Israelis 'Target' Gaza Infrastructure: Translation Needed?
The Israeli military (IDF) announced a 'targeted' strike in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, claiming to hit an 'infrastructure site' allegedly used for weapons storage. This claim follows the IDF's assertion that it resumed enforcing the Gaza ceasefire agreement after responding to 'Hamas violations.' Residents, however, simply reported explosions and plumes of smoke over Gaza City (Al-Monitor). This
is the familiar lexicon of sanitized conflict; the language of 'targeted' strikes in one of the most densely populated places on Earth, where 'infrastructure' can often mean anything from homes to hospitals. Since October 7th, the UN reported over 37,000 Palestinian deaths as of June 19, 2024, overwhelmingly civilians, with hundreds of thousands displaced. The relentless 'targeting' of Gaza's
'infrastructure' has consistently devastated civilian areas, as documented by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. One might charitably wonder what precision really means when entire neighborhoods are flattened.