TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s decision to take over Gaza City was met with resignation and defiance by Palestinians who have survived two years of war and repeated raids. Many Israelis responded with fear and anger, worried it could be a death sentence for hostages held in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that Israel would intensify its 22-month war with Hamas by taking over Gaza City, large parts of which have been destroyed by past bombardment and ground incursions.
A major ground operation is almost sure to cause more mass displacement and worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
“What does (Israel) want from us? … There is nothing here to occupy,” said a woman in Gaza City who identified herself as Umm Youssef. “There is no life here. I have to walk every day for more than 15 minutes to get drinking water.”
Ruby Chen, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen whose son, Itay, is a hostage held in Gaza, told The Associated Press that the decision puts the remaining hostages in danger.
“What is the plan now that is different from the last 22 months?” he said.
Your attempt to derail the conversation because the facts aren’t on your side has been noticed, but I’ll bite.
There are about a hundred and one different ways one could solve this problem. For example, Israel could have custodianship over the relevant holy sites like Jordan does over the Temple Mount. For another, any kind of agreement could be worked out to let Israeli citizens visit these sites (as long as Palestinians are allowed to visit the Temple Mount). Alternatively, we could decide that this all makes no sense for a hundred different reasons and go for a one-state solution with no borders in historical Palestine. Point being: This is not and has never been a serious hurdle towards peace, only an excuse. In serious peace negotiations in the near future, Israel’s position would be so strong as to make getting such concessions from the Palestinian side trivial. I should point out, though, that it’s far from guaranteed that this will be the case in fifteen or twenty years; at that point Israel would be forced to make concessions that actually hurt.
You are still defending Hamas. They have never offered or agreed to any plausible peace deal. They have only made demands in order to keep the fighting going.
Israel has released 100s of prisoners, including violent terrorists who murdered peace activists. That’s dozens of times more individuals than Hamas has released or ever agreed to release.
Israel has offered safe passage to friendly countries for Hamas leadership to step down and release remaining hostages.
In the end I believe you are right that Israel will have to make even more painful concessions if they continue down this path. Hamas has demonstrated that they will fight to the last man no matter how many Palestinians have to suffer or die while they hide in their tunnels and continue to torture their hostages.
I see you’re desperate to derail the conversation again now that your first attempt has failed. It’s painfully obvious and does your monstrosity of a cause no good, so you should consider stopping. I won’t dignify this with a response since you and everyone else reading this knows exactly what I was going to say, but I’ll just note that in the comment you’re responding to, the word “Hamas” appears exactly zero times.
Maybe too many people have blocked you or something, so I’m not sure if you just can’t see that Hamas is the entire discussion of this thread from the first comments.
It’s no surprise to me that someone would fling accusations rather than responding with anything substantive, although that’s not me. I’ve made the point, and provided widely available and globally relied upon sources. You have replied with name calling and rhetoric, so I am okay with your decision not to respond. Probably better for both of us.