I really don't understand these people. They must know that the Israelis have them out-gunned and are quite determined, now that they have begun a ground operation, to destroy the vast underground tunnel system which has been built specifically to enable terrorist attacks inside Israel's borders.
Strategically out-manoeuvred, Hamas is desperately defending these tunnels, the entrances to which are camouflaged and heavily guarded. And which, it would appear, have been built by using both the money and supplies intended for the humanitarian relief of the Palestinian people.
They really don't seem concerned about the number of civilian casualties other than to use them as propaganda.
Gaza conflict: Hamas rejects Israel 24-hour extension to ceasefire, as death toll passes 1,000.
Palestinian militant group Hamas has rejected Israel's offer to extend a humanitarian truce in Gaza by a further 24 hours.
After the ceasefire began early on Saturday (local time), Gazans took advantage of the lull in fighting to retrieve their dead and stock up on supplies.
At the end of the initial 12-hour halt to fighting, Hamas militants ignored an Israeli announcement that it would extend the truce by four hours and resumed firing rockets into Israel from Gaza.
Israel's security cabinet then approved a United Nations request to extend the truce by 24 hours, but reserved the right to "act against any breach of the ceasefire".
The 24-hour extension was also rejected by Hamas, saying Israeli tanks first had to withdraw from Gaza.
At least 1,030 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the fighting since July 8 when Israel launched its offensive, aimed at ending rocket fire by Islamist militants out of Gaza. ... http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-26/hamas-rejects-israel-offer-to-extend-gaza-...It is tragic that are such numbers of innocent Gazans killed as a result of Hamas's tactics, however:
Hamas makes civilian casualties a tragic certainty.
Hamas deliberately enmeshes itself within the civilian population, which means that innocent people will die despite Israel's best efforts to take precautions, writes Glen Falkenstein.
More than 2,200 rockets have been fired by Hamas and other terrorist groups from the Gaza Strip into Israel since July 8, and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have responded by attacking terrorist targets in Gaza.
Israel initially countered the rocket fire by telling Hamas, "quiet will be met with quiet", yet Hamas continued to fire rockets. Israel also accepted a ceasefire proposal by Egypt, backed by the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority (PA), which on July 15 was rejected by Hamas.
When PA president Mahmoud Abbas pleaded with Hamas to accept the ceasefire, Moussa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, stated "what are 200 martyrs compared with lifting the siege?"
Here, it's crucial to fully comprehend what "lifting the siege" means to Hamas, behind their demands and inflammatory rhetoric. What it is actually seeking is the means to rearm and vastly expand Hamas' military capabilities. This is a demand that the world should never accept, and would only guarantee another bloody war in the near future. ... http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-25/falkenstein-hamas-makes-civilian-casualtie...I don't believe that Israel will withdraw from Gaza until either the tunnels are destroyed and/or Hamas has been effectively neutralised. What this translates to in terms of casualties is anybody's guess.
Truce after truce has been violated, yet Hamas still cries foul and pushes for outside intervention in a conflict that they themselves have initiated.
Those that condemn the actions of Israel, and there are plenty of them, should ask themselves:
'Would you tolerate sustained, targeted rocket attacks upon your own civilian population, concerted efforts to violate your country's borders in order to carry out terrorist actions within your country and the rejection of multiple offers of a negotiated peace.'
Somehow I don't think so.
Just sayin'.
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