HORROR IN GAZA

As a mother I cannot look at the photos coming in from Gaza any longer without feeling sick to the core (YOU, 2 November).

Today I saw a young mother (or perhaps an older sister?) wrapped in a blanket carrying a little girl who’s holding on to her for dear life. She’s crying or screaming with her mouth wide open as they’re walking through an apocalyptic landscape.

When will this end? Does anybody out there still have a heart and a modicum of empathy in them? What are they doing to these poor people?

Yes, the attack on Israel was unexpected and incredibly brutal, but does this justify the death of thousands of people, including women and children?

War doesn’t solve anything. That’s a lesson that many countries had to learn the hard way paying a huge price for what they would’ve claimed to be a justifiable reason. It causes death, destruction and unimaginable human suffering that leaves scars for decades to come. In the name of what? Justice? Democracy? The right to defend yourself ?

I don’t know how Israel wants to resolve this problem, but this is not the way. What have these women and children ever done to them? I’m so upset. HM POLLOCK, EMAIL Your article does not explain that the reason mosques, hospitals and schools are being attacked is that Hamas have a network of tunnels, many under these very buildings and Israel has repeatedly asked civilians to vacate the north to avoid death and injury.

There doesn’t appear to be many options to attack Hamas without targeting these buildings.

It’s also well known that they use civilians as human shields. They’re ruthless and inhuman in their approach. This present phase of the conflict was started by Hamas and the video footage of the kidnapping of the hostages is horrific. More than 200 Israeli civilians were taken hostage, some elderly, some children.

We must not forget that Israel came into being after World War 2, and this land was given to them as a homeland in the wake of the Holocaust, which was one of the most atrocious attacks on a people in living history.

ANNE OLVER, CAPE TOWN