1.) A document from the Israeli Intelligence Ministry dated October 13th, 2023 recommends the entirety of the 2.3 million (less every day) Gaza population be moved to tent cities in the northern Sinai peninsula on Egyptian land, and the construction of permanent cities and the opening of a humanitarian corridor. It includes a seven kilometer wide sterile buffer zone inside Egypt to ensure the population cannot settle on Israel's borders.
The Israeli Intelligence Ministry cites concerns with international legitimacy as a con, but the warning it sends to Hezbollah as a pro, in a nod to Israel's former illegal occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000.
The Intelligence Ministry also has two other options - importing Palestinian Authority control to Gaza, or propping up a puppet regime, but this is the recommended option from the Intelligence Ministry to the government.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-30/ty-article/.premium/israeli-govt-document-suggests-possible-relocation-of-gazans-to-northern-sinai/0000018b-7ff6-d1da-a1bb-7ffe83ed00002.) Over the weekend, Benjamin Netanyahu has made a few comments. In a press conference, he said
"You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember, and we are fighting. Our brave troops and combatants who are now in Gaza or around Gaza, and in all other regions in Israel, are joining this chain of Jewish heroes, a chain that has started 3,000 years ago from Joshua ben Nun, until the heroes of 1948, the Six-Day War, the '73 October War and all other wars in this country"
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/netanyahu-goal-of-war-is-to-defeat-the-murderous-enemy-ensure-our-existence-in-our-land/Ok, so what's the big deal with Amalek? What does the Holy Bible say about them?
1 Samuel: "Go and attack Amalek," Samuel tells Saul, speaking for God.
"Utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey" (1 Sam. 15:3). Saul carries out the commandthough he preserves everything of economic value, along with the Amalekite king, Agag. "All that was despised and worthless they utterly destroyed" (15:9).
"Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt," we read in Deuteronomy, "how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and struck down all who lagged behind you; he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies on every hand,
in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget" (Deut. 25:1719).
Christian Zionist organizations use the invocation of Amalek to justify genocide, including justifying the purge of Native Americans, Protestants against Catholics, Catholics against Protestants, and Hutu preachers in Rwanda justifying the slaughter of Tutsi neighbors. This is historically powerful language of hatred and genocide justification.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/30/christian-fundamentalists-plan-teach-genocide3.) Meanwhile, more children have been killed in Gaza in the last three weeks than the total number of children killed in ALL CONFLICTS AROUND THE WORLD annually (not cumulatively, but each year) for the past 4 years.
As of yesterday, 3,257 children have been killed, including 3,195 in Gaza, 33 in the West Bank, and 29 in Israel.
"The number of children reported killed in just three weeks in Gaza is more than the number killed in armed conflict globallyacross more than 20 countriesover the course of a whole year, for the last three years."
https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/media-and-news/2023-press-releases/gaza--3-195-children-killed-in-three-weeks#:~:text=It%20is%20reported%20that%20at,children%2C%20remain%20hostages%20inside%20Gaza.I'm not sure how killing children by the thousands or exacerbating the illegal occupation and displacement of a people along ethnic and religious grounds using language invoking religion genocide will do anything but create an even more radical, subversive generation when the impetus of their grievance - forced displacement, violence, and no hope for a future or statehood, is only made worse than it was before. We are not just witnessing insanity, we are sponsoring it and in many cases cheering it along.
If 3,195 dead children isn't enough to call for a ceasefire, what is your number? 10,000? 100,000? How many dead children is enough dead children for accomplishing geopolitical strategic goals?