Reflections | Israel-Gaza war is brutal, but China’s history shows human savagery is nothing new
- The killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza is cruel, but it’s not the first time non-combatants have suffered – look at Chinese history
It’s been eight months since the current conflict between Hamas-controlled Gaza and Israel began. More than 35,000 people have died in Gaza, many of whom were women, children and infants.
While Israel has the right to defend itself and its citizens following the border incursions and the kidnapping and killing of Israeli residents by Hamas on October 6 last year, its conduct in the war has been reprehensible.
In its fixation to exterminate Hamas, which many in the world consider a terrorist organisation, Israel has been terrorising Palestinian civilians with its superior weaponry and firepower, the outcomes of which are widespread destruction, deprivation and deaths.
Israel’s military actions, with their cruel disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, have gone beyond that of a country “defending itself”. Israel has become a vengeful nation hell-bent on laying waste to the Gaza Strip, and killing tens of thousands of people in the process.
In the long and eventful history of China, there were countless instances of human collateral damage from wars, a few dozens of which involved the deliberate killing of civilians on a large scale.
