Israels rock and hard place position

Oddly enough it took the, as I am sure they would describe it, reasonable answer of the Israeli government, that best describes the error in their current strategy. An Israeli defence Ministry spokesperson, summed up the problem in roughly this way. Israel has to respond to Hamas attacks and wipe them out, because a ceasefire won't work. His reasoning as to why it wouldn't work, was that Hamas can't be trusted to stop attacks and respect the ceasefire.

Let's take his premise as legit, not that I believe it, but for arguments sake. Hamas can't be trusted, they are a terrorist group who won't follow rules. If Israel knows Hamas won't follow the rules, but says they won't stop attacking until Hamas stops attacking them, aren't they basically admitting there is no end. It's sort of like saying I am going to throw buckets of water into this lake, until it stops being wet. You better have a good bucket throwing arm.

They could kill every Hamas militant or other terrorist in Gaza. Militants from other places would come, or some people in Gaza not killed, would plan, train and commit more bombings. Those left behind are the exact people recruiters look for, young, traumatized by war, family members dead and angry. Perfect for brainwashing and indoctrination.

Israel knows it will never stop terror by bombing Gaza. They know Hamas militants and/or other terrorist groups will keep up the fight.

Israel is the only party that has the true ability to alter the direction of the situation. Terror groups are too many, with different allegiances, goals etc., Israel has the institutionalized ability to stop 90% of the bloodshed.

Then you focus on the remaining 10%, by helping moderate Palestinians find normality. They want rid of terrorists as much as Israelis do. When their lives improve, they will seek out and eliminate the evil that lies within. An evil that isn't prescribed to by a majority of Palestinians, an evil that exploits and sacrifices innocent Palestinians and Israelis for their cause. An evil that is not representative of anything other than their own desires.

To punish a people who are struggling for statehood , because terrorists have hijacked their freedom, is a far greater punishment than these people should be asked to ever bare.