Readers React: Shocking atrocities in Gaza

To the editor: To the editor: The sun was barely up Thursday when I grabbed my first cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other and sat down to peruse the day’s news. The front-page photo above the fold immediately seized my attention and wouldn’t let go. I was transfixed. (“Israeli strikes intensify; 16 killed at U.N. school-shelter in Gaza,” July 30)

It took me a long while to process, and accept, the fact that the children in the picture were dead. Their little bodies were not covered.

At first I thought they were asleep on the hospital table, maybe anesthetized — certainly not dead. I tried to make sense of what I was seeing, lingering in disbelief on that image. My heart started hurting.

My eyes finally made it to the caption; caffeine kicked in.

My brain grudgingly managed clarity: War is evil — and counterintuitive (at least to me).

Hortense Bradley, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The bloodshed in Gaza must end. This is no longer war but is now perilously crossing into the realm of massacres.

How else can we explain the bombing of entire neighborhoods? The attack on hospitals and United Nations schools? The destruction of the only power plant in Gaza? These are attacks designed to intimidate the civilian population of Gaza rather than destroy armed threats. The U.N. and even the White House are recognizing them as such.

With American tax dollars funding and arming such atrocities, we hold a responsibility to question and rebuke such violations of both international and moral law. Our own standing around the world is tarnished when we are associated with such crimes.

On the basis of humanity and our own self-interest, we must call an end to this disproportionate aggression.

Umer Waris, Corona