Comment by VBprogrammer
2 years ago
> That said, the IDF has said it thinks it's killing 2 civilians per 1 Hamas fighter. This is a ratio that, as far as I know, is roughly in line with other conflicts by Western countries. The rate itself is fairly high but it's likely to be far shorter and lead to orders of magnitude less killed than in other conflicts.
The idea that this war is winnable seams incredibly naive. The idea that hitting hard now prevents future conflicts is an untested hypothesis at best.
Are there any examples of a war where an entrenched gorilla group with broad civilian support have been successfully "defeated"?
> Are there any examples of a war where an entrenched gorilla group with broad civilian support have been successfully "defeated"?
I'm not sure you can call it an entrenched guerilla group given that it is effectively the government of Gaza.
And yes, there are many examples where wars ended when one side surrendered, just to state the obvious, Japan and Germany in WW2.
You can't compare what was essentially conventional warfare between states of vastly similar military capabilities and a fight between a gorilla force and a conventional military.
I don't think an organisation which is internationally recognised as a terrorist organisation are a government in any real sense of the word.
I mean, I'm not sure why you think that. Gaza is governed by Hamas, though not very well, obviously. Israel left Gaza and doesn't (until now) didn't have forces in there, Hamas acted in all respects like a government.
I'm not sure what distinction you're making here. More importantly, I'm not sure why you think that makes the war unwinnable. Presumably there is a scenario in which Hamas surrenders, and if not, that Hamas are slowly all taken out. This is a pretty awful scenario, and would probably involve Israel having to govern Gaza for a while, but it is something that can happen.
There's a chance it won't because Hamas doesn't really care about anyone, including its own populace.
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