Quote (zorzin @ 31 Jan 2024 07:57)
Well I mean obviously I feed from the media, I don't have the ability to get first hand information like you do. I would imagine that it would take the idf an incredible amount of time to Atlantis all the tunnels but it is doable I suppose.
Hamas would love nothing better than a ceasefire right now and bibi needs one aswell if he's gona take on hezbollah. Israel HAS to bargain in a position of strength in order to sell a ceasefire to its angry population. Hell I even agree with you here, Israel really has no choice but to continue in gaza because it's done a terrible job so far and it needs to regain its perception of invincibility with massive threat deterrence.
I think the #1 issue here is that a lot of people in the West view "Gaza" and "Hamas" as separate things. Hamas IS the governing body and military wing of Gaza. Duly elected, no less, and supported by the overwhelming majority of Gazans. They're so popular, in fact, that the Palestinian Authority over in the West Bank refuses to allow for an election, because a rep from Hamas would run and almost certainly win.
So, in October, Gaza INVADED Israel, killed over a thousand Israelis and took hundreds more prisoner, along with guests to the nation. Gaza did this while both sides were already under a ceasefire. To the population of Israel, not only was it an act of war and the previous ceasefire a trick, they have nowhere to run or fall back to if their government does not END Hamas. Any form of ceasefire, or even negotiation at this point will be seen not just as weakness, but as the government abdicating responsibility for the safety of it's people. I wouldn't want to be the leader of that nation, after being under nonstop threat for 70 years, when the people lose faith that their government and military are serious about protecting them from the jihadists. Sounds like a bad plan. And with the Iranians continuing to supply weapons to Hamas, and the realization that small, cheap, retail quality suicide drones are cheap, way more effective than rockets, and the Iron Dome doesn't shoot them down, Iran's positive relations with China may see active suicide drone warfare against Israel very soon.
I agree that collapsing tunnels and clearing them out is a shit solution. Drown the tunnels? That idea has some merit. In fact, it has so much merit that were I Hamas, I would be using the tunnels as bait, I'd already have connected them to the sea, and I'd do something major to bait Israel into dedicating the bulk of their forces to clearing them out, then I'd flood them with the Israelis trapped inside. But that's just me, and I have a nasty state of mind, when it comes to warfare and strategy.
