Why It’s Hard

2.     Israel willingly left Gaza in 2005 at which time the Palestinian Authority took control of Gaza, including its borders with both Egypt and Israel

3.     Hamas, whose charter calls for, and whose raison d’etre is, the destruction of Israel from the River to the Sea, took over Gaza in 2007 in a violent coup

4.     Hamas has been terrorizing Israelis within the Gaza envelope (and northward) since 2007 by raining rockets and mortars on Israeli civilians, and building offensive capabilities such as cross-border tunnels, thereby making life within this area dangerous and highly difficult

5.     Israel allowed Palestinians from Gaza to work in Israel, allowing them to earn a decent wage (not otherwise available in Gaza)

6.     Hamas invaded Israel on October 7^th 2023 killing and brutalizing hundreds of civilians, raping women and taking hostages

7.     Israelis have a right to live in peace and tranquility within its borders

8.     Israel has a right and duty to defend itself, protect its people and ensure that its citizens are not subject to terrorism

9.     Insofar as there is no diplomatic “solution” given Hamas’ proclivities to destroy Israel, for Israel to satisfy the mandates in the previous items 7 & 8, Israel must eradicate Hamas

10.  Hamas’ terror/military infrastructure is embedded in tunnels beneath Gaza’s civilian housing, hospitals, schools and mosques, using the civilian population as human shields

11.  In order for Israel to achieve its goal of eradicating Hamas and destroying such infrastructure, Israel is required (and under rules of military conduct, is allowed, within certain constraints) to attack places where civilians may be in situ or sheltering

And this is why

12.  Thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians are being killed in Gaza