Israel was taken by surprise by the most ambitious operation Hamas has ever launched from Gaza.
The scale of what's been happening is unprecedented. Hamas breached the wire that separates Gaza from Israel in multiple places in the most serious cross-border attack Israel has faced in more than a generation.
It came a day after the 50th anniversary of the surprise attack by Egypt and Syria in 1973 that started a major Middle East war. The significance of the date will not have been lost on the Hamas leadership.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country is at war and will exact a heavy price from its enemies.
Videos and photos of dead Israelis, civilians as well as soldiers, are all over social media.
No, Israel has declared war. This is a BFD. A couple hundred dead, 1500 injured, Hamas is going door to door executing people. 2000 rockets fired into Israel. They've captured territory. They've captured the general of the Israeli defence force. This isn't some border skirmish like we have heard about for a couple of decades, this was a very competent full scale attack.
Israel doesn't fuck around. Even if you don't agree with them, they're very militarily capable. Israel is about to turn Gaza into rubble in under a week. In the 6 day war, several Arab countries formed a coalition and attacked Israel, and got so thoroughly buttspanked they haven't done it since. Within 6 days they conquered all the way to the current Jordanian border, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the entirety of Sinai, which they returned as a gesture. Gaza is about to get glassed.
So, we expect 10,000 Palestinians dead by the end of Israel's retaliation? 100,000? More?
I have no fucking idea man. I just know that Israel doesn't fuck around. Whatever they do, it will be decisive and effective.
Genocide. Anticipate genocide as Israel uses this opportunity to justify eradicating the Palestinians. Never mind that everyone was warned that this would happen if they continued to bulldoze houses during Ramadan.
Israel is unlikely to do that, as the international uproar would likely cause them to lose American support
The 10,000-100,000 dead is more likely, shameful as that itself is.
It is with and because of American support that Israel has been able to do what it's done for the past decades.
I'm glad Israel has US support so that the attacks against it are minimally effective. Materiel support does not shape Israel's governing policies
Just pulling numbers out of my ass, but I would not be surprised if the eventual total was in the tens of thousands, and also if it takes 20 years for the true total to be known
I bet it's more than 20:1.
Gaza War in 2014. Left is Israeli casualties. Of course, Hamas started that one as well. Can't imagine what will happen now.