Mohammad Al Shanti is forced to travel nearly four miles to Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza to fill up plastic bottles with water. It’s only enough for his family’s most basic needs.
Hamas’ brutal attacks in Israel on October 7 killed at least 1,400 people and the group took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. In the wake of the assault, Israel launched an aerial bombardment of Gaza that Palestinian health officials say has killed more than 5,000 people. Israel also announced a “complete siege” on the enclave, withholding vital supplies of water, food and fuel.
Why don't Palestinians work with their oppressor who tortures them in prison and puts up checkpoints to prevent them from reaching schools and kills them indiscriminately? Gosh I don't know. What do you think?
This is a difficult socioeconomic problem. The majority of the Palestinians in the Gaza strip are under 18. They've lived a life of nothing but oppression. For the vast majority of people there now, this is the only life they've known. And for the adults, they saw a more conciliatory government not give them the life they want.
And since that coup attempt, there have been no elections in the Gaza strip.
Even presupposing the majority of the children in Gaza wanted to overthrow Hamas, it's a collective action problem, how many of them are willing to throw their lives away to affect a political change, when they see the real threat as an external one.
Historically, religious fundamentalists thrive in adverse conditions. When the population loses all hope, religion tends to step in, and extreme religion tends to dominate.
Being realistic, the first step to removing Hamas support is giving the population better options. Economic options, education options, religious freedom options. And that's going to require a lot of work that isn't military as the ground work
I mean Hamas also does that. Israeli Arabs are imo objectively treated better by Israel than Palestinians by Hamas, despite the fact that they're also not treated that well.
Do you think Hamas or Iran would use one if they had it? I think it would be sent on a donkey if it meant destruction of Israeli lives. I also think loss of civilian lives is inevitable and the exact thing Hamas wants because it makes Israel look bad. Why else would they forbid people to move south when Israel said so prior to bombing? Why would they kidnap people and use as hostages? To them innocent lives are a tool to get some killing done. To Israel innocent lives are unfortunate and unavoidable consequence which will happen in extermination of Hamas, since if they are left to live this whole scenario will repeat.
They don't leave because they know what will happen when they leave because Israel has done this before. Israel will seize the land and their homes and will continue to bomb them in a more dense space. So if they are going to die they choose to die in their homes and not a concentration camp.
Because Hamas is the only organization fighting Israel, or the only one that matters. So given that Israel has no interest in peace, Hamas is their best bet at getting anything done. Remember: The West Bank doesn't have Hamas, and there are currently honest to God pogroms going on there.
You're gonna have to pay me more than that to try and kidnap what is essentially a soldier. Do normal Palestinians even have guns or is this even more of a suicide mission than it sounds?
I was merely quoting the original sum. I'd hazard a guess Israel would be willing to pay a lot more for each soldier considering only one of the Iron Dome missiles costs 47k$ or something.
I doubt money is the most important need for a marginalized and oppressed people. Sounds like an alibi offer so people can't say Bibi hasn't tried something else than bombs. Especially that number seems laughably low as you yourself already pointed out. If this could work, they should be able to afford a lot more.
Because Israel legitimized Hamas, giving them access to external funding and other political rights, so they could ensure less radical non-terrorist groups wouldn't gain support
Israel's current administration wants Hamas to be the Palestinian political leaders, because Hamas are terrorists with hardliner demands and a hard on for martyrdom... They're the worst way to actually accomplish anything politically