When Will Humanity Prevail? As an Israeli Airstrike Burns Alive Sleeping Gazans Sheltering in a Tent Camp Outside Al-Aqsa Hospital

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The US sends its advanced Thaad missile defense system and deploys over 100 American military personnel to Israel in preparation for its exchange of attacks with Iran

In the early hours of Monday morning on October 14, Israeli drones targeted a tent camp of displaced Palestinian families in Deir al-Balah, outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, setting alight tents which spread like wildfire and killed four Palestinians and burned alive many more including patients as they lay in their hospital beds.

Shared on social media in and many unable to help because of the inferno.

One survivor told Al Jazeera how she awoke to the “sound of the strike” that “blew away 40 tents” and “people were burned, some were melted”.She added how:

“People came here from everywhere escaping death, but we came to a second death”.

She voiced her concerns as to what people would do now without tents and cover as “Winter is coming. Where shall we go?”Shaban al-Dalou, a 19-year-old Palestinian burned alive whilst attached to an IV drip and footage shows he tried to move. He had only started his university education in software engineering in September 2023.In March 2024 he expressed:

“I used to have big dreams, but the war has ruined them. It’s taken a toll on me, making me physically and mentally sick. I suffer from depression and hair loss because of the constant trauma we face. Time feels like it’s stopped in Gaza, and we’re stuck in a never-ending nightmare.”

His brother watched him and his mother burn to death in their tent. have been honouring his memory with tributes.

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As ever questions of accountability remain.Adherent to the Israeli narrative the hospital strike was a “precise strike on terrorists”. said it was based on intelligence:

“Precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a command and control center in the area of a parking lot adjacent” to Al-Aqsa hospital.

In addition, Shoshani stated:

“Shortly after the strike, a fire ignited in the hospital's parking lot, most likely due to secondary explosions”.

The secondary explosions and fires in the aftermath of an Israeli attack are often ascribed to airstrikes to Hamas’s alleged concealed weapons beneath civilian infrastructure and their use of civilians as human shields.Shoshani also echoes the IDF sentiment that:

“numerous steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.”

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In every instance of the targeting of schools and hospitals in the past year, where Hamas were alleged to be hiding, in the aftermath of the carnage, why have there been no reports of Hamas deaths?

Meanwhile the White House has denounced the airstrike on the hospital as a White House National Security spokesperson told The Times of Israel:

“The images and video of what appear to be displaced civilians burning alive following an Israeli airstrike are deeply disturbing, and we have made our concerns clear to the Israeli government”.

Additionally:

“Israel has a responsibility to do more to avoid civilian casualties — and what happened here is horrifying, even if Hamas was operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields”.

It is supported by the US that Hamas was hiding nearby and therefore justifies the attack but care should have been undertaken to protect the civilians, who were the subject of the target, much like Israel has done so the past year.

The US has also told Israel that it risks an arms embargo should Israel fail to improve the humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days.

A letter on Sunday from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, that has been leaked online, stated:

“We are now writing to underscore the U.S. government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory”.

Also stating:

“Failure to implement these measures could lead to consequences for American policy, in accordance with American law.”

Nonetheless, President Joe Biden will continue to assist Israel “to defend Israel” with more military assistance by sending its advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system, along with a crew to operate the system.

This is in anticipation of Israel’s retaliation against Iran after being hit by over 180 missiles on October 1.The THAAD system is said to counter Iran’s new hypersonic ballistic missiles.Manufactured by US defense and aerospace Lockheed Martin, the defense system combines the use of radar and interceptors to halt short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.THAAD can intercept missiles around the Earth's atmosphere and its missiles have a range of 150 to 200km (93 to 124 miles).

If the US goes to war with Iran, it will not be because Iran provoked a war with the US. It will be because Israel led the US to it.