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[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

On the first question, the way you get rid of Hamas is (a) using targeted special forces and police action rather than broad military assaults against a large population; (b) not enabling them (Likud has had an explicit policy of keeping Hamas strong in Gaza so Palestinians are divided - a policy that has even involved allowing Hamas to get suitcases full of cash brought in from Israel - https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-c...n-gaza-571449; (c) cutting out Hamas' foreign support from other countries through diplomacy; and (d) getting third countries to cooperate in your special forces and police actions.

This is pretty much the gameplan that defeated ISIS - while the broad military actions we did in Iran played a significant role in creating ISIS, just as this assault on Gaza is going to strengthen Hamas, because the easiest person for Hamas to recruit is a person whose innocent family was killed by an Israeli bomb. But Netanyahu has been strengthening Hamas for the last twenty years, it's kind of his go to move on Palestine.

On the second, the much discussed approach has been a walled off road between the two. In a day of remote communications and easy air travel, though, this really isn't as big an issue as some make it out to be. And almost anything is better than being stuck in the Gaza prison, where exit in any direction is virtually sealed off and where any attempt to build independent infrastructure like electric plants or cell service gets bombed.

Hamas has controlled Gaza since the second Bush Administration insisted on holding elections there, which Hamas won. There haven't been real elections since. Netanyahu has been happy to let Hamas control Gaza, to divide Palestinians. If you want to end Hamas control of Gaza, someone else has to exercise control. The Palestinian Authority has conditions that Israel does not want to meet. Israel recognizes that it would be nightmarish to try to do it itself. Egypt wants no part of it, nor does anyone else. That seems like the biggest obstacle to getting rid of Hamas, which has been intentional about hiding amongst the civilians in Gaza.