Has enough been done to tackle incitement to genocide?

This is true.

But then that means Hamas deliberately provoked a military response from Israel, knowing full well that that response would cause a huge level of "unavoidable" death and destruction for civilians. And then Hamas and its apologists can blame Israel for the civilian casualties…

@SharonEllis

That's an awful lot of terrorists, giving Israel carte blanche to carpet bomb Gaza with 80,000 tons of explosives, 36kg for every man, woman and child.

But sure.. human shields.

You’re just trying to muddy the waters and wriggle out of wholeheartedly calling for the hostages to be freed.

You need to stop twisting my words. I did not say and I do not think that at all. I wholeheartedly want the hostages freed.

I am out I cannot converse with people that are just out to attack and misinterpret everything I say.

What am I pretending not to understand? I am fed up of you reading things into what I say that aren't there! Why can't you just accept that people are genuine and not trying to rile you? Why the paranoia?

You need to explain what is wrong with what I have posted. I agreed that hostages should be released unconditionally, I acknowledged that it is good idea to see if it works. No idea why any of that deserves your snarky responses, again it is not pleasant.

You’re just trying to muddy the waters and wriggle out of wholeheartedly calling for the hostages to be freed. How can I know what Israel would do? But the pressure on them to stop their assault would be huge. Surely it’s worth a try.

Isn't it odd that those calling most vociferously for a ceasefire don’t seem to mention this option. I wonder why. (Or maybe I can guess why.)

She covered that in the phrase 'worth a try' and the tationale in her post & my post. Obviously we have no direct control over netanyahu but it would absolitely change the dynamic. Obviously. Now Im out because if you are going to play this game of pretending not to understand its pointless

And, more to the point avoiding admitting that calling for unconditional hostage releae has absolutely NOT been at the forefront of demands for a ceasefire. And others pretending they dont understand that embedding on civilian areas is against international law and is partly why civilian casualtirs are so high. There is no point in trying to have a rational conversation at all.

So you do think it’s a good idea to try to build international pressure for unconditional release of the hostages?
Anything that will work to release the hostages and bring an end to the conflict in Gaza is a good idea. Or does releasing the hostages unconditionally mean Israel continue their assault in Gaza?

I know.

But surely you can’t deny that the October massacre, rapes and abductions were the factors that precipitated this dreadful war (clearly just as Hamas planned, in their keenness to make martyrs of the Palestinian civilians whether they wanted to be martyrs or not). To pretend that there is currently much international pressure for the unconditional release of the hostages is just ridiculous.
Of course it precipitated the "war", why would I deny this? But Hamas did not dictate the level of response from the Israeli government to the horrors of 07/10.
The fact that Hamas is keen to make martyrs of the Palestinians does not absolve the Israeli government of their responsibilities towards conducting their operations within the international rules of law. After all, they signed up to uphold them, haven't they?
Finally, I don't know where you get your news from but to say that there isn't international pressure to release the hostages from different world governments is indeed ridiculous.

OK. So you do think it’s a good idea to try to build international pressure for unconditional release of the hostages? Correct me if I’m wrong but you seem to be trying to avoid saying that.

Didn't say that no idea why you got that from what I said

This conversation is quite one sided. Demands for the hostages to be released unconditionally, yet ignoring the Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial. Ignoring that crimes including those who murder Palestinians walk away scot free.
FWIW I do believe that the hostages should be released unconditionally. As should all those innocent Palestinians who are in inhumane conditions in Israeli dungeons. Or maybe it's better to ignore that Israel has an apartheid prison policy which allows them to even do this.

So since you think they should, are you saying it’s not worth trying to build international pressure for them to do so because "they won’t"?

Of course they should they should not have taken them in the first place. They won't though

Yet you have no opinion on whether Hamas ought to release the abducted hostages unconditionally?

@dulra ok, apologies if you feel patronised. Why is Hamas releasing the hostages not worth a try?

Human shields.. again. OMG seriously.

Dulra why do you always insist people explain things over & over again.

Why do you constantly have to patronise and insult people? You have done it a few times to me now. Not pleasant

Dulra why do you always insist people explain things over & over again. Its there in the sentence - release the hostages unconditionally. There can be no justification for not relessing the hostages. What possible justification is there, while we are talking about abiding by international law?

The unconditional release of the hostages.

Exactly.

All of this. It is simply untrue and dishonesf for anyone to imply that the release of the hostages has been on any way front and centre of the calls for 'ceasefire now'. They never have been. The posters are not there, the chants & speeches are not there. Combined with the fact that variations of 'resistence is justified' ARE always present on those marches and in these discussions.
We all criticise Netanyahu. But that does not detract ftom the need to release the hostages (or the reality if Hamas's strategy of embedding among civilians being responsible for many civilian deaths) and would help to isolate any parts of his strategy that are unjustified - we have agreed previously that Israel was fully justified in attacking Hamas for the 7 October attack and it is Hamas's responsibility if they use human shields.