Fierce battles in Gaza

Israel is fighting resurgent HAMAS in northern Gaza again.

As I've noted many times, it is impossible to defeat an underground guerrilla movement that has the popular support to recruit new members. HAMAS has that support.

Israel should recognize this and end the useless and deadly attempt to do the impossible. HAMAS is an evil group of terrorists, but there is no use in futile efforts to eradicate it, and the effort is no excuse for killing thousands of civilians.

Israel has also announced plans to attack central Rafah.

The "tens of thousands" reported fleeing sound like a small fraction of the people who have fled to Rafah. It seems that many must have decided not to leave,

I can see various reasons a Palestinian might conclude that per chances of survival are not much better there than in Rafah itself. So I think only a fraction will go there. A substantial fraction will stay in Rafah, where Israel has invented an excuse to define their lives as forfeit.

Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.