Does the leadership of Israel call for the extermination of any possible Palestinian state AND all Palestinians, wherever they may live? Nope. Does the leadership of the Palestinians in Gaza call for the extermination of any Jewish state AND all Jews, wherever they live? Yes. That distinction is important. Israel can be negotiated with. Hamas cannot. How can you negotiate with that? “So…would you be okay if you only killed HALF the Jews on earth? Would that be satisfactory?” Hamas has chosen very poorly. Don’t declare that you are waging a war of extermination against a better-armed opponent. You leave the opponent no choice. Israel has no choice at this point but to completely and totally annihilate the foe that has declared that it seeks to exterminate them, and is actively working to do so. To accomplish that task - which must be accomplished - there’s no way to get there without causing massive collateral damage and civilian suffering. Israel has only bad choices in front of it. I’m betting it chooses the path that sees Palestinians die, rather than leave an enemy that seeks to exterminate Israel and all Jews standing. That’s what any sane people would do. It’s fucking awful. But Hamas, and the people of Gaza who apparently clearly support Hamas, have declared that this is how it is going to be. So, that’s how it will be. Stupid, awful, and horrific. Lotta people making a lotta stupid choices these days.