Isn't Israel targeting Hamas, while Hamas attacked Israeli civilians?

Short: Firstly, Hamas is making incursions into its own occupied territory, not 'Israel.' Israelis in that territory are considered illegal settlers under international law. We also need to remember that if Israel targets Hamas, Hamas has the right to counter attack. Recent events also suggest that the majority of the Israeli casualties on October 7th are due to their own military strategy, including the Hannibal Directive which instructs the IDF to kill its own civilians in favour of them being taken captive. Secondly, if we are to condemn the targeting of civilian deaths we need to acknowledge that Israel, one of the most advanced militaries in the world has the means to avoid them but in actuality, has repeatedly targeted civilians and is even using AI to ensure they strike the most densely populated areas. The focus should be on the tens of thousands of Palestinian casualties rather than attempting to justify war crimes and killing children based on the excuse of targeting Hamas. It is also a fact that Israel's military operations often aim for mass Palestinian death, both in the past and now, and the practice itself is considered legitimate and encouraged by the Israeli government.

Long: Firstly it’s important to understand that Hamas technically made an incursion into occupied Palestinian territory, not ‘Israel’. Israelis are illegal settlers living in occupied Palestinian territory, in violation of international law. Even if Israel was truly targeting Hamas, Palestinians have the right under international law to counter attack. Regardless, Hamas entered Israel purely to capture hostages in order to facilitate a hostage swap. The civilian casualties that resulted on the Israeli side, are increasingly appearing to be mostly IDF personnel, and mostly as a result of Israel's own military strategy. The Hannibal Directive instructs the IDF to kill their own to prevent them being taken captive. An Israeli reserve pilot, Col. Nof Erez, has recently spoken out describing the IDF’s response to the October 7th attacks as a ‘Mass Hannibal’. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that many, perhaps most, of the alleged horrific crimes committed by Hamas on October 7th were caused by tanks and attack helicopters operated by the IDF.

Secondly, and most importantly, if we are going to condemn the killing of civilians, we need to acknowledge the upwards of 20,000 and growing number of Palestinian children, women and men killed at the hands of the Israeli occupation since October 7th. Targeting Hamas is not a defensible position for what Israel is currently doing to Palestine and its people, nor is it the sole reason. Even if this was, Israel also would not be any more tolerant of Hamas if it strictly targeted military objects because Israel considers Hamas and any form of its resistance, armed or otherwise, to be illegitimate.

In contrast, Israel has the eleventh most powerful military in the world and is a nuclear power. According to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Israel directly targeted civilians or recklessly caused civilian deaths during both during previous ‘conflicts’ and now. Far from avoiding the deaths of civilians, Israel considers them legitimate targets. In fact, Israel’s facial recognition technology is so advanced it can pick out faces in a sea of people, and follow them for miles. There is no conceivable reason as to why a military with such sophisticated tracking technology, lacks the ability to directly identify and attack ‘Hamas’, and instead has to resort to obliterating entire apartment blocks, hospitals and schools. Recent reports have also revealed the depths of Israel’s AI technology, which enables them to generate thousands of target sites within seconds. The report quotes Israeli intelligence sources who say Israel knows how many civilians it’ll kill with each strike, including children, and chooses to kill large numbers of them anyway. Israel also seeks out what it calls “power targets” to bomb. “Power targets” are non-military targets like homes and public buildings that Israel bombs for the purpose of terrorising Palestinian civilians and harming their society.

Sources:

@Tracking_Power

@nouraerakat

@olblueyzz

@theimeu

This answer is taken from the document Palestine: in Conversation Document.