Israel crisis: Why is it different this time around?
The volume and intensity of Hamas attacks has added a new twist to an old and violent story: Fox's Amy Kellogg has the latest
MSNBC anchor Ayman Mohyeldin knocked Israel for leveraging its strong capabilities in response to attacks from Gaza.
Tensions between Israel and Palestinians have boiled over into violence with the terrorist group Hamas launching rockets over the skies of major cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, which were largely blocked by the Iron Dome defensive system, but the death toll continues to rise on both sides of the border.
However, Mohyeldin suggested on Instagram that Israel's military strength makes the conflict an unfair right despite Hamas' history of sparking the violence, showing an image of a targeted building in Gaza collapsing as a result of an airstrike.
"I lived in Gaza for two years, I’ve covered numerous wars over the years," Mohyeldin began on Wednesday. "Israeli officials always highlight how they try to avoid civilians and how they warn residents to vacate their homes ahead of an impending air strike. This picture captures how dense gaza is at the moment of an air strike. Even if one building is notified to vacate, look at the damage that is caused to the nearby buildings. The windows that are blown out, the glass and the debris that injures or kills those in adjacent buildings or on then streets below. Think of the psychological terror and trauma one must feel to receive a phone call to leave their home within minutes."
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"What do you grab when you are running out? Do you grab food for your children? Their birth certificates? Their favorite doll or toy that helps them sleep? Just clothes?" Mohyeldin asked. "What we perceive to be an attempt to avoid casualties is psychologically tormenting, terrifying and traumatic. There are no early warning sirens. There are no bunkers. And no shelter will protect you when an entire building, sometimes 13 stories high is collapsed on your head. There is no place to escape. There are no front lines. There is no place for the displaced to go."
The MSNBC anchor insisted that peaceful Gaza residents can't just "simply cross the border" and away from the war zone.
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"Imagine if you are a law abiding citizen who rejects this violence and unbeknownst to you someone who lives ten floors down from your apartment is involved in nefarious activity," Mohyeldin wrote. "Imagine you are held responsible for what that neighbor does by having your family home destroyed. It is the very definition of collective punishment."
He continued, "There is no safe space for the people of Gaza. Even if the innocent people of Gaza reject the violence being carried out they are still paying the price. This is not a war between equal sides."