Gaza - War does not determine who is right - only who is left

[Elerond]

2 hours ago, melkathi said:

And the Westbank has no Hamas and no hostages and Israel is going berzerk there.

Both Hamas military and political wings have presence in West Bank and they actively commit strikes against Israel from West Bank, but they aren't in control in West Bank and their support there is many times lesser than it is in Gaza, but thousands come to celebrate and welcome Hamas soldiers that Israel freed to West Bank in exchange of hostages in Gaza (with caveat that Israel quite freely names Palestinians as members of Hamas when they prison them). Also many Israel's actions in West Bank don't have anything to do with Hamas, but are just Israel taking more land to themselves.

But overall hostage taking by Hamas has caused worst tragedy in history of Israel and Palestine and has lead more deaths than all previous conflicts together and current Israeli leadership has welcomed the opportunity with open arms.

[BruceVC]

9 minutes ago, Elerond said:

Both Hamas military and political wings have presence in West Bank and they actively commit strikes against Israel from West Bank, but they aren't in control in West Bank and their support there is many times lesser than it is in Gaza, but thousands come to celebrate and welcome Hamas soldiers that Israel freed to West Bank in exchange of hostages in Gaza (with caveat that Israel quite freely names Palestinians as members of Hamas when they prison them). Also many Israel's actions in West Bank don't have anything to do with Hamas, but are just Israel taking more land to themselves.

But overall hostage taking by Hamas has caused worst tragedy in history of Israel and Palestine and has lead more deaths than all previous conflicts together and current Israeli leadership has welcomed the opportunity with open arms.

Do you agree with me that all the hostages should be released or do you think Hamas should not do this and then we see what happens with the war in Gaza starting again as the most likely scenario?

[Elerond]

2 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Do you agree with me that all the hostages should be released or do you think Hamas should not do this and then we see what happens with the war in Gaza starting again as the most likely scenario?

Taking hostages is strategy that is doomed to fail so releasing hostages is would be best option for Hamas, but I don't think that it can prevent war from continuing, but unlike keeping hostages, releasing hostages would increase pressure of other countries to intervene.

[BruceVC]

1 minute ago, Elerond said:

Taking hostages is strategy that is doomed to fail so releasing hostages is would be best option for Hamas, but I don't think that it can prevent war from continuing, but unlike keeping hostages, releasing hostages would increase pressure of other countries to intervene.

Yes thats basically what I think. Even though there is no guarantee that Israel will not continue the war once the hostages are released  it will change the US views  and  how Trump understands a permanent ceasefire 

Its going to be even harder for Israel to justify continuing the war once the hostages are released 

 

[Malcador]

8 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Why doesnt Hamas just release all the hostages?

Why take the risk of the war starting again?

Saw one theory is thamt Hamas doesn't have some of them, sort of a black humour in that.  Other than that is strange for sure, if the war resumes we're going to see Palestinians on the move again and all which I guess is bad PR for Israel, not like they care though especially with a more obedient US.

[Zoraptor]

Bad PR for Israel: not with the press coverage we're all getting. Israel raping an orthopaedic surgeon to death- who was kidnapped every bit as much as any Israeli hostage was- with a broomhandle doesn't even rate a mention while skinny hostages is literally the end of the world. 

But starving Palestinian babies... that's fine because some people voted for Hamas 17 years ago.

9 hours ago, Elerond said:

But overall hostage taking by Hamas has caused worst tragedy in history of Israel and Palestine and has lead more deaths than all previous conflicts together and current Israeli leadership has welcomed the opportunity with open arms.

The biggest death toll caused by Israel's creation is still the Lebanese Civil War. Unless Israel managed to kill more than 150k Palestinians, which is a possibility considering Israel's obvious strategy was to kill anyone counting so the toll stalled out despite the attacks never letting up.

[BruceVC]

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/13/middleeast/hamas-hostage-release-israel-gaza-intl/index.html

Some good news, it looks like Hamas will release some hostages on Saturday

Hopefully the war reigniting doesn't happen?