There is still an assumption that there are two sides to this war, Gaza and Israel.
It isn't true. There are four distinct groups that are players (not counting other fronts:) Hamas (and other terror groups,) Gaza civilians, Israel and Israeli civilians.
One needs to separate the civilians from the armies because civilians are an integral part of Hamas' war strategy. Hamas targets the IDF and Israelis, the IDF tries to protect the Israeli civilians. Israel only targets Hamas. Hamas hides behind the Gazans as their main line of defense and the IDF tries to avoid hitting the Gazans.
What most people refuse to believe is that just as Hamas uses Gaza civilians as shields, Hamas will attack Gazans as well, when it helps their survival.
Gaza civilians only exist to help Hamas, from Hamas' perspective.
Which means that just as Hamas is happy to see Gaza civilians die in attacks that the IDF targets at Hamas, it has no hesitation to attack Gazans when it is helps them - sniping Christians in a church and elsewhere and blaming Israel, shooting at Gazans trying to flee to safer areas when Hamas instructed them to stay put and act as shields.
To Western ears, this sounds nearly impossible. But is there really any moral difference to Hamas between using civilians as defensive weapons and killing them when it is convenient?
Surely, you are saying, Hamas is evil, but we need more evidence that Hamas really doesn't care about Gaza civilians.
Here is a very incomplete list of specific attacks or threats that Hamas and other terror groups made to hurt their own people, directly or indirectly:
July 2007: Israel offered to allow thousands of stranded Gazans in Egypt to return to Gaza via Kerem Shalom; Hamas threatened to shoot them all dead if they came that way.
August 2007: Hamas shot mortars at Kerem Shalom crossing that is used for import/export to and from Gaza.
December 2007: More mortars at Kerem Shalom.
March 2008: Hamas fired on trucks with aid that already passed through the Sufa crossing.
March 2008: Hamas ally PRC shoots mortars into Kerem Shalom - during a "ceasefire."
April and May 2008: Numerous attacks on all crossings.
January 2009: Israel set up a field hospital for injured Gazans, Hamas stopped them from going.
January 2010: PRC fired mortars at crossings when exports of strawberries were resuming.
March 2012: Terror groups fire and hit aid trucks on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom.
June 2012: More mortars at Kerem Shalom (during a "truce".)
November 2012: Islamic Jihad boasts about, and releases video of, mortar attacks on Kerem Shalom.
July 2014: Hamas tortured and killed dozens of Gazans during fighting with Israel.
July 2014: Hamas shells field hospital Israel set up to help injured Gazans.
August 2014: Hamas accused of stealing humanitarian aid.
August 2014: Reports of Hamas firing on civilians trying to flee. Also shooting rivals in the legs to ensure they cannot flee if they wanted to.
August 2014: Fatah groups shooting at Kerem Shalom and Erez crossing, where medical patients go to Israel from.
May 2021: Both Hamas and Fatah shoot many mortars at Kerem Shalom, killing 2 Thai workers and stopping aid deliveries.
I'm not even talking about Hamas placing rockets and weapons in schools and houses, nor about "work accidents" that killed civilians. That is disregard for civilian lives, but Hamas has a record of attacking its own civilians and depriving them of aid for its own selfish ends.
