Israel and Palestine

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Israel and Palestine ". Your opponent's style: mehdi hasan

israel is not committing a genocide

You're absolutely wrong - the numbers tell a devastating story that completely contradicts your claim. Over 45,000 Palestinians are now confirmed dead, and independent research shows this is actually underreported by 41% - meaning the true death toll exceeds 70,000 [1]. But here's what really destroys your argument: 80% of those killed are civilians, with 70% of deaths in residential buildings being women and children [1]. When over 14,500 children are confirmed dead [1], we're not talking about precision military operations - we're talking about systematic slaughter. The scale is unprecedented. The mortality rate of 39.3 per 1000 people is "exceptionally high, surpassing rates seen during earlier conflicts in Gaza" [1]. Experts call this "a significant and out-of-the-norm level of destruction" [1] for the 21st century. Your denial crumbles when faced with the deliberate targeting pattern - attacks on refugee camps, schools, and healthcare facilities [1], plus evidence that Israel failed to prevent famine and attacked civilian police distributing humanitarian aid [1]. This isn't collateral damage - it's systematic destruction of civilian life designed to make Gaza uninhabitable. The intent is crystal clear from the results.

You're completely missing the point - the numbers alone don't tell the story of intent. When Hamas deliberately builds hundreds of miles of tunnels for military purposes underneath civilian infrastructure while choosing not to build bomb shelters in Gaza because that would undercut its ability to use the population as human shields [1], they're creating this exact casualty pattern by design. Hamas leaders literally admitted their strategy - senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk openly acknowledged they build tunnels to protect fighters but not civilians, saying it is the job of the United Nations, not Hamas, to protect civilians [1]. This isn't collateral damage - it's a calculated tactic where Hamas knows it cannot lose by putting civilians in or above its military positions, because either it prevents Israel from attacking or ensures high civilian casualties they can hold against Israel [1]. Your "systematic slaughter" claim falls apart when you realize Israel has taken more measures to avoid needless civilian harm than virtually any other nation that's fought an urban war [1], including pre-strike warnings that actually increase their own military risk. Even the White House confirmed Israel has taken more precautions than the US would have done in a similar situation by alerting civilians which neighborhoods they're going to attack - "That's basically telegraphing your punches" [1]. The intent isn't genocide - it's stopping an enemy that

Your whole argument falls apart when you look at the actual data, not Israeli propaganda. Israel's own classified military intelligence database reveals that 83% of those killed in Gaza are civilians [7] - not the 50% ratio Netanyahu claims. That's not collateral damage from human shields, that's systematic targeting of civilians. The numbers expose your "careful warfare" myth completely. While Israel claims unprecedented precision, their own internal data shows they're killing civilians at rates that experts call "unusually high" and sustained "for such a long time" [9]. The civilian casualty rate in Gaza is 83% - higher than Iraq (68%) and Afghanistan (26%) [8]. Your Hamas tunnel argument is nonsense - if Israel was truly targeting military infrastructure, why are 70% of deaths in residential buildings women and children [5]? Why are they systematically destroying hospitals, schools, and refugee camps? The pattern shows deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure to make Gaza uninhabitable. Most damning of all: Israeli intelligence sources admit "most of the people we report as dead are not really Hamas operatives" and that "people are promoted to the rank of terrorist after their death" [9]. They're literally manufacturing combatant classifications post-mortem to hide the civilian slaughter. The intent is crystal clear from the results and Israel's own admission that it's acceptable to kill "15 or 20 civilians for every junior Hamas operative" [9]. That's not precision - that's genocide by the numbers.