Casualties of war
By 
At least 500 people were killed by an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday that Palestinian authorities said was caused by an Israeli airstrike.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the number of casualties was expected to rise. Many civilians were sheltering at Al Ahli Arab Hospital, better known as Al-Ma’amadani, before it was hit.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that hospitals were not Israeli military targets. “The I.D.F. is investigating the source of the explosion and, like always, is prioritizing accuracy and reliability,” the Israeli military said in a statement. “We urge everyone to proceed with caution.”
The Civil Defense in Gaza said medical teams were overwhelmed and unable to respond adequately because the hospital was so badly damaged.
There’s a lot of the fog of war out there right now, so who knows what will come out in the next day or two, but I think it’s worth noting that things like this are pretty much inevitable when a modern military force attempts a counter-insurgency against an area in which more than two million people live, and which is 40% smaller than the city of Chicago.
Under these circumstances, “the laws of war” are pretty much the grimmest of jokes.
. . . A friend of mine notes that it’s very difficult to trust any official source of information in this context:
One side is deeply corrupt and manipulative, the other psychotic terrorists. I’m not commenting on anything for a while
. . .