The thing is, no military in the world could win this war. Destroying a terrorist organization fighting on their home turf with military might simply doesn't work.

The US spent 20 years in Afghanistan. As soon as they gave up, the Taliban returned to power (not that they were ever fully out of power).

As early as October 8, people were saying that there was no way a full blown military offensive would end well for Israel.

Now, after 100 days, tens of thousands of deaths, loss of international standing, and a generational trauma that will harden anti-Israel sentiment among Palestinians for generations; Israel is realizing that their military aims are unachievable.

Even if Israel were to reverse course today, they cannot undo the damage they had done. Hamas was desperate in early October. Israel was normalizing relations with its neighboors. Palistinian rights were starting to enter the political mainstream. The corruption at the heart of Israel's right wing government was in the public consious. These were all existential threats to Hamas.

With a single attack, Hamas managed to remove these all. Israel is on the verge of a regional war. Its regional friendly-ish countries have been distanced. Palestinian rights are once again anti-semetic. The Israeli body politic has been pushed further to the right (although they are miraculously still blaming the particular right wing government that got them into this specific mess)

And suppose Israel does manage to defeat Hamas. What happens then? Is a friendly state supposed to rise out of the ashes? Or we will just see another anti-Israel terrorist group thrive in the exact same environment that fostered Hamas?

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The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.

• Joseph Stalin Kurt Tucholsky