This is a refreshed megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.
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Notes -
I genuinely don't know how (2) and (3) are supposed to work. Israel's intelligence on the whereabouts of Hamas are clearly not that great, Hamas has every incentive to embed with civilians, and even genuine mistakes will be photographed and treated as more proof of how evil Israel is. With regard to resources, the current Western stance appears to be that Israel is obliged to provide resources. If they fail to do so, Hamas will use that as a propaganda opportunity and Western media will oblige them.
From a propaganda and optics perspective, they've simply been outplayed. There is no action they can take other than sitting passively that won't result in screeching about genocide.
They could never not be outplayed, that’s the reality of the situation, there’s no way to conduct this war in a way amenable to the sensibilities of the Western PMC.
The only way they could have done a ground invasion is if they went in on day one, but if they did that they’d have been walking into a huge trap and would have taken (and still will, if they do) unbelievable casualties.
Unironically pumping spironolactone into the water would be a better tactic than going in on foot.
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I don't know about 3, but they apparently thought they were hot shit at 2. This is a moment of reckoning.
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