To be horrified re the 2000+ children killed in Gaza.

Hamas should stop hiding away among civilians.

Why is that the best you can hope for? How is that the best for the Palestinians?

As the American expression has it, words are free, whisky costs money.

Israel fears for its very existence, as do the vast, vast majority of world Jewry, which supports Israel. They have to act. Militarily. There‘s no other option for them.

Nobody likes this conflict but let’s not pretend that it’s some sort of terrible one-sided thing. If terrorists hide behind civilians the deaths and horrors are on the terrorists, not on the people wishing just to exist.

Bombing people and telling them to leave on threat of bombing is ethnic cleansing.

Telling people "Go South and we won't bomb you", then bombing south, is ethnic cleansing.

This is just devastating.

Bombing people and telling them to leave on threat of bombing is ethnic cleansing. That is just fact. Have a look at what happened in Bosnia in the 90s.

Thanks but I think I'll blame the army doing the bombing on this one.

How do you get to a place where you think bombing civilians is OK? I'd love to know. It's madness.

Imagine if tens of thousands of bombs rained down on New York or London or any city It would be carnage. Same as it is in Gaza. Only Gaza has been blockaded for years so they are much worse off to begin with.

Also you're telling lies about water in Gaza. Since 1967 Israel has controlled water in the occupied territories and has interfered with any attempts to build water infrastructure. Licences are required from the Israeli authorities and they never give them. They've also poisoned and destroyed wells in the past.

So that's why people are drinking sea water right now.

Honestly I’ve looked at my baby so differently these past few weeks and cry watching him sleep. those lifeless photos, names written on their hands, that poor man carrying a bag of his children’s remains, the thousands of bodies 💔 humanity is broken.

You’re using emotive language here. There is of course no ethnic cleansing, but I guess you think it gets your point over if you throw that into your post. They are a country protecting their own people, which they have every right to do. Blame Hamas for the bombing taking place. They should be guiding and protecting their own like the Israeli government and army are doing. But they have abandoned them.

Well that’s just sexist nonsense.

It’s been running out for weeks now??

You're in favour of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Shocking.

Many Jews do not support what Israel is doing and it’s wrong for you to conflate the two. In fact, many non Jews support Israel right now, so where do they sit? Jews are not responsible for Israel’s actions.

You are entirely correct and I apologise. I am heated, like most on this topic.

What I meant to say is "any Israeli or Jew who ..."

I am traditionaly a great supporter of Isreal and have spent many long months there over the years. I admire what it is trying to achieve and what it has achieved.

This is plain wrong.

It's appalling. Such inhumanity on both sides. Nothing justifies slaughtering innocent civilians

Gaza has a population density similar to London, has a lower population density than New York and is by no means the most densely populated place on Earth. Comparing it to Jura is a bit disingenuous. Why not choose a piece of land the same size in somewhere like Manila?

They’re also not entirely without electricity (lots of solar panels), food and water (Israel supplies around 10%). Hamas could have provided solutions to these problems and actually provided for and safeguarded their people instead of committing terrorist atrocities while sacrificing those same people.

Neither of us could come close to knowing what the people of Israel are currently going through. This isn’t that their country has been bombed. They’ve been attacked in the most horrific way by a bunch of savages who have raped, tortured, kidnapped, murdered and mutilated families. If Hamas aren’t killed, then they will return and continue what they started. Do you really think if the bombing stopped tomorrow, that all would be good, and Hamas would just retreat back to their hideaways in Gaza? They would see it as a weakness. Israel have absolutely no options here but to continue to protect their people.

The only answer NOW is to stop the bombing.

For the first time in my lifetime I am utterly disgusted by the State of Israel and am rapidy getting to a place where I can no longer support it.

It's behaviour here is abhorent.

It is not chasing Hamas.

It is covering up catastrophic failure by the army and intelligence services.

Gazan civillians are paying for it.

I think 50,000 is a conservative figure and it's much more likely to be 500,000.

Like I said earlier, I think the best we can hope for now is for Israel to have a quick victory rather than a slow one.

The Hamas "government" care nothing for the Palestinian people they are sacrificing by starting this war, and they did induce exactly what is happening.
They knew Israel would retaliate - they committed barbaric acts in Israel and knew people would condemn Israel for the likely retaliation.
They want to destabilise the ME and stop the developing relations between Israel and other ME countries because they want Israel to no longer exist.
They hide among civilians and know this will mean civilians are harmed disproportionately.

They knew this would happen and do not care as long as instability and condemnation of Israel results.

Israel won’t stop and the US will continue to have their back. They will make noises towards Israel but it will be meaningless and Israel know this Biden has an election next year

once Gaza is crushed they will turn more attention to the West Bank

@Livelovebehappy So is there any limit to that? If Israel has to kill 50,000 civilians to get to the Hamas leadership, is that justifiable? And do you think that will make Israelis safe?

Don’t think it’s fair for you to put Israelis and Jews together in your last paragraph.

Many Jews do not support what Israel is doing and it’s wrong for you to conflate the two. In fact, many non Jews support Israel right now, so where do they sit? Jews are not responsible for Israel’s actions.

I am not sure what people expected and why they wait until they see pictures on tv to react.

It was sadly blindingly obvious it would be a carnage the second the first shot was fired, let alone the first bomb.

As you said, it's a tiny territory. The children of Israel are being murdered, the children of Gaza are being murdered, and it's spreading.

You can only salute the people fighting relentlessly to try to organise safety corridors and risking their life trying to help.

Is it likely it will stop soon and give the terrorists a chance to regroup and strike again? I don't know, but I suspect not.

Ok well keep killing thousands of children and civilians with state of the art missiles then in a tiny highly populated area with no water, food or power coming in and no iron dome to protect them and nowhere to flee to.

That seems reasonable.