More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the month since Hamas’ terrorist attacks inside southern Israel, the group’s health ministry in Gaza says.

But Hamas officials say the mounting death toll, believed to include thousands of children, has not caused the group to regret its actions in southern Israel, which Israeli officials said killed 1,400 people.

In fact, Hamas leaders say that their goal was to trigger this very response and that they’re still hoping for a bigger war. It’s all part of a strategy, they say, to derail talks over Israel normalizing relations with regional powers — namely, Saudi Arabia — and draw the world’s attention to the Palestinian cause.

Hamas, these officials say, is more interested in the destruction of Israel than what it sees as the temporary hardships faced by Palestinians under Israeli bombardment.

“What could change the equation was a great act, and without a doubt, it was known that the reaction to this great act would be big,” Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the group’s governing politburo, told The New York Times in an interview.

  • @QuarterSwede
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    11 months ago

    The IDF rarely shows mercy. I don’t really understand what the surrounding countries are thinking. If they want to escalate things to remove the status quo they certainly are. But at what cost?

    • @Crashumbc
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      3211 months ago

      Both sides are religious fanatics. You can’t reason with a fanatic

      • @[email protected]
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        -611 months ago

        This isn’t about religion, at least not anymore. Palestinians have been oppressed by Israelis because they want the land. Palestinians want Israel dead because they’ve been oppressed and marginalized.

        • GreenM
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          11 months ago

          It is also about religion. Radical Jewish think they are chosen by the God over others. Radical Islamist think killling infidels or in name of the God is best outcome, if kids die they died for God and will be rewarded . Take away religion, radicals will have much harder time find people to die in their cause.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 months ago

            This is a very simplistic take on a very complex situation. I have friends in Tel Aviv, I’ve visited their homes. Some were raised very orthodox jew in Jerusalem, didn’t even have internet most of their lives. I’ve been to the Western Wall and seen the Jewish people praying, while the Muslims watch outside the gate (they each have their own time they can go in).

            Talking with all my friends, the answer is always “it’s complicated”. It’s only religion so far as “we want to occupy the same space”. It kickstarted it, but that could have been anything – oil, water, ports, whatever. But since it turned to land, it became very politically motivated. Who can powerful countries ally with for key tactical military presence? For the people living there, how can I feel more safe?

            I’m kind of rambling, but there’s way too much to talk about in just a comment. But yea, the answer is that it’s very complicated.

            • GreenM
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              11 months ago

              My post was specifically about radicals. Radicalized people will die willingly or / and will break all possible boundaries you can imagine. They are near impossible to reason with.

        • @aidan
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          1211 months ago

          There have been religiously motivated attacks against Israelis since the creation of Israel.

        • @5BC2E7
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          -211 months ago

          This take requires complete ignorance over the last 2000 years of history.

    • @[email protected]
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      11 months ago

      I think they’re trying to get Israel to act in such a way that they finally lose the American support. Israel currently gets to do whatever it wants without consequence because the US will seemingly back them unconditionally. Also, many countries, people, and organizations are afraid to criticize Israel because they get called anti-Semitic. But I think that only works while Israel can manage to convince people it’s the “good one”.

        • @aidan
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          411 months ago

          Germany and the UK??

            • Cethin
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              311 months ago

              “The whole world…”

              “Oh, but not those parts!”

              A lot of the world has issues criticizing Israel, and anything they’re told to support in general really.

        • @QuarterSwede
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          311 months ago

          You can’t underestimate the USs support of anything. It’s still a juggernaut.

    • GreenM
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      711 months ago

      Those radicalized will be happy to die in name of their God. If civilian dies depending on their religion they will be rewarded by their God or infidels will be punished. So in their mind as long as many people die its a win.

    • @[email protected]
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      -711 months ago

      It’s like asking what the allies were thinking invading Normandy. Like, yes it’s a bad idea, but it needed to happen, and trying it once gets you one try closer to the 1000th try that actually works. Somebody’s gotta do it, so why not us?

      • @[email protected]
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        411 months ago

        That is one of the worst comparisons I have ever seen.

        Normandy was an strategic attack at a high cost.

        This conflict is so one sided that people here like to call it genocide.

        • @[email protected]
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          -311 months ago

          No, it literally is a genocide. Which is why something as bold as Normandy is required.