Israel

[GDS_Starfury]

hamas triage in effect!

[GDS_Starfury]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1726260367683362921

[JasonPratt]

The Enforcer summarizes information about the somewhat-Israeli car-carrier hijacked by the Houthies just recently:

The IDF says no Israeli citizens on the ship (but some Ukrainians among others). It arguably as stronger British and Japanese connections.

[Gusington]

Israeli hostage deal coming?

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/21/world/israel-hamas-hostages

[GDS_Starfury]

seems to be the word around town.
which tells me the IDF is going to pushing extra hard until it happens.

[W8taminute]

I wonder if they knew all along they would be soundly thrashed by the IDF so they took as many hostages as they could on 7.Oct.  They're using these hostages as a bargaining chip to get a couple days of ceasefire. 

This is how they plan on trying to survive as long as possible and they planned it from the beginning like this.  All of this is just my speculation. 

Or am I giving these guys too much credit for craftiness?

[GDS_Starfury]

I think they didnt expect the initial success that they had and bit off way more then they could chew.
I also have the suspicion that the hostages were written off from the start.  if the IDF could get them, great!
if they couldn't then its all the more reason to finally crush hamas in its entirety.

[W8taminute]

Yup, that makes sense.  Harsh, but I believe true.

A cease fire, as mentioned in the CNN article Gus shared, would be disasterous.  The IDF really should just focus and remove the threat permanently.

[steve58]

I think they didnt expect the initial success that they had and bit off way more then they could chew.
I also have the suspicion that the hostages were written off from the start.  if the IDF could get them, great!
if they couldn't then its all the more reason to finally crush hamas in its entirety.

I've kinda wondered about that myself with the IDF blowing the tunnels.  How did the IDF know which tunnels to blow and which may contain hostages?

[GDS_Starfury]

I dont think they worried about it.  I would have to dig around for the article and supporting videos but the gist of it was that the IDF is leveling buildings and tunnels to help the ground troops move forward with longer fields of fire and visibility.  the fact that strongpoints and command centers happen also to be in the way is a bonus.

another way to look at it is this:  will the IDF care about maybe killing a few dozen Thai farm worker hostages if it means saving hundreds of IDF troops from ambush?  no fucking way.

[Gusington]

Are many of the tunnels that Hamas is using not former IDF tunnels?

I also agree with the above when Star says no one was more shocked at their success than Hamas.

[GDS_Starfury]

can you expand on "former IDF tunnels" please.

[Gusington]

'Former IDF tunnels' meaning that the tunnels that Hamas is now using were constructed and used by the IDF when Israel still occupied Gaza...say, 2005 and before.

[GDS_Starfury]

all Ive found with google is substructure work done to the hospital that was recently taken.

[Gusington]

I read it on CNN earlier today.