Are Gaza strip residents truly surprised when a Mosque or school that stored and fired rockets is destroyed?

My guess is 2832 rockets fired from Gaza with an August 3 cease fire date. What is yours?

I would think that they are not surprised – Hamas has stored guns and missiles in mosques for the last several episodes of warfare, so you would think they are used to it.

The way I see it, if the Gaza population really wanted to avoid these every-three-years wars, they would throw Hamas out. So the continued existence of Hamas tells me something about what gaza people are thinking.

“Gaza strip residents”, huh?
Not even willing to call them Palestinians?
Deny them their identity to deny them their right to their own country.
Imply that they are just occupiers that do not have a right to be there.
Racist.

@ragingloli That sounds sure sounds nationalistic. :-)
I could have said Palestinians but I wanted to clarify I was referring to the current action in Gaza. No racism was intended.

It would be obvious if I had.

I would have said something like: “The very day Israel handed Gaza over to the Palestinians as part of the “Land for Peace” deal in 2005, nut jobs began firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel.”

@ragingloli from Wikipedia:

The history of a distinct Palestinian national identity is a disputed issue amongst scholars. Legal historian Assaf Likhovski states that the prevailing view is that Palestinian identity originated in the early decades of the 20th century. “Palestinian” was used to refer to the nationalist concept of a Palestinian people by the Arabs of Palestine in a limited way until World War I.

I am not in Gaza but I am truly surprised and shocked at what is going on and I intend to remain that way. If we accept this as normal what have we become?

@flutherother The last part of my question was “Imagine for a moment you lived in either place. What actions would take.or suggest to stop the violence?” So far, I have not seen anyone here offer a solution.

Last time we were here there was a cease fire. International pressure encouraged a cease fire. It is clear all that did was give Hamas time to rearm with better rockets and Israel time to further develop Iron Dome. The tracking is so good now they can predict where the rocket will land and will not bother to intercept if the landing site is open space in an unpopulated area. Yes, their tracking is that good – in both directions.

As a mental exercise, I try to put myself in the other person’s shoes.
Hamas now knows there is a very good chance the rockets will be destroyed in the air. But they also know that rockets will be found and destroyed if they are not launched, so they might as well light the fuses. And Israel will continue to escalate and destroy launch sites no matter where they are. For their own safety, they must.
And so it goes….

@LuckyGuy I don’t know what the solution is but the problem is that mosques, schools and people’s homes are being destroyed and the public on both sides are living in fear. The roots of the violence lie in the ‘peace’ that precedes it and while injustices are allowed to flourish peace will always be precarious. In my view Israel should begin respecting international opinion and stop settlement building on the West Bank and cease the blockade of Gaza which achieves little but misery.

Some day the inhabitants of Gaza will have to recognise Israel’s right to exist. That day will come sooner if Israel starts treating its neighbours fairly.

@flutherother Hamas has sworn to destry israel and refuses to accept its right to exist. Israel started the blockade because Hamas was importing rockets and arms from Syria and others. Hamas began building tunnels to sneak in rockets and strike Israel.
Why did Israel start the wall? Because suicide bombers were coming into Israel and blowing themselves up in crowded areas to kill or maim the most people.

If you lived in Israel would you be saying the same thing? When would you fight back? After the first rocket? After the 10th? After the 100th?
At what point do you say “Enough!”
.
So far Hamas has fired over 2600 rockets into Israel. Israel has offered cease fires but Hamas starts firing minutes after the truce ends.
Every square mm of Gaza is covered by cameras. Everyone knows exactly where the rockets originate and that spot becomes a target.
Also of note: About 10% of the rockets fired by Hamas fail to make it to Israel and actually detonate inside Gaza. Quick math says that Hamas has fired over 260 rockets at their own civilians. Their mothers must be very proud.

By the way I made a bold prediction a couple of weeks ago:

“My guess is 2832 rockets fired from Gaza with an August 3 cease fire date. What is yours?”

The official number today, 7/31, is over 2600. I might be in the running!