> it is entirely morally appropriate to destroy Hamas. Short of entirely depopulating Gaza, Israel isn't capable of 'destroying Hamas', and even if they magica

> it is entirely morally appropriate to destroy Hamas. Short of entirely depopulating Gaza, Israel isn't capable of 'destroying Hamas', and even if they magically did, they'd only be leaving a void to be filled by more extreme resistance groups (both in terms of violence and in terms of Islamism) like Palestinian Islamic Jihad. One of the things that the October 7 attacks proved is that Israel doesn't in fact know where Hamas are or what they're up to. If Israel had known who the Hamas leadership responsible for the attack were and where to find them prior to the attack, they would have already assassinated them before the attack ever took place. But they don't, which is why Israel has murdered ten thousand civilians in order to kill mere (alleged) 'dozens'¹ of Hamas commanders. That the stated purpose of this bombing campaign is in reality unachievable is part of its function: that the completion condition is infeasible and impossible to verify means that the IDF has no stopping point. There is no amount of carnage and destruction which the impossible mission of 'eliminating Hamas' would 'not unjustify'. Indeed, Israeli officials have said as much on international television. This is an 'opportunity' for Israel to unload (at least) several hundred thousand more of the indigenous population it never wanted within its borders by making Gaza as near uninhabitable as it can. It is also at once why Israel is publicly pressuring neighboring states to take in refugees from Gaza and why those neighboring states refuse: every party involved knows that any refugees who set up camp outside Gaza will never, ever be allowed back in. Israel wants to keep the dowry of 1967 and divorce the bride, to paraphrase a famous Israeli metaphor. — 1: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/08/israeli-airstrikes-on-gaza-have-killed-dozens-of-hamas-commanders-says-idf https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/08/israeli-airstr...