What price, if any, should the Palestinians have paid for the 7/10/23 attack and the Israeli civilian on that day?
A common theme in the pro-Palestinian narrative is that the civilian Israeli casualties of 7/10 were the price Israelis had to pay for decades of Israeli occupation, subjugation and abuse of the Palestinian people. Both narratives have answers to the questions of who came first, who said no, who started it and who's fault it is so we can leave those out of the discussion.
Over the past 15 or so months Israel is widely believed to have killed more than 50k Palestinians, half of whom are reportedly women and children. Israel also destroyed much if not most of Gaza including schools and hospitals,. residences and infrastructure. For that Israel is being accused of war crimes and Genocide.
I want to try to frame this question in rough quantitative terms.
Apologies in advance for the crass terminology since every life is a universe. But ignoring the wounded, the traumatized, the displaced, etc., assume the following equation:
Occupation + abuse -> Palestinian suffering = 1000+ Israeli civilian deaths + 250+ soldiers + 250 kidnaped.
The damage Hamas managed to inflict on the state of Israel on 71/10/23 was unprecedented. It was a game changer that can be said to have changed the lives of Israelis forever. Given that and assuming the Israelis had the right and the obligation to retaliate in some fashion. It stands to reason that the Palestinians would have to pay a price for that game-changing triumph of Sinwar and his armed mob,
Keep in mind that war should not be driven by vengeance. War is a means to achieving strategic military and geopolitical goals so we ignore human shortcomings and assume that civilian casualties on both sides are the collateral damage associated with achieving these strategic goals.
So what would be an appropriate price for the Palestinian people of Gaza to pay for the worst (or best depending on your personal sentiment) disaster ever inflicted by the Palestinian on Israel? Or in similar terms to the above equation:
An unprecedented Palestinian attack resulting in 1000+ Israeli civilian deaths + 250+ soldiers + 250 kidnapped = X Palestinian civilian deaths.
- What is the value of X?
- Explain
For example, would killing 10,000 civilians and destroying 10% of Gaza's inhabitable areas constitute a justifiable response?
OP Edit:
Not sure why this post is confusing for so many people who seem to misunderstand the question and the context. The point is that a lot of people are accusing Israel of war crimes and genocide in Gaza because of the magnitude of death and destruction. From my perspective, Hamas declared war on Israel and Israel fought back. Civilian casualties, are an inevitable part of war. Israel learned that on 7/10. So, if 25-30k Palestinian civilian lives is excessive and qualifies as genocide, what would a "reasonable" number be? It's a simple concept albeit, without a simple or easy answer.