The Netanyahu Government see’s going back to attacks against Hamas IN Gaza as the way to get rid of Hamas, with hostage worries as secondary….
The Israeli public is STRONGLY against the return to attacks in Gaza….
The Washington Post….
Israeli officials say they are still waiting for the outcome of ceasefire talks and that no decisions have been made on whether — and how — to escalate the current phase of the offensive, which has so far consisted of mostly aerial bombardment.
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And they would mark a significant departure for the Israeli military, whose previous leaders feared becoming mired in the Gaza Strip. A full-scale invasion and occupation would require up to five army divisions, people familiar with the planning say, and the Israel Defense Forces could become stretched, given that reservists are increasingly voicing skepticism about fighting an open-ended war.
But some officials say that only a full-scale invasion now, followed by a lengthy counterinsurgency and deradicalization effort, would accomplish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated aim of eradicating Hamas after the group launched the attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 Israelis and sparked the war….
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Israel has destroyed nearly all of Hamas’s 24 fighting battalions, it says, leaving a few thousand fighters in Gaza. But to fully eradicate the remnants, it would have to hold the territory — which some officers and analysts say carries high risks for Israel.
“If you look at the French in Algeria, [the U.S.] Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Americans in Afghanistan, the history of counterinsurgency attempts teach us that even the Israelis will fail,” said Sascha-Dominik Dov Bachmann, an expert on warfare at the University of Canberra. “It would undermine the moral and ethical basis of Israel.”
But supporters of a more intense and lengthy operation in Gaza argue that the campaign last year only resulted in Hamas reemerging from its tunnels in crisp uniforms in January, and that the political conditions are ripe now to further ratchet up military pressure and hold Gaza if necessary….
The Guardian….
An Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza has killed five people, including a Hamas political leader and Palestinian medics, Hamas has said, in an attack that Israel said had targeted a key figure in the militant group.
The Gaza health ministry said the strike hit the surgery department at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said its attack followed extensive intelligence and used precise munitions to minimise harm at the site.
Hamas said a member of its political office, Ismail Barhoum, had been killed.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, confirmed the target was Barhoum. The military did not name the target, which it described only as “a key terrorist” in Hamas.
Hamas’s al-Aqsa TV said Barhoum was being treated at the hospital for wounds sustained in a previous attack. Israel says Hamas systematically embeds personnel in hospitals, schools and shelters, which the group denies….
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After two months of relative calm in the war, Palestinians in Gaza have again been fleeing for their lives after Israel effectively abandoned a ceasefire, launching a new all-out air and ground campaign on Tuesday against Hamas.
Another leader in Hamas, Salah al-Bardaweel, was killed in a separate strike in Khan Younis, Hamas said earlier. The Israeli military confirmed it had killed Bardaweel on Saturday.
Both Bardaweel and Barhoum were members of the 19-member Hamas decision-making body, the political office, 11 of whom have been killed since the start of the war in late 2023, according to Hamas sources….
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Signalling it could escalate its actions further, the Israeli military said on Sunday one of its divisions that had operated in Lebanon, where Israel had fought Hamas’s Iranian-backed ally, Hezbollah, was preparing for possible action in Gaza….
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The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said the aim of the war was to destroy Hamas as a military and governing entity. The ambition of the new campaign was to force the group to give up remaining hostages, he said on Tuesday.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke to Netanyahu to “emphasise US support for Israel”, a state department spokesperson said. They discussed Israel’s continuing military operations in Gaza, efforts to bring hostages home and US strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, the spokesperson added.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
“Israel’s military offensive has caused an appalling loss of life,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. “As long as this war continues, both sides lose.”
Kallas added Israel must respect civilian lives and that threats to annex parts of Gaza were unacceptable…..
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