Hamas cannot be permitted to remain in power. I don't know how many more times or ways to explain this. Your assessment that there's no urgent need to neutralize them or rescue the hostages they're holding is baffling. Mere defensiveness is not a sufficient means of protecting Israel or rescuing hostages. Hamas needs to be defeated.
I never said there was no urgent need to neutralize Hamas or rescue the hostages, but neither has been achieved after a month of intense bombardment, so it is your argument with me that is baffling. The defeat of Hamas is inevitable, but the priority should be humanitarian aid for Gazan civilians and their safety, which is indeed urgent. They are not the combatants, but Israel makes little distinction between them and the terrorists that perpetrated the attacks. No progress has been made in getting the hostages released, and Israel barely expresses any remorse for civilian deaths or concern for their needs.
There are very few neutral parties in this conflict. You can enlist the help of the UN, but as they're not a government I'd assume their help would be more a temporary stop gap.
No, this kind of situation is one of the reasons the UN exists--to try to stop violence and help resolve conflicts. Peacekeeping troops can come from countries that are not involved in this conflict. Israeli troops are not considered neutral parties by anyone, so they should play no role in administering Gaza for the time being. That will just involve more pain and suffering for everyone, including Israel.
... they want to weaken (and ultimately destroy) Israel.
The desire that Palestinians and other Muslims have for revenge against Israel cannot be stopped by Israeli military action, so just get that out of your head. Even if Israel could kill all Gazans, that would not put an end to terrorist attacks on Israel, only guarantee more attacks in the future. There are extremist Israelis who want to drive all Palestinians off their territory now and simply annex those areas, so there is no point in getting hysterical over the existence of people who call for the destruction of Israel. Nothing can be done about the past, but good advice for the future would be for Israel not to allow a known terrorist organization like Hamas be used to divide Palestinians so that they can continue to build illegal settlements in the West Bank. If Israel can't live with a two-state solution, then it needs to rethink its adamant opposition to a one-state solution. Israel's Gaza past policy is what enabled Hamas to build itself up and launch the October 7 attack.
...The hostage takers had nothing to gain by releasing their hostages and surrendering, since that would likely be a death sentence for them.
If they refuse to release them, it will definitely be a death sentence for them.
Then it's like I said. They had no incentive to release the hostages unless something could be worked out in negotiations. If they are going to die anyway, then they why not just take the hostages with them?
...obvious common sense? If you have fewer supplies, you are able to use them for a shorter time than with more supplies.
That's true for Palestinian men, women, and children who are noncombatants, and they are the ones being denied supplies. According to your own admission, Hamas has stockpiled such supplies and could hold out a lot longer while international outrage against Israel builds.
How many times must it be explained? Hamas cannot remain in power.
You yourself admitted that they had been neutralized already. So they aren't really in power now, and nobody, least of all me, is arguing that they should remain in power. You seem to assume that Israel should continue bombarding the Gazan population--killing mostly women and children--because that will make them release the hostages and surrender? This has already been going on for a month. Israel is just now trying to occupy the rubble to see if they can find any surviving hostages and Hamas fighters.
Advisors can't talk to people from a distance? What are we doing right now?
Oh, I see. You think that all military advisers do is talk, so why not just use Zoom and PowerPoint? No need for security, training exercises, or demonstrations of urban warfare tactics. An added bonus is that people can check their email while all of this is going on.
Aside from which, what makes you think Israel doesn't have military experts of its own to consult?
Think, man.
So now you
think that any old military expertise will do? The need is for experts that have the experience in conducting ground operations in urban environments, especially in the Middle East. The IDF might have a few things to learn from experts with the relevant experience from the numerous wars that the US has gotten itself into over the decades, especially in Iraq, where it learned from making a lot of mistakes.
en.wikipedia.org
