I. War crimes of Israel
Israeli war crimes are violations of international criminal law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide, which Israeli security forces have committed or been accused of committing since the founding of Israel in 1948. These have included murder, intentional targeting of civilians, killing prisoners of war and surrendered combatants, indiscriminate attacks, collective punishment, starvation, persecution, the use of human shields, sexual violence and rape, torture, pillage, forced transfer, breach of medical neutrality, enforced disappearance, targeting journalists, attacking civilian and protected objects, wanton destruction, incitement to genocide, and genocide.
As of 8 April 2025, over 52,000 people – 50,810 Palestinian
[3][7] have been reported killed in the
Gaza war according to the official figures of the Gaza Health Ministry, as well as
166 journalists and media workers,
[d] 120 academics,
[26] and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, a number that includes 179 employees of
UNRWA.
[27] Scholars have estimated 80% of Palestinians killed are civilians.
[5][4][6][28] A study by
OHCHR, that verified fatalities from three independent sources, found that 70% of the Palestinian killed in residential buildings or similar housing were women and children.
[29][30] At least 110,265 people have been injured in Gaza as a result of the war. Israel succeeded in killing about 10.000 Hamas fighters. This means that for every 1 Hamas fighter killed, Israel kills 5 civilians and injures another 10 civilians. Thus, 80% of people Israel kills are civilians.
II. War crimes of Hamas
In total, 1,195 people were killed: 736 Israeli civilians (including 36 children), 79 foreign nationals, and 379 members of the security forces.
III. Comparison
Israel killed over 50.000 civilians and injured 110.000 of civilians. Not just Palestinian civilians, but also foreign humanitarian workers, and news reporters. Hamas killed 736 civilians. So Israeli has killed 7 times more civilians than Hamas did, and injured much more civilians.
IV. Hostages
Israel has much more prisoners than Hamas does. Israel treats prisoners very badly, beats them, rapes them, tortures them. In April 2022, there were 4,450 Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli prisons – including 160 children, 32 women, and over 1,000 "administrative detainees" (indefinitely incarcerated without charge).[4] According to B'tselem, since the outbreak of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, Palestinians prisoners with Israeli citizenship have been stripped of many of their rights.[5] It further found that abuse of detainees is so institutionalized that the prisons should be called 'torture camps'.[6] There were cases of Palestinian children being raped in Israel's prisons.A 2023 report by
Save the Children found widespread use of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse against Palestinian children in Israeli military detention. The report found that among detained children, 86% were beaten, 69% were strip searched, 60% spent time in solitary confinement, 68% were denied any healthcare, and 58% were denied visits or communication with family.
[106][107]. The prisoners in Israel's prisons are civilians by definition, as they dont take part in military activities. Hamas did take some hostages of its own, but these are much lower in number, and they were taken with purpose of being used to liberate Palestinians from prisons. Also, Israel has even killed many of Israel's own people which were taken as hostage. One case is where Israel soldiers opened fire on Israeli who were unarmed, just because they "looked like Palestinians".
V. Counter arguments
My opponent might say that its Hamas's fault for war, but that is not true. First, Hamas does not control actions of Israel. All actions of Israel are caused by Israel itself, by tautology. In the same way we wouldnt blame Israel for those 700 civilians killed by Hamas, we cannot blame Hamas because Israel choses to kill civilians. Israel had a choice not to kill civilians, thus Israel's choice to kill civilians is only the fault of Israel and not of anyone else. Further, by attacking civilians, Israel is encouraging more terrorism on both sides, and is even helping Hamas gain troops. Thus, we can say both sides are at fault, and then we should compare which side killed and harmed more civilians by direct cause. So we cannot say "Hamas makes Israel kill civilians" in the same way we cannot say "Israel makes Hamas kill civilians". Such logic clearly doesnt work, because it would mean neither side is ever responsible for anything.
VI. Starvation and denying healthcare
These two cause direct harm to civilians. Israel has bombed most of Hospitals in Palestine, forcing them to shut down, therefore, denying civilians of healthcare. Israel has also many times used starvation as a weapon, by denying food and water from entering Gaza. This resulted in direct injury to civilian population, causing harm to hundreds of thousands people. More than 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing “extremely critical” levels of hunger, with 70 per cent of crop fields destroyed and livelihoods decimated during the ongoing Israeli military offensive, a UN-backed food security assessment released on Thursday has revealed.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinians_in_Israeli_custody
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/15/the-human-toll-of-israels-war-on-gaza-by-the-numbers
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1155836
Thank you all for taking time to vote on my debates here.
Easy vote!
"So Israeli has killed 7 times more civilians than Hamas did, and injured much more civilians."
It was a typo here. Its 70 times, not 7 times.
start it bro