As expected, the ongoing genocide is only strengthening Hamas,
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/21/politics/us-intelligence-analysis-hamas-influence/index.html
US intelligence analysis warns Hamas’ influence has grown since its attack on Israel
A flurry of new analysis by US intelligence agencies has warned that Hamas’ credibility and influence has grown dramatically in the two months since the October 7 terror attack and the onset of Israel’s military response in the Middle East and beyond.
As Israel’s relentless air campaign has killed thousands of civilians inside Gaza, Hamas – which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and Europe – has been able to cast itself as the lone armed group fighting back against a brutal oppressor killing women and children.
Officials familiar with the different assessments say the group has successfully positioned itself across some parts of the Arab and Muslim world as a defender of the Palestinian cause and an effective fighter against Israel.
Hamas’ growing influence comes in the wake of its ghastly October attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 men, women and children. The US has staunchly defended Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of the attack, including its campaign to eliminate Hamas entirely.
From Hamas’ perspective, the October 7 attack on southern Israel was a stunning operational success.
Meanwhile, Hamas propaganda videos casting the group as highly moral fighters who follow the teachings of Islam – despite the horrific details of the October 7 attack and the descriptions of sexual violence against Israeli women reported by eyewitnesses from that day – coupled with a flood of devastating images of civilian suffering inside Gaza, have gone viral on Arab social media.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/21/middleeast/palestinians-back-hamas-survey-intl-cmd/index.html
Survey: With no political solution in sight to end siege, Palestinians support Hamas decision to fight Israel
The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) has just published the findings of its latest survey into Palestinian attitudes.
Seven hundred and fifty adults were interviewed face to face in the West Bank, and 481 were interviewed in Gaza, also in person. The Gaza data collection was done during the recent truce, when it was safer for researchers to move about.
The survey has a four-point margin of error (rather than the usual three-point).
It found that almost three-quarters (72%) of all respondents believe Hamas’s decision to launch its attack on Israel on October 7 was “correct.” Less than a quarter (22%) said it was “incorrect.”
“Palestinians believe that diplomacy and negotiations are not an option available to them, that only violence and armed struggle is the means to end the siege and blockade over Gaza, and in general to end the Israeli occupation,” Shikaki said.
But that doesn’t mean support for atrocities, he adds. “No one should see this as support for any atrocities that might have been committed by Hamas on that day.”
This important distinction is teased out by three of the poll’s data points. Almost 80% of respondents told PCPSR researchers that killing women and children in their homes is a war crime.
An even higher number (85%) of respondents said they had not watched videos shown by international news outlets of acts committed by Hamas on October 7 – a figure which may hint at why only 10% of those surveyed said they believed Hamas had committed war crimes that day.
Polling in a war zone comes with difficulties even in the lulls. Interviewing people in the center and south of the enclave was relatively straightforward as most were still at home, but surveying people from the north of Gaza was partially compromised because so many had been displaced to shelters.
It's a deadlock since Hamas will not negotiate until Israel stops and Israel won't stop until... nobody knows.
Hamas rebuffs prisoner swap talks prospect: Hamas said in a statement Thursday that Palestinian factions will not agree to any talks about prisoner swaps until after Israel ends its military operation in Gaza. “There is a Palestinian national decision that there should be no talks about prisoners or exchange deals except after a full cessation of aggression,” Hamas said in a statement Thursday, claiming to speak on behalf of all Palestinians. This comes after Israel had proposed a fresh pause in fighting in exchange for Hamas releasing hostages that are still held captive in Gaza.
The aftermath will last for generations
‘Indiscriminate bombardment renders Gaza unliveable with generational costs’
Jan Egeland, the secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, has warned Israel and the US that “the indiscriminate bombardment renders Gaza unliveable with generational costs, bottom-less suffering for Palestinians and insecurity for the whole region, including Israel”.
In a series of posts on X, the head of the humanitarian organisation said about 70 percent of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed as the death toll from aerial, land and sea bombardment has reached 20,000.
“As humanitarians we will do all we can to provide urgent aid and keep people alive. But we cannot clear the shattered remains of whole cities, raise infrastructure from rubble, or construct multi-story buildings,” Egeland said.
“When the dust finally settles, Israel & U.S./Western nations providing the arms must meet the responsibility for the chaos and destruction caused by the disproportionate bombardment,” he added.
Blinken's 'solution' to end the war
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/20/politics/blinken-israel-hamas-surrender/index.html
Blinken calls out other countries for not demanding Hamas surrender and "stop hiding behind civilians"
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called out other countries for not demanding Hamas surrender.
“What is striking to me is that even as, again, we hear many countries urging the end to this conflict, which we would all like to see, I hear virtually no one saying – demanding of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that,” Blinken said during a press briefing at the State Department Wednesday.
“How can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only demands made of the victim,” Blinken went on to say.
The strong comments from Blinken come as the United Nations Security Council continues to negotiate a resolution calling for a suspension in fighting and encouraging more humanitarian aid into the beleaguered Gaza Strip, and as the United States’ support for the resolution remains unresolved.
Why don't you tell that to the Ukrainians... Just surrender to Russia and the war will be over. Go back to (continue) living under oppression is Blinken's solution. Plus it's basically the choice of getting shot while surrendering or tortured in military prison while your family (if any left) keeps on living under oppression and apartheid. Without an alternative, people will fight to the death. People with nothing left to lose are the most dangerous, and the US and Israel are creating more and more people with nothing left to lose.
