Hamas did not kill over 1000 civilians on October 7th. Not even Israel claims this. Many of the deaths that Israel reported were active IDF soldiers. Furthermore, there is some evidence that the IDF went in guns blazing to territory Hamas had captured. As such, it’s not clear how many civilians died in the crossfire or were massacred by Hamas as Israel claims.
That’s not to say that civilians were not massacred by Hamas militants. However, it’s dangerous to simply trust Israel when they tell you that the purpose of the October 7th attacks was to murder civilians. That rhetoric is meant to paint Hamas as equivalent to ISIS and thus foreclose the possibility of any negotiation and an end to the violence.
Hamas did not kill over 1000 civilians on October 7th. Not even Israel claims this. Many of the deaths that Israel reported were active IDF soldiers. Furthermore, there is some evidence that the IDF went in guns blazing to territory Hamas had captured. As such, it’s not clear how many civilians died in the crossfire or were massacred by Hamas as Israel claims.
That’s not to say that civilians were not massacred by Hamas militants. However, it’s dangerous to simply trust Israel when they tell you that the purpose of the October 7th attacks was to murder civilians. That rhetoric is meant to paint Hamas as equivalent to ISIS and thus foreclose the possibility of any negotiation and an end to the violence.