According to Omer Bartov, a strong supporter of Israel and an astute observer of events since October 7, “In brief, Israel seems to have no political plan and a very hazardous military one. It can only blame itself—not least Netanyahu, but also the military leadership—for having arrived at this point.”
In terms of costs and munitions, Washington, not Israel, is the main combatant against Gaza. On December 1 The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington has sent Israel 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells.
European countries are seeing a surge in immigration not seen in years, which is helping propel far-right political parties to election victories, based on the promise to get a grip on the problem.
U.S. officials said the U.S. has provided tens of thousands of weapons to Israel to keep up the killings in Gaza, including massive bunker-busting bombs that are powerful enough to smash tunnels dug deep below ground level.
Israel expanded its bombing campaign in southern Gaza on Friday and a video emerged of Israeli warplanes launching a series of missiles on the Hamad towers in Khan Younis—destroying six residential buildings.
By words, deeds and definition, Israel’s mass bombing of Gaza and its killing thousands of Palestinian civilians who have nowhere to hide is genocide: the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group. "A campaign of genocide."
Israel is working up plans for a long war in Gaza that will include a multiphase strategy that involves a cocktail of bombing campaigns and a ground invasion inside the battered enclave.
Cynthia Nixon, the actress best known for “Sex and the City,” who was a former New York governor hopeful, announced in front of the White House last week that she would begin a five-day fast to draw attention to the White House’s support of Israel’s relentless bombing campaign in Gaza.
Life for Palestinians living in the West Bank has become a living hell since the Hamas invasion in October as Israeli defense forces and extremist settlers take the initiative in the region.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister in charge of West Bank territories, told The Times of Israel last week that there are 2 million “Nazis” living in the West Bank after recent opinion polls showed most living in the region approved Hamas’s 7 October attack.