Has Netanyahu offered to stop the bombing if all hostages are returned?

I’ve not heard anything like that at all.

He has offered one added day of truce for each 10 hostages returned. I believe that Hamas wants solider prisoners returned.

I am confused again. I thought that Netanyahu lost the election in 2021?

@LostInParadise I know Israel had as of August ~1,200 Palestinians being detained without charges. Basically in legal limbo, no lawyer, no trial, just kidnapped—essentially. They also hold many more. Rock-throwing can get you sentenced 20 years, I believe.

@RedDeerGuy1 Google “Why is Netanyahu still prime minister”.

Netanyahu has only ever offered pauses to the bombing though it’s hard to see what continuing the campaign can accomplish. All military and many non-military targets have already been hit. And if all Hamas fighters are killed or captured, what then?

@flutherother Yes, it’s hard to see what the bombing has achieved so far except for making many more enemies and more hardship.

Some response had to be made to the attacks by Hamas but the response we’ve seen has been shocking and even criminal. What troubles me is that few western leaders have spoken out against it. Is this now becoming an acceptable way to fight wars?

@flutherother I agree that certainly a response was necessary. Hamas’s attack was horrific. I don’t know bu I suspect a lot of pressure is being put on Netanyahu through back diplomatic channels.

Is the response from Israel much different than dropping the atom bomb to end WWII? They want Hamas and the Palestinians to stop trying to get rid of Israel and Israelis through vicious violent attacks.

I’m sure some jellies will probably feel the US shouldn’t have dropped the bombs on Japan, but just saying the idea is show enough force that it ends the violence and peace can be restored. I guess maybe part of the problem is there has never been peace. Not in the last 100 years anyway.

I understand that Israelis in the settlements have been doing some really horrible, criminal, things, but Hamas attacked kibbutzes that actually try to help the peace process and help Palestinians.

Settlements have been pulled back in the past with the Israelis kicking and screaming. Israel trying to forge a path to peace, and the Palestinians still throw rockets.

Hamas does not want peace. The current leadership in Israel had exacerbated the situation, but the Palestinians had reasonable peace offers in the past and turned them down. It’s a mess.

Part of me wonders what would have happened if Israel had not responded with war and had continued the peace talks with Saudi. The problem is the hostages. Do you have any faith the hostages being held by Hamas are all being treated in a semi civil manner? I was just with someone I know whose son was in the kibbutz Be’eri a day after the attack, he is an IDF soldier. He said the scene was unspeakable and that we haven’t even heard all of the horrific details. Would Hamas have just traded hostages for the prisoners? Then what? Attack Israelis again?

Hamas did not just take hostages, they TORTURED and killed people. It is impossible to ignore the viscous torture.

Both sides have now caused unspeakable despair and pain, as it is in all wars, but one side is COMPLETELY AGAINST peace and a two state solution. As long as Hamas has power there can be no peace.

@JLeslie ”... but the Palestinians had reasonable peace offers in the past and turned them down.”

Which one was “reasonable?” The Oslo accords where Netanyahu had no intention of actually returning to 1967 borders?

Also, the notion that you can hurt suicidal terrorists so severely that they’re too fearful to commit suicidal terrorism is prima facie absurd. To apply such absurd logic in justification for genocide is morally repugnant. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were acts of terrorism and collective punishment.

^^What about the 2008 deal if you don’t like the Oslo Accords.

@JLeslie It’s not about what “I like”, it’s about Netanyahu saying he was going to declare the entire Jordan Valley as a military zone so Israel could keep it. As for the 2008 proposal I know Israel was going to keep large numbers of the illegal settlements and the Palestinians had to relinquish control of the temple to an international council body. It did have concessions to connect the two territories (via a tunnel apparently) which make sense. I know less about the circumstances of that deal.