Meanwhile on the International front....

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveb...-gazas-maghazi-camp-cause-of-high-death-toll/

An Israeli strike that killed dozens of people in the Maghazi camp in the center of the Gaza Strip earlier this week was carried out using improper ordnance, a military official tells the Kan public broadcaster, with the military appearing to take responsibility for the strike.

“The type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, causing extensive collateral damage which could have been avoided,” the official says.

According to Hamas health authorities in Gaza, some 70 people were killed in the strike late Sunday. While the toll cannot be verified, Associated Press journalists at a nearby hospital say they watched frantic Palestinians carry the dead, including a baby, and wounded following the strike.

In response to the Kan report, an IDF spokesperson tells the broadcaster, “The IDF regrets the harm to those who were uninvolved and is working to learn lessons from the incident.”

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas...less-fighting-in-gaza-stops-israel-no-chance/

Israel on Thursday firmly rejected a Hamas demand to permanently halt fighting before releasing any more hostages being held by terrorists in Gaza, as talks in Cairo for a truce deal appeared to make little progress.

A Hamas official told AFP that “a total ceasefire and a retreat of the Israeli occupation army from the Gaza Strip are a precondition for any serious negotiation” on a hostage-prisoner swap.

Israel has repeatedly rejected any such proposition, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated on Thursday the longstanding position in no uncertain terms: “We are fighting until victory. We will not stop the war until we achieve all its goals — completing the destruction of Hamas, and releasing all of our hostages.”

 

In addition to being very very evil, Hamas is also very very stupid. A series of temporary ceasefires with hostages released in small batches is their best way to play for time, and time is their ally here. War has momentum and so do pauses in hostilities.

 

Just remember that they don't really want peace.

 

OOP, I know that as well as you do. But to "win" this disaster, all Hamas has to do is survive as Gaza's ruling political force. Every cease fire helps that objective. Successful resistance/terrorist groups take the long view of their wars. Hamas has gone short term.

 

Maybe, or once the fighting stops, the world doesn't have new images and video of the results of Israel's violence to distract it any longer and they might just remember who the real monsters are in this mess. They might not be able to destroy Israel, but they are turning the world against it.

 

Biden is for Israel, so the reflexive position of the Republicans is against Israel.

Biden is for Ukraine, so the reflexive position of the Republicans is against Ukraine.

Biden is for border reform, so the reflexive position of the Republicans is against border reform.

If all of the above can hang on through 2024, the world has a chance.

 

That sort of Republican isn't against Israel, at least not publicly. They are too busy trying to use it to attack liberals.

 

Real monsters stipulated, but Israel appears to be turning the world against itself, too.

 

That was my point. Hamas wants to keep that going by keeping the fighting going. They are going to keep making demands they know Israel won't accept and even if there is a cease-fire, they will just violate it again.

 

A ground war in Gaza, block by block, mile by mile, makes more sense to me.
Weed out Hamas one by one, 10 by 10, and keep pounding until Hamas is destroyed.

At that point, Palestinians could be free to chart their own path again. A path for peace and survival.
But I'm an outsider here, and far away. At what point, though, does the world tire of Middle East conflicts?

 

The world wasn't the victim Oct. 7.

The ground war as you describe it gets a lot more Israeli soldiers killed. You might want to figure that into the equation.