Yes it's self defence, but individual soldiers who commit atrocities should face disciplinary action for it. After the fighting cools Hamas should conduct internal reviews of incidents to investigate dispassionately. Those found to have behaved inappropriately should face consequences, such as losing out on being awarded certain medals, or in extreme cases even face dishonorable discharge.

Personally I'd hope they consider a standard more humane than the model that the US, Israel and their allies apply; counting every military aged male or dead child found with a rock by their hand as a combatant seems insane to me. Ultimately though that is for them to decide.

[–] space_comrade@hexbear.net 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's wishful thinking IMO. Is there any reason to believe that Hamas of all organizations has a more humane code of conduct than most other militaries on the planet? They're literal islamists, I don't really see how you expect them to behave like anything other than that.