Israel did unilaterally withdraw from Gaza in 2005, completely. It dismantled all settlements, removed every soldier, and handed over full control. What followed was not peace, but a violent Hamas takeover, the firing of thousands of rockets at civilians, cross-border tunnel attacks, and ultimately the massacre of 1,200 people on 7 October.
And now you propose that Israel should remove the blockade and repeat the same in the West Bank. This is a territory directly adjacent to Israel’s most populated cities and its only international airport. Your position effectively demands either the forced evacuation of 300,000 Jews or for them to remain and wait to be murdered.
If Hamas had unrestricted territorial control over Gaza and the West Bank, with no blockade, no Israeli security presence, and open borders with access to weapons imports, the number of people they could realistically kill is enormous. Hamas’s charter and numerous public statements make clear that their goal is not a two-state solution, but the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews. They glorify martyrdom, teach children to embrace death for Palestine, and explicitly reject peaceful coexistence.
On October 7, with very limited resources and a small border breach, they managed to murder 1,200 people, injure thousands, and take 240 hostages including babies and Holocaust survivors. And that was under heavy surveillance and restricted access to arms.
If Hamas had free access to weapons and materials like rockets, drones, and explosives, they could easily launch tens of thousands of long-range missiles into Israeli cities within minutes. They could target airports, hospitals, power plants, and even the ammonia storage facility near Haifa, which alone could kill tens of thousands of civilians. These are not hypotheticals. Hezbollah already has over 150,000 rockets. With the same support, Hamas could match that over time. A coordinated attack from the north and south would be devastating.
There is nothing theoretical about Hamas's intentions. They have shown they will massacre civilians when given the chance. Palestinian society at large has celebrated these atrocities publicly. Without Israeli intelligence or counter-terror operations, Hamas would expand its training camps, weapons production, and terror infrastructure freely.
Realistically, if left unchecked and fully armed, they could kill thousands or tens of thousands easily. If they acquire weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological, or radiological - which other terror groups have attempted before, the casualties could rise into the hundreds of thousands or even millions in a worst-case scenario.
On October 7, they fired over 3,000 rockets in a few hours. If Iron Dome were overwhelmed, and rockets hit synagogues, schools, or high-rises during peak times, the result would be catastrophic. Israel is home to more than 9 million people, mostly in coastal cities. Mass attacks on Tel Aviv, Haifa, or Jerusalem could easily result in staggering civilian deaths.
Hamas has made their goals clear. They do not want a state. They want Israel gone. The only thing stopping them is lack of capacity. You are seriously proposing giving them the capacity as the moral thing to do.
Nobody is denying that Palestinians deserve freedom and a better future. But the path to that future is not just letting terrorists annihlate a country. I'm so baffled over how you've got here in your mind, but maybe it's that you're projecting Ireland onto Palestine as if it's the same thing.
It's not.