Meanwhile on the International front....

Careful. I've been led to believe anything less than full-throated support for every decision made is tacit support for Hamas.

 

Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on earth. Urban warfare creates disproportionately large number of casualties for the armed forces involved. Ordinarily, as many civilians as possible flee the site of the conflict, but Gazans are trapped with no place to go. The civilian casualties, already awful, are going to become truly horrific. It doesn't matter how hard or even if the two sides try to minimize those casualties. They are inevitable. High explosives ain't that smart.

 

It's pretty widely assumed that the city is honeycombed with tunnels ... an invasion would be an extremely bloody war of attrition. Israel hasn't seen a war like that since 1948, and even that fight didn't have an elaborate defensive network like this one.

 

Yeah, I'm sure the terrorists will try their best to minimize casualties. I'm surprised you don't have a paraglider as your avatar.

 

Just as I read this post, NBC Nightly News was interviewing Hersh’s family.

“We love you. Be strong. Survive.”

 

If Israel succeeds in wiping out Hamas, then what? Do they take responsibility for the day-to-day governing and administration of Gaza? Do they rebuild the destroyed homes and other infrastructure? Or just build more fences and walls and leave Gaza to figure things out on its own?

 

First, they put up a "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" sign . . .

 

Fuck all the way off, jackass. To note that there will be many civilian casualties in this war, caused by both sides, is not taking sides. It's citing a terrible fact to come. We haven't heard from you in awhile. It's been a good awhile, too.

 

This seems ... not good.
This is after they'd made an announcement earlier today to the effect of "something will happen in a few hours."

 

Seeing lots of Twitter chatter, but no reporting from the reliable international outlets, that the U.S. embassy in Lebanon is being stormed and set on fire.
Other Middle East embassies for Israel and Britain are also having protests and assorted trouble.