The same type of people that are capable of stabbing babies in their cribs.

At least in this case no one is making any excuses.

You’re not wrong, but with the tensions in Israel’s northern border and with Hizbolla signalling that they will launch an assault if Israel moves into Gaza, releasing the hostages might just be the excuse everyone needs to de-escalate.

Unfortunately Hamas’s success was far beyond their expectations. They were left unchecked for hours and during that time chose to commit the worst type of atrocities.

In doing so, they validated Israelis fears that if the “Palestinians” could, they would torture, rape and kill every single Israeli including the elderly and children.

Israel is now a country in trauma and is driven by vengeance and fear.

Sadly, at this point, no amount of world criticism will make any difference.

The only way to prevent massive casualties on both sides is if Hamas releases the civilian hostages.

It’s unclear.

Hamas clearly and obviously committed crimes against humanity (intentionally murdering civilians, raping, torturing and kidnapping).

Israel, so far, is playing in the gray areas. It’s legal, according to international law, to lay siege on a population as long as it has a definitive and declared military purpose. It’s illegal to do it to intentionally harm civilians or to intentionally starve them.

The main problem is that Hamas is using the Palestinians and hides amongst them. That makes the legal discussion very difficult because Israel can always say that they target Hamas and everything else is just collateral damage.

Unfortunately the Palestinians are getting f’ed from both sides here.

Not really, from what I read his approval rates dropped by more than 50%.

He’s considered by many Israelis as responsible for the whole situation.

In the context of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict:

Settlements - refers to illegal makeshift “towns” (usually no more than a few trailers) built on lands that belong to Palestinians by right wing Israeli extremists who believe that the entire land belongs to them. As of 2006, these are strictly in the west bank.

Everything else (city, town, kibutz etc) - traditional meaning but also indicates that they are within the official internationally recognised Israeli border.