Every Option for Israel in Gaza Is Bad

In response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel that killed at least 1,400, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 150 more, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are firing airstrikes into Hamas-controlled Gaza and massing for a ground invasion. But critics fear the worst, and urge otherwise.

“Israel is walking into a trap,” writes Hussein Ibish in The Atlantic, warning that Hamas and its regional supporters want Israel to send forces into Gaza, thinking the mass suffering it inevitably causes will do more harm to Israel’s position than theirs.

Hamas has spent years preparing to fight the IDF, especially in the dense urban environment of Gaza City. They’ve built miles of tunnels, set up booby traps, and prepared ambushes. They told Palestinian civilians not to flee, using the population as human shields. Israeli airstrikes have already killed at least 2,300 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and generated wrenching images of suffering.