Israelis Say That Despite Increasing Gaza Losses, Hamas Must Be Destroyed

Jerusalem: Despite the UN General Assembly’s request for a truce, the mounting list of military losses, and a rising number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza, Israeli residents stated on Wednesday that the army should not abandon its relentless onslaught to destroy Hamas.

Tuesday was one of the worst days for Israel’s armed forces in the two-month-old Gaza conflict. Ten troops, including a colonel, lost their lives, increasing the total to 115, almost twice as many as those lost during fighting in the coastal enclave nine years before.

Furthermore, US President Joe Biden claimed that Israel was losing out on international support because of the “indiscriminate” bombardment of Gazan civilians, although the enclave had been mostly destroyed, the situation was severe, and over 18,500 Palestinians had been killed in the Israeli army’s air and ground assault.

Despite the UN vote on Tuesday reflecting waning international goodwill, six Israelis who contacted Reuters on Wednesday said that now was not the time to back down. Recent polls reveal that, despite the war’s growing costs, the majority of people still support it.

The death of 1,200 people by Hamas on October 7, mostly civilians, rekindled anxieties in Israel that its adversaries and neighbors may destroy the Jewish people, a feeling that was first sparked by an Arab surprise strike in 1973, according to political analyst Tamar Hermann.

“People perceive this as a danger to Israel’s basic survival,” said Hermann from the Israel Democracy Institute, which regularly carries out surveys on public sentiment toward the conflict. According to her, people were ready for more military casualties.

Retired general Ben Zion Levinger warned that Israel’s adversaries would see any lull in the fight against Hamas as a show of weakness while speaking in Jerusalem.

“There will be conflicts in the north, east, south, and maybe Iran tomorrow morning if we don’t finish this struggle. Consequently, we are at a loss for options,” said Levinger, a former IT employee.

The complete destruction of Hamas infrastructure in Gaza was the aim of the military operation, according to Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, in an interview, despite the “terrible” cost.

The death of troops on Tuesday, according to Hamas, demonstrated that Israel will never win the battle. “The longer you stay there, the greater the bill of your deaths and losses will be, and you will emerge from it carrying the tail of disappointment and loss, God willing.”

“COLLATERAL DAMAGE”

According to an Israel Democracy Institute survey, conducted after a week-long ceasefire in November, over 75% of Israelis said the assault should continue without changes that would lessen Palestinian civilian losses or external pressure.

The civilian casualties of the conflict in Gaza are not as heavily covered by the Israeli media as they are by foreign outlets. According to Hermann, opinions on the number of Palestinian dead differed among Israelis according to their political inclinations, although others believed the killings were a necessary cost for future security.

“There is a sense of first revenge, mainly on the right, and on the left and the center they see it as I would say secondary to the achievements of the war … it is being perceived as collateral damage.”

A study by Tel Aviv University in late October with 609 respondents revealed that just 10% of Israelis believed the army was employing excessive force, with a 4.2% margin of error.

 

It’s terrible. He expressed his dismay at the large number of civilian deaths. “But this is war, and that’s what happens in war.”

“We didn’t start this.”

ATTACKS

One objective of Israel’s battle is to retrieve the more than 115 captives captured by the militants and sent to Gaza, in addition to apprehending or eliminating the Hamas leaders responsible for organizing the October 7th rampage through Kibbutzim and a rave in Israel.

According to Israel, two of the captives’ remains were found this week, and at least 19 of the other hostages are dead. In November, a week-long ceasefire resulted in the freeing of almost 100 captives.

In Israel, images of the captives with the message “bring them home” are projected onto public buildings, tacked to walls, and displayed at bus stations.

Although Israelis have shown in the past that they are prepared to make compromises to release hostages or save the lives of their forces, sentiments have hardened in the wake of the Oct. 7 assault, which was the bloodiest event in Israel’s 75-year history.

Polling indicates that Israelis are unclear about what a long-term solution might entail, which is hardly unexpected given the precarious position. Nonetheless, according to a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute, over 40% of respondents believe that after the conflict, the nation needs to work toward the establishment of a distinct Palestinian state.

A Tel Aviv University survey, conducted in late October with 609 respondents, with a 4.2% margin of error, may have captured the sentiment, as over 60% of Israelis, including 40% of Arab Israelis, listed defeating Hamas in whatever form as the most essential aim of the conflict.

Roughly one-third said that freeing the captives was the primary objective.

“Right now we didn’t achieve neither the first nor the second,” Hermann said. “Most people are ready to continue until the point where at least one of the major aims is achieved.”