The public sentiment surrounding the Gaza conflict is marked by profound despair and outrage over the humanitarian crisis, especially regarding the suffering of civilians, particularly children. Comments reflect a critical view of both Israeli actions and global inaction, with a strong call for accountability and increased humanitarian aid. While some express support for Israel, there is a unanimous cry for compassion towards innocent victims, demonstrating the complex moral landscape of the situation.

Hamas

Israeli Government

International Community

The problem isn’t whether or not you think there’s some government culpability. The problem is if you think there’s some sort of outsized government culpability for Israel compared to any other nation or government. 

I lived through the whole Iraq/Afghanistan war timeline. Sure there were some protestors here and there. But there weren’t music concerts being taken over by anti-American banners. Every time you went on a social media post people weren’t spamming American flags with the word “genocide” next to it. People weren’t constantly spamming “Free Iraq” or “Free Afghanistan.” 

And this is after over 1,000,000 million people were killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. 

But this isn’t supposed to be a “whataboutism.” It’s a genuine question as to why it seems like nobody gives an absolute fuck about any other war or genocide or whatever but suddenly are hyper focused on this conflict to the minute detail. I can find you plenty of photos of dead Iraqi kids, but nobody cares. And that’s the problem.

[deleted]

I am pro Israel, but I’m also a mother, and it is hard to see a child or a baby suffering, no matter where they’re from. Yeah I want these babies to be fed. I also don’t want them to be raised to hate Jews. But an infant shouldn’t be held accountable for what happened in 2023.

Shomer_Effin_Shabbas

There are a lot of zionist Jews care deeply about Israel who are also extremely disturbed by the lack of food reaching Gaza. They are concerned about the actions of the current Israeli government over many things, not just the food distribution, but are able to critique with specificity and without hate (bc the goal is to make Israel better). You have to know where to look for nuanced, compassionate voices who are extremely familiar with Israeli politics. They are probably not going to be the loudest voices online because they don't say things for clickbait or allow for easy, comforting narratives. Some suggestions of social media:

Israeli Policy Forum has great information and analysis about all things related to Israel. 

@ politicaljew

@ holylandspeaks

@ that\_semite

@ alanalindsay

@ yehudimomrim

@ tylerthejewmaican

Dobbin44

I feel so strongly that Israel is critically important I get into shouting matches with strangers about it.

But also, Israel is fucking this up pretty badly right now. Saying war is hell isn't really an excuse. They have to understand the optics of the situation and take them into account, Hamas certainly is. Optics matter because right now the crap optics make us diaspora Jews less safe. That's real too.

NAF1138

It is totally sane, normal, and not at all contradictory to support Israel as a Jewish state *and also* condemn or criticize what the state is doing.

Hamas aside, Israel as the occupying entity has a legal and moral responsibility to ensure appropriate humanitarian assistance is available. The starvation is not fake, there are absolutely innocent civilians starving, even among the wealthier families in Gaza, because there simply is not enough food available to them. 

Don’t let anybody convince you that it’s inappropriate to feel disturbed by this crisis, or that if you’re disturbed you must adopt a host of other anti-Israel and antisemitic beliefs or else you are “complicit.” Fuck all of that. Check out Standing Together if you haven’t heard of them… there are “friends of” ST chapters all over North America in case that’s where you live.

Acrobatic-Parsnip-32

War is not pretty. 

Arab neighbors don’t do shit to help. 

Israel was attacked and is now responsible to feed them. 

Egypt’s border is sealed. 

It’s a whole crazy situation. 

Oh and yeah there’s still 50 hostages there. wtf.

Surround8600

Yes. It's enormously painful. It's as the Times of Israel put it: Hamas is ultimately responsible for this war, but Israel bears immediate responsibility too: [https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-israel-made-itself-responsible-for-gaza-and-for-all-the-death-and-destruction-there](https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-israel-made-itself-responsible-for-gaza-and-for-all-the-death-and-destruction-there) 

This doesn't mean we AS JEWS are morally responsible any more than other people are. But because it's the Jewish state doing this (and by "this" I mean "allowing a famine to continue instead of making every possible effort to alleviate it") it's giving a moral injury to all Jews.

tempuramores

This is something I've been struggling with myself. One of the things that turned me off of the progressive left (as a progressive leftist) was seeing how many of my friends ooh and ahh over my 2 year old but justified the murder of the Bibas boys. Kfir Bibas was 3 days older than my son, and my partner and I were considering Aliyah in 2022. My own friends might have been justifying the murder of my son, my partner, and myself.


I refuse to do the same thing to a Palestinian child, no matter the crimes of their government. No baby deserves to starve and to hand-wave away that starvation is a betrayal of every value I hold. 


It's not right or fair, but every government has to weigh the virtue of a proportional response (you can tell I watched too much West Wing as a kid). Clearly what's being tried *is* dismantling Hamas, but I don't believe one life can be traded for another--how many children are the Hamasniks worth? 


I support Israel defending itself, but how far is too far? I don't really have an answer.


EDIT: I don't have an answer but I do have a suggestion. The western powers can recognise a Palestinian state once all the hostages are returned AND the remainder of Hamas disbands/submits to the ICC for judgement for war crimes for October 7. Return the hostages, disband, do teshuva, and they get a state. The ball is in their court, I'm tired of this nonsense.

dont_thr0w_me_away_

Israelis criticize the goverment all the time, just more between ourselves and less when talking to out of country people.

BlackVirusXD3

Yes, absolutely feeling this way and there are many of us navigating the painful complexity, though our voices aren’t as prominent online as the extremes. Most Jews I know irl feel as we do. This is our humanity, and we have to hold on to it for dear life.

Prudent_Web_3677

I wish there was something we could really do to help.  I don’t think placing blame is most important, and that’s where all the tension and hatred forJews comes from.  We have to work on fixing and helping.

RedFlowerGreenCoffee

There’s no reason for Israel to not get aid to them and anyone in their right mind wants that but it will take a collective effort.

hinaultpunch

The way I view it is that I’m pro-Israel anti-Bibi. The way this was has been prosecuted is to keep him in power and with Trump now back in the White House he’s all onboard with Trump’s insane plan of mass expulsions of Arabs from Gaza so trump and his family can build waterfront resorts on the cheap.

When Israeli soldiers are saying their surperiors are telling them to use live ammunition on unarmed civilians then there is definitely culpability by the some of the top leaders in Israel and it starts with Bibi.

TheInfinityOfThought

The problem is that there is supply but UN is refusing to work with GHF so supplies are piling up. Israel just showed reporters what was happening. The issue isn’t supply but the UN refusing to work unless Hamas gets a cut.

Correct-Effective289

War is hell. Anyone who thinks that a country can fight a perfectly clean war where no civilian is harmed knows nothing about war. By all accounts, this is actually a considerably clean war. 

“War is hell” is not an excuse to target civilians, but rather an acknowledgment that when you are fighting a war in densely populated urban area against an enemy whose strategy is to maximize their own civilian suffering, non-combatants will die. Moreover, this has to be the first war since World War 2 where neighboring countries actively refused to shelter civilians caught in the crossfire, as Egypt and Jordan are refusing to do now. This makes it extremely difficult to move non-combatants away from the battle space. Another first is the outright refusal of the defeated entity (Hamas) to surrender. They are clearly beaten and could end this war tomorrow if they wanted to. 

It’s also worth noting that had Israel started this war, the conversation would be different, but this is a war of necessity — Israel was attacked by Hamas and Hamas must be eliminated.

Individual-Stage-620

I hate to see noncombatants going hungry and suffering as well. I don't see how limiting food aid is a smart or decent way to attack Hamas. 

Has anyone determined how much aid has entered Gaza since Oct 2023 and whether that should have been enough to feed everyone in Gaza? I'm not sure how much of the problem is Israel not allowing enough aid in versus the aid not getting where it needs to be.

Flamingo_Reasonable

The government sucks and the war needs to end. Enough. This is definitely Netanyahu's fault.

However, Israel is now allowing aid to enter Gaza basically freely, which is important to mention. A lot of what you see is indeed propaganda. It would have been better if the incompetent fools in government didn't play right into it. The entire GHF thing was an obvious mistake.

Ahad_Haam

Yeah it’s pretty awful, I’ve had to stop paying attention to it because everything about it is so awful it negatively affecting my mental health.

lordbuckethethird

A lot of people base their views on this conflict (both the current Gaza war and the longer conflict since 1948) on their identity as a Zionist/antizionist or “pro-Israel/pro-palestine” instead of trying understand how individuals are harmed. I don’t really care if people are Zionists or antizionists but I’m not interested in talking to people who believe that the entire population of Gaza is deserving of starvation or forced displacements. Ethnic cleansing is disgusting and needs to be condemned forcefully.

Good-Concentrate-260

It is wearing on all of us. It’s time to end this.  I defended every more  Netanyahu for well over the first year. I don’t understand how shooting at starving civilians is supposed the make Israel safer.

Interesting_Claim414

Oh I definitely feel this way, and will be downvoted into oblivion now for saying that.  But I am having a hard time with the idea that the whole population should be paying the price for what the governing body did , we have other examples of the government doing atrocious things (looking at you , Russia, Trump administration) but yet there are very few people saying: oh yes you elected that and advocating for collateral damage. Bibi now is ensuring that there will three more generations of Palestinians and people around the world that will hate Israelis and all Jews. And no matter how great IDF is they are not saints , not perfect and unlikely winning this war. 
Oh and the war is hard and oh well what about Egypt crowd is normally posting from places nowhere remotely close to any conflicts or wars; most of them really don’t know what they are talking about.

Sababa180

Israel is not alone. The UN, putting Hamas political ambitions first, is at least complicit, probably more.

Puzzleheaded-Test218

The food is already in Gaza.  The UN refuses to distribute it. 

Suitable_Vehicle9960

Is this a good faith discussion? Read the news, please, prior to ranting online. YNetNews is a noted centrist/moderate/objective news outlet. It is NOT The Times of Israel, nor is it Haaretz. It's fair. Egypt is sealed and the world is not blaming THEM for not feeding Gazans, and Israel is TRYING to feed them. 

# [Israel blames UN for Gaza food shortage, 800 truckloads of aid wait for UN delivery](https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1rfmmgpge)

QueenLevine

I feel sorry for them.  I don’t feel guilty.  That’s the difference.

BurnThis2

What is happening is the fault of Hamas, the UN, Israel, and gullible westerners. It’s horrible and not okay. I can’t control any of them and feel helpless. I want the hostages safe. I want Hamas gone. I want two states and peace. Nobody cares what I want though

Bakingsquared80

The international community only cares because Israel is a sensational topic. Most Americans don’t care at all that millions of Iraqis died in the wars America fought but they suddenly care that some Gazans are dying. It’s literally just because anti-semitism is how you get views and clicks.

Round-Status-5773

Return the hostages and stop trying to kill all Jews.

Next question?

shragae

It's a war. There's a reason people say war is hell. And this is a war in a densely populated urban area in which one side is seeking to maximize casualties amongst its own civilian population. Understand that every image you see -- and they are horrific -- is exactly what Hamas wants. Also understand that there is extreme media bias against Israel. They are not giving you the full story, like the fact that Hamas actively prevents Gazans from getting aid or the fact that there are many tons of it waiting to be distributed. 


Israel is a country, flawed like any other. They're certainly far from perfect. But there are probably dozens of other horrors taking place all over the world right now. Why is it that people are so obsessed with this one conflict? Why does no one care about Sudan, for example, or the ongoing slaughter of Druze in Syria (who Israel tried to help, by the way)? 


You already know the answer to these questions. 

DoodleBug179

I hate to say this after your post, but Hamas really is to blame, both for the Blood Libels they spread and for the misery they spread.  To be upset is a normal,  Jewish response, but the only party to be upset with is Hamas.

LanceJade

Please remember that Palestinians have a whole industry of fabricating misinformation (Paliwood is real). The pictures you see of the starving children have proven again and again to be from Yemen/Syria, AI or even staged using terminally ill patients. In many cases, the "child" is already swaddled to the point that no one can see that it's actually a doll. 


Ask yourself why the "famine" is suddenly worse now that the UN/Hamas no longer has monopoly, especially when we've seen and heard from Gazans themselves that they can finally get aid without having to pay for it. The weaker Hamas gets the worse the reports of Gaza's "suffering". This is more than just a coincidence - the propaganda is turned up to max using the oldest blood libel of them all: bloodthirsty Jews killing innocent babies. If anything, they are getting desperate.


Yes, there us hardship and civilians are always the ones to suffer in war. The task of providing aid to large crowds with Hamas operatives swarming about is a logistical nightmare and there will be shortages until the network has been properly established. It is important to remember, however, that neither the IDF or the GHF are claiming famine and the data does not support that there is ongoing famine. 


It is important that we keep level-headed and rational so we do not fall for the propaganda. The world was always turned against us and we should not rely on the words of antisemites. 

Sad_Eagle8690

Many of those images you seeing are from Yemen, syria, or just staged.

watch sahartv or any of the other myriad of smaller channels. you can see there is definitive exaggeration that looks terrible but you need the context

i mean yes war is awful. yes people are struggling. but Gaza has restaurants. food (though admittedly diverted via Hamas, etc). yes people have died (though 98% of the population is still alive and well)

but watch sahar. this clip, he collected video from people who filmed CNN filming what they wanted the world to see from there. there are definitely staged clips that you're seeing. there's a clip of a kid to be so hungry he's eating sand but there's restaurants right behind him just out of the CNN footage. supposedly a baby that was born on a pile of rubble but the baby is totally clean and they're saying it's 2 hours old but I can assure we tell you that baby's far older than 2 hours. and look at the clothes, they are not close that anyone would find if it was as bad and devastated as they're saying it is 

popular media is showing what they want you to see, not necessarily the whole picture

https://youtu.be/s49D33DPo8I?si=QaQm78yZAIKimdgU

Ifawumi

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migoodman

If you had access to live-streamed coverage of Berlin during WW2 you would have been equally appalled. War is disgusting, and anyone that advocates or encourages is it wrong in the head. Hamas chose this war and refuses to surrender because western college students have glorified and encouraged their violence. Just all around a shitty situation.

TheForsaken69

How about we do some research and talk about facts and not propaganda designed to spread lies and twist the narrative.

Here is a detailed analysis of what is really happening.  Once people address the facts maybe then they can start blaming Israel for something.  But OP and others chiming in have skipped over all the relevant issues, like how Israel does deliver aid, how the UM refuses to cooperate or allow Israel to escort the aid under guard inside Gaza, or how Hamas steals the aid, or how GHF is trying to go around Hamas but the UN is trying to stop GUF from doing that.  

https://www.np.reddit.com/r/BeneiYisraelNews/s/PJIef6wSHu

Asphodelmercenary

I think the issue is people putting the blame entirely on Israel, which seems to be the case for 90% of these propaganda inducing posts. Yes it’s sad, but it’s inevitable.

Mindless_Charity_395

Think back to WWII. All those people starving in concentration camps in Germany. Not just Jews, other people too. 

Did Americans and Europeans "placed blame" or "acknowledged magnitude" for that? Do you think they should have?

  
Also, in the case of Gaza. The photos are children with mostly congenital diseases that cause wasting, atrophy. Yes they need better medical care. But they are not "starving."

TopSecretAlternateID

This is a TROLL. It’s disgusting how they are inundating these groups but you can easily see what they e posted about. The fact that this troll never postedONCE about anything Jewish let alone Gaza says it all.

yumyum_cat

Israel looks bad by allowing the starving of so many women and children, so politically, it would be in their best interest to get food and medical aid to the people of Gaza, even if it's not Israel's responsibility. 

Of course, the rest of the world could figure out a way to get food to Gazans if they really wanted to.

FreeRangeGrape

Imagine if we had todays media during WW2. We could not blame any one nation for the starvation and difficult circumstances war creates globally. Israel is held to a standard no other nation on Earth is expected to adhere to. Not to mention there are two sides to every story. The population in Gaza was not "well fed" under HAMAS before the war either so these conditions hit even harder.

No_Mathematician7395

I wonder if the aggressors surrendering and releasing their hostages has been considered here.  Would that have any effect on the situation?

rockeye13

\[SS from essay by [Jacob J. Lew](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/authors/jacob-j-lew), Professor of International and Public Affairs at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Israel from 2023 to 2025 and as U.S. Treasury Secretary from 2013 to 2017; and [David Satterfield](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/authors/david-satterfield), Director of the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. He served as U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues from 2023 to 2024.\]

Ahumanitarian crisis is unfolding in the Gaza Strip. Since the March 2025 breakdown of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, conditions have worsened dramatically, and the potential for widespread starvation is real. Thousands of containers with food, medical supplies, and shelter materials remain stranded at border crossings on both sides, awaiting Israeli clearance to enter Gaza and conditions for safe passage free from seizure by desperate Gazan civilians, Hamas or gang attacks within the enclave. At least several hundred truckloads of food aid must enter daily to avert a wider catastrophe.

Many parties bear responsibility for this crisis. First and foremost, [Hamas](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/tags/hamas) launched a war with the brutal October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel; because Hamas fighters live and fight in civilian areas and in tunnels running underneath them, Hamas invited an Israeli response that would put millions of people at risk. Gazan civilians have suffered hardships and deaths at an unfathomable scale since the start of the war, and outside organizations attempting to meet humanitarian needs are struggling to deliver aid in the midst of intense combat and disorder in a dense urban environment.

ForeignAffairsMag

Please be civil and try to remember this subreddit is for the discussion of Australian Politics.

Wehavecrashed

Take some pointers from the Irish President Albo.

Substantial-Win2247

I’d support a 2 state solution, if it doesn’t end up like India Pakistan. I have family that come from the southern part of India that has no relation to the India Pakistan border, and they’re still affected by it.

Diddle_my_Fiddle2002

Overall a very reasonable position from Albanese. 
Though I do think we need to work with the international community to help stand up a viable Palestinian government before any recognition is made. Frances deadline may be somewhat premature in that regard.

We should work with the international community to make it clear to Israel that they are not meeting oir expectations or their obligations. That they are the ones who control food availability in gaza. And while Hamas may be the initiator of this round of the conflict, that in no way justifies any starving of the civilian population, not partially, not temporarily, not at all in any way.

1337nutz

Cool. Now pressure Israel with actual boycotts.

MarketCrache

What frustrates me about this is they CAN DO THAT TODAY! The Greens would vote for it and it is literally in the Labor party platform. There is no reason not to if they actually believe in their platform. 

Yet we are still just wagging our finger and talking about it. 

This is Labor. Always the same. Like to talk the talk but when it comes to action .....well they just want to be a small target.

jolard

It’s going to take a huge amount of international pressure to alter the right wing Zionist ideology of the Israel government. 
Especially with its United States support. 
Trump has already indicated that he wants to develop Gaza. 

This has nothing to do with hostages or the H guys. 

They only crawled out of the woodwork because of their neighbours behaviour. 

How can you stop an enemy when you are the problem in the first place that creates the situation that makes you an enemy .

We are just as stupid trying to fix the social problems in the Northern Territory by doing what created the problem in the first place. 
The leaders of the world are quite simply dumber than pig shit.

ImportantBug2023

We gonna do anything more than cross our arms and shake our head?

WhenWillIBelong

Strongest words without a consequence yet. They must really be cowed by that. What a spineless joke our government is. Can’t even name the genocide in front of them. Can’t bring themselves to sanction the country perpetrating it. What is the ALP for?

MycologistSharp4337

This is the leader of the party that voted against recognizing Palestinian statehood, yeah?

FothersIsWellCool

Two state solution is the only way forward, until Hamas/ Hezbollah etc can accept this and Israel and the rest of the world can believe them , then we are doomed. Hostages are still being held from Oct 6 2023. Gaza has other boarders and aid come through those and the UN could control this.

Agreeable_Night5836

Albo is such a professional fence-sitter, even since his days in opposition. 

  
In one breath he supports the IHRA's false equivalence, and in the other he supports Palestinian statehood. I don't know who told him that but he cannot please everyone and get everyone's votes by sitting on a fence on these types of issues.

AussieAK

Do something about it then Albo.

Declare we recognise Palestine as a state, refuse to recognise israel, expel their ambassador, make it illegal for any military or economic cooperation.

We treated south Africa like pariahs when they were an apartheid nation we should treat Israel at a minimum like we did South Africa under apartheid

dreamlikey

Calling it a humanitarian catastrophe suggests that it is a natural disaster like a cyclone or a flood. It’s a genocide. Israel is intentionally exterminating Palestinians. Israel must be made to pay a heavy price for its crimes.

The Prime Minister’s attention to this genocide is better than ignoring it but he should use accurate language. “Humanitarian catastrophe” drastically downplays what is really happening. 

RaspberryPrimary8622

And yet Labor hacks relentlessly attack the Greens on this issue who actually knew that Israel was conducting a genocidal landgrab months ago.

RedditLovesDisinfo

Statement submission:

For the past week or so, we have seen significant international pressure on Israel. The joint statement led by the UK has some 30 signatories, nearly all of them Israeli allies. France is about to recognise Palestine and there are calls in the UK to do the same. Even Germany has put out a joint statement with UK and France about how horrific the situation has become. Israel is now conceding that there is a famine occurring (although denies responsibility) and is going to permit more aid in to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.

denyer-no1-fan

A severe humanitarian crisis unfolds in Gaza as Israeli military operations intensify, leading to significant casualties among Palestinians.

Gaza Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

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What the people want