🇺🇸 Israel Goes South

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MIDDLE EAST

Israel Goes South

Over the weekend, following the end of the military pause between Israel and Hamas, Israel told Palestinians to evacuate the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis as it pursued Hamas by hitting the area with airstrikes on Monday. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas would face “the same and worse” in southern Gaza as it had in the north. Nearly a million Palestinians are sheltering in refugee camps in central and southern Gaza, many of which are located in Khan Younis, Al Jazeera (Lean Left bias) reported.

Reporting from the Right: Israel presses southern Gaza after collapse of Hamas cease-fire (FOX News)

Reporting from the Left: Israel continues bombardment, ground assault in southern Gaza (CBS News)

From The Flag: Israel previously told roughly a million civilians in northern Gaza to flee south. Some may see Israel’s current southward turn as confirmation of their belief that Israel’s war against Hamas was intended as a pretext for, or could lead to, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. While Israel has denied the accusation, these fears led some Palestinians to stay in northern Gaza despite the war.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

A Difficult Path for Israel

• “Israeli and Hamas are locked in some of their fiercest fighting of the two-month-old war, including at close quarters…”

• As the humanitarian conditions worsen from the first phase, Israel will struggle to carry out its military objectives because of civilians.

• “The IDF will likely spend the next days and weeks consolidating its control over northern Gaza before it moves forces toward the south, where the bulk of Hamas’s leadership resides. Unfortunately for the IDF, this is also where the bulk of Gaza’s people are living “

Israel, Hamas Engage in Some of Fiercest Fighting of War, Benoit Faucon and Dov Lieber, The Wall Street Journal: “The Israeli military has essentially cornered Hamas fighters in two of their last strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip—the Shajaiya neighborhood of Gaza City and the city of Jabalia, immediately to the north. Israel has conducted heavy airstrikes in those areas since the fighting resumed over the weekend, including one strike that Israeli officials said killed Hamas’s battalion commander in Shajaiya, and which Palestinian officials said caused hundreds of civilian casualties. At the same time, Israel is turning its attention to the southern city of Khan Younis, the home of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and where Israeli analysts believe he and other senior Hamas officials are hiding underground. Israel also believes Khan Younis is probably where hostages are being held. The fight for Khan Younis, the second largest city in Gaza, is seen by analysts in Israel as the last great battle for control of Gaza, and probably the toughest fight Israeli forces will face.”

Next phase of Israel's military operations in Gaza complicated by sitting duck civilians, Mike Brest, Washington Examiner: “During Israel's initial ground invasion of Gaza, Israeli forces effectively bisected the enclave with a majority of their operations coming in the north. Israel also urged more than 1 million Palestinians in northern Gaza to move south prior to its invasion, but they are now potentially in the new battlefield as Israel looks to continue its operations against Hamas, which intentionally embeds itself within civilian communities. … An overwhelming majority of Gaza's 2.2 million people are in the south, which will complicate Israel's ability to carry out its stated goals of eliminating Hamas's military capabilities and removing them from power in the Gaza Strip. The result will likely mean that Israeli forces are put in harm's way carrying out operations. … U.S. officials have urged Israel to carry out future operations with more precision to prevent civilian casualties. Gazan officials have said more than 10,000 people have been killed since Israel started its military operations, though those officials, whom Hamas has influence over, do not differentiate between civilian and combatant. Thousands of children are believed to be among the casualties.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: As war in Gaza resumes, where does it go from here? Daniel DePetris, Washington Examiner

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Horrifying Humanitarian Conditions + Does Israel Have an Objective?

• Gazans are being forced to evacuate, but where is safe? They were already told to go to the south, which is now under attack.

• “Seven weeks into the war, 15,000 Palestinians have been killed, and there’s no end in sight.”

• “Most of Gaza will meet ‘the same fate’ as has the northern region, which has been bombed into oblivion, a top Israeli official warned “

Israel asks Palestinians to evacuate, but is any place safe in Gaza? Al Jazeera: “This has left Palestinians in Gaza with virtually nowhere to go. More than one million Palestinians have been displaced from northern Gaza since October 13, when the Israeli military ordered people to evacuate to the south on 24 hours’ notice. More than 15,500 Palestinians have been killed and northern Gaza has since been devastated in weeks of indiscriminate bombings. …leaflets distributed ordering evacuations are inconsistent with online warnings, which has confused the residents. Furthermore, several Gaza residents have no reliable way to access the map, with little access to electricity or the internet since the blockade of the 365sq km (141sq miles) strip has resulted in a collapse of telecommunications infrastructure. … The Israeli military said on X on Monday that it was defining “safe areas” for civilians to minimise harm to them. However, Al Jazeera journalists and people on the ground say it is difficult to heed these orders in real time when there is no safe place left in the enclave.”

Israel moves into southern Gaza after a week-long truce — and its goals are murkier than ever, Ellen Ioanes, Vox: “What this means for the people of Gaza and the militant group Hamas is more open-ended death and destruction as Israel chases an ambiguous goal that may not have any realizable markers to define success. While Israel wants the complete destruction of Hamas, the US has signaled that removing senior leadership would be acceptable. Meanwhile, the devastation and death on the ground, especially without a political future for Palestinians — or a Palestinian state — virtually guarantees further radicalization. … From the beginning of the war, Israel has said it intends to wipe out Hamas’s ability to operate militarily and to govern the Gaza Strip. But for all the destruction it’s wrought, it’s not clear how much progress the IDF is making, partly because Gaza is such a dangerous environment for journalists — making independent verification of the situation on the ground extremely difficult. … It will be impossible to eliminate Hamas’s ideological impact on Gaza, and the massive civilian death toll could lead to further radicalization, especially absent any conversation about a political future for Palestinians or a Palestinian state. “

One more opinion piece from the Left: Top Israeli Official Reveals Catastrophic Plan for Rest of Gaza, Tom Mutch, Daily Beast

FLAG THIS

Americans Divided

As of November, half of Americans approve of Israel’s military action in the Hamas-led Gaza Strip, and 45% disapprove.

While the overall public opinion tilts in favor of Israel, there are clearer divisions among individual groups. Solid majorities of Republicans (71%), men (59%), adults 55 and older (63%), and White adults (61%) approve of Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Conversely, more than six in 10 Democrats (63%), adults younger than 35 (67%), and people of color (64%) disapprove, as do the slight majority (52%) of women (Gallup).

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