The bodies of 109 Palestinians including 23 children and 11 women were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and spokesperson Khalil Degran told the Associated Press that more than 100 wounded also arrived to the hospital. In addition, he said the rest of the 210 Palestinians killed were taken to Al-Awda Hospital after the spokesman said he spoke to the director there. But the numbers at that hospital could not be confirmed by the AP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war until all hostages are freed, but Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official now based in Lebanon, struck a drastically different tone.
“The horrific massacre committed today by Netanyahu and his fascist government against the Palestinian people in Gaza, which led to slaughter of 210 and more than 400 wounded so far — under the pretext of liberating those detained by the resistance — confirms what the resistance has said repeatedly: that Netanyahu doesn’t plan to reach an agreement to stop the war and free the captured Israelis peacefully,” Naim said, according to the Associated Press.
I’m no fan of Likud, but come on. Hamas went into villages and murdered nearly every man woman and child they could find. The rest they took to their underground lairs. All to start ground campaign in a populated area so there would inevitably be civilian casualties which they can monetize.
Netanyahu is an asshole and an incompetent (and corrupt) asshole at that. But you gotta keep it in perspective the absolute monstrosity of Hamas. I hope Netanyahu is voted out (and he likely will be) and his political career is completely dead. But Hamas isn’t going to voted out because they’re fascists that maintain power through violent intimidation. There is hope for Israel to change for the better through democracy. There isn’t all that much hope for Palestine because Hamas prevents Palestinian democracy from happening.
And Netanyahu let Hamas do this by intentionally weakening their border security before Oct 7, despite there being an anniversary of the last intifada, and despite being told by multiple countries that an attack is in the works. He also had a hand in funding Hamas against the PA. And he is also holding on to power undemocratically, as he is postponing an election he would most likely lose if not for the current “war”.
They have a symbiotic relationship, neither could really exist without the other. Just to be clear, what Hamas does does not justify what Likud does, and what Likud does does not justify what Hamas does.
Also, I don’t think I have the information to really cast either of them “the worse one”. Both organizations have genocidal maniacs leading them, and I agree with the ICC prosecutor who wants to cite the leadership of both for genocide. Saying one is worse would be relativizing the deaths of either the Israeli people murdered by Hamas, or the Palestinian civilians murdered by the IDF.
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.
Also October 7 is going to result in the end of Netanyahu’s political career. You can’t be a strongman while also being unable to protect your people. So your conspiracy theory implies that Netanyahu wanted to end his own career. Like most conspiracy theories, it fails at explaining a reasonable motivation for it.