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“Israel pounded hundreds of targets in Gaza from the air on Monday as its soldiers fought Hamas militants during raids into the besieged Palestinian strip… Hamas on Monday freed two Israeli women among the more than 200 hostages taken during its Oct. 7 assault. They were the third and fourth hostages to be released…
“With Gaza's 2.3 million people running short of basics, European leaders looked set to follow the United Nations and Arab nations in calling for a ‘humanitarian pause’ in hostilities so aid could reach them. A convoy of humanitarian aid trucks delivered water, food and medicine to the Gaza Strip on Monday - the third since aid began flowing on Saturday - but the United Nations said fuel was not included and reserves will run out within two days.” Reuters
“The Biden administration has advised Israel to delay a ground invasion of Gaza, hoping to buy time for hostage negotiations and to allow more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in the sealed-off enclave, according to several U.S. officials… The administration is not making a demand of Israel and still supports the ground invasion and Israel’s goal of eradicating Hamas, the group controlling Gaza that killed about 1,400 people in terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, the officials said.” New York Times
Here’s our previous coverage of the situation in Gaza. The Flip Side
The right is skeptical of calls to delay the expected ground offensive.
“[Hamas] did not, as we should recall, make any political demand for negotiation before October 7. It has expressed no remorse for what it did, nor even the slightest indication that it would not do the same again in the future, or worse. Its spokespeople and allies continue to call for the destruction of Israel. Whether or not it is possible to reach a diplomatically negotiated political solution of the Palestinian issues (either generally or specific to Gaza), the first precondition for negotiation is that Hamas must be removed from power. That, under current conditions, can only be done by force…
“None of the people calling for a ceasefire and negotiations are addressing the real-world reality of the attitude of Hamas towards negotiations. And most of them know that, which is why it is a bad-faith demand made by Putin, Xi, and others no more serious about humanitarian concerns than they are.”
Dan McLaughlin, National Review
“It is in Israel’s interest to complete the ground operation as swiftly as possible to end the fighting and limit the inevitable civilian casualties. Israel also needs to enlist the international community to begin to mitigate the humanitarian emergency that is already unfolding in Gaza. Getting bogged down in a protracted urban slog would only benefit the terrorists by giving them time to shift the terms of debate from their own ghastly crimes to the effects of the war on Gaza itself. The sooner the ground campaign launches — and the sooner it concludes — the better for everyone.”
James S. Robbins, American Spectator
“The problem right now is that Hamas has over 200 hostages. Signaling that the ground invasion will happen once hostages are released gives Hamas every incentive to drag out the talks and maybe release a few hostages here and there to show evidence that the talks are bearing fruit. Hamas knows that having hostages will complicate Israeli battle plans, so there’s no reason to believe that the terrorist group would release them all.”
Philip Klein, National Review
“Hamas has [fortified] Gaza, especially Gaza City, over the 17 years that they have controlled the territory. Most of the billions of dollars in aid given by the international community went into making as much of Gaza a trap for the IDF as possible. And Hamas has made sure in this instance to bait the trap as best as they could. The Israelis know this, too. That may be one reason why they have yet to step off in force into Gaza…
“But another may be the successes they are currently experiencing in their air campaign. The targeted strikes on Hamas positions have racked up an impressive number of their leaders, both political and ‘military,’ which suggests Israeli intel has been good and may be getting better… In fact, one has to wonder whether we’ll see a traditional ground war in Gaza at all, or whether the Israelis have something else in mind — at least for a while.”
Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
The left generally supports a humanitarian ceasefire and urges Israel to avoid a full ground invasion.
The left generally supports a humanitarian ceasefire and urges Israel to avoid a full ground invasion.
“In his speech on Thursday, Biden called for America to stand firmly behind Ukraine and Israel, two nations attacked by forces aiming to destroy them. Fair enough. But suppose Ukraine responded to Russian war crimes by laying siege to a Russian city, bombing it into dust and cutting off water and electricity while killing thousands and obliging doctors to operate on patients without anesthetic. I doubt we Americans would shrug and say: Well, Putin started it. Too bad about those Russian children, but they should have chosen somewhere else to be born…
“I particularly want to challenge the suggestion, more implicit than explicit, that Gazan lives matter less because many Palestinians sympathize with Hamas. People do not lose their right to life because they have odious views, and in any case, almost half of Gazans are children. Those kids in Gaza, infants included, are among the more than two million people enduring a siege and collective punishment… We must not kill Gazan children to try to protect Israeli children.”
Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
“[UN Secretary General António] Guterres is demanding what he terms a ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ – a proposal that embraces key aspects of the conflict. Such a ceasefire, he says, would provide sufficient time to secure the unconditional release of all hostages held in Gaza while allowing unrestricted access for aid supplies. Such a ceasefire might also further delay Israel’s ground invasion. For all three reasons – hostages, aid, de-escalation – such a ceasefire is vitally necessary. The US, Britain, the EU and the Arab states should unite in supporting the UN proposal and persuade Israel and Hamas to agree [to] its immediate implementation…
“Hamas terrorists who killed innocents in cold blood must certainly be hunted down. They must face justice. For them, there can be no hiding place. But as Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state says, it’s not just what you do that matters, it’s how you do it.”
Editorial Board, The Guardian
“Israel should launch a targeted counterrorism operation aimed at Hamas leadership and the fighters directly involved in the October 7 attack, one that focuses on minimizing both civilian casualties and the scope of ground operations in Gaza… But this counterterrorism approach must be paired with a broader political outreach designed to address the root causes of Hamas’ support…
“Carnegie Mellon professor Audrey Kurth Cronin examined roughly 460 terrorist groups to figure out what caused their collapse. She found that pure repression — trying to crush them with military force — rarely works. And in the few cases that it does, like in Sri Lanka’s long campaign against the Tamil Tigers, it tends to require an unthinkable level of sustained and indiscriminate violence… To truly defeat [Hamas], you cannot play its game of escalating brutality. You need to address the political grievances.”
Zack Beauchamp, Vox
Playful Erasers of Men Who Go Bald As You Use Them.
My Modern Met
