# Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** israel-hamas-war\ **Created:** [October 9, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317 "2023-10-09T15:10:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 4326
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/4326 "2025-05-19T00:18:33Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Thoughts on this article, @Babale? It’s exactly the same boring slop we’ve heard since the beginning of the conflict. Way back in October of 2023, I made the following posts in the thread about whether Israel can destroy Hamas. None of my thinking on this has changed. What we’ve seen in Gaza is pretty much what I’d expected we would see when the war began. We are reaching the conclusion I predicted - an occupation as Hamas is displaced and a new governing authority is established. And as I said at the time, it has taken a lengthy war and now an occupation. As I said at the time, in other threads - it would have been fantastic if one of those other countries that claims to care so much about the fate of the Palestinians offered to aid with the transition, since an occupation by anyone-but-Israel is more likely to lead to a peaceful solution. But, again as I predicted, none of them actually care enough to touch the situation with a ten foot pole. > [@Will Israel destroy Hamas](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/38): > > > [@Will Israel destroy Hamas](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/37): > > > > Is there a way to destroy Hamas without that? If not are there then ways to effectively diminish Hamas with good specificity? > > It will require Israel to re-occupy Gaza, which will lead to a bunch of casualties and a regular trickle of casualties afterwards. > > There isn’t really another alternative. > [@Will Israel destroy Hamas](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/41): > > > [@Will Israel destroy Hamas](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/40): > > > > Not a great outcome. > > I think the idea of a “great outcome” to this situation sailed out the door when Hamas butchered what may yet turn out to be a thousand civilians. It’s _already_ an unfathomable tragedy. Israel’s top priority now must be to ensure that Hamas is never capable of such an act ever again. > [@Will Israel destroy Hamas](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/42): > > > [@Will Israel destroy Hamas](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/39): > > > > The difference here is the Gaza Strip is not Afghanistan or Vietnam. It’s a tiny 10x50km pocket of land, surrounded on three sides by Israel (or Israeli controlled sea) and the Israeli army is large. They would be quite capable (at a significant cost on both sides, but most of all the civilian population of Gaza) of making sure there isn’t anywhere in the Gaza Strip that does not have Israeli troops. In those circumstances I’m not sure wiping out Hamas would be impossible (not that it would make anyone more secure) > > Correct. The reason that Hamas hasn’t previously been destroyed is that Israel did not have the stomach for the sort of lengthy occupation required. Hamas just made an occupation the lesser evil. > [@Will Israel destroy Hamas](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/59): > > This is the approach that Israel has had since withdrawing from Gaza in 2005, aside from occassional forays back in (but no last occupation). Unfortunately destroying Hamas’ buildings has done little to stop them (and, since Hamas operates out of civilian buildings, it has also not minimized casualties). That plus isolation has been Israel’s strategy thus far, but clearly that has not shaken Hamas’ hold on Gaza. > > What will need to happen now is that Hamas’ capability to control Gaza needs to be removed, and that will require an occupation. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317)._