeting an area from which fire had been directed at Israeli forces.

The second was the bombing of a bustling market in the Shuja'iya neighborhood. At a time of precious few opportunities for civilians to safely buy food and other vital supplies, 16 people were killed and around 200 were wounded. Shops, stalls and merchandise were burned or destroyed.

Harsh criticism of Israel followed each incident but -- as in the past -- Israel defended its actions, arguing that it was targeting militants and doing its best to avoid civilian casualties.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/idan-barir/israel-gaza-civilian-deaths_b_5673023.html

[malaise]

1. War crimes

plain and simple. No spin, no PR no BS from allies will change that fact - this was genocide.

[deaniac21]

2. Hamas builds schools and hospitals

Israel blows them up.

[rock]

3. Well minimized would be zero

How did they do toward meeting that goal?

[4now]

4. Israel only murdered 400+ innocent children

this time.

[riverwalker]

5. there was a high ranking US military on TV

and he explained how these are state of the art weapons with pinpoint accurate systems. Then he looked at the reporter with a silent look that said the unsaid, or what they dare not say, that they knew darn well what they were hitting.

[kas125]

6. It's not hard to believe.

It's absolutely impossible to believe.

[oldandhappy]

7. impossible to believe

U.N. gave Israel coordinates for the school over and over and over again.

[frylock]

8. and Israel used those coordinates to their advantage