Israel has good reason to be wary of a Palestinian state

 AFP:

Israel bombarded southern Gaza on Friday after it publicly sparred with its main ally the United States over the possibility of a Palestinian state, the creation of which Washington sees as the only pathway to a lasting peace.

Witnesses reported gunfire and air strikes early on Friday in Khan Yunis, the main city in the south of the Gaza Strip, where Israel says many members and leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas are hiding.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported "intense" artillery fire near the Al-Amal hospital, while Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said 77 people were killed and dozens injured overnight.

The Israeli military said its Givati Brigade was fighting as far south as its troops had reached so far in the campaign.

"The soldiers eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat and with the assistance of tank fire and air support," it said.

The United Nations says the war, which began with the unprecedented Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, has displaced roughly 85 percent of Gaza's 2.4 million people.

Many are crowded into shelters where they struggle to get food, water, fuel and medical care. UN agencies say improved aid access is needed urgently as famine and disease loom.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said overnight it had counted 24 cases of hepatitis A and "thousands" of cases of jaundice likely linked to the spread of the viral liver infection.

"The inhumane living conditions -- almost no drinking water, clean toilets or ability to keep the surroundings clean -- will allow hepatitis A to spread further," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, formerly Twitter, describing the health crisis as "explosive".

Hamas's October 7 attacks resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages during the attacks, around 132 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza. At least 27 hostages are believed to have been killed, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel has vowed to "annihilate" Hamas in response and its relentless air and ground offensive has killed at least 24,620 Palestinians, around 70 percent of them women, children and adolescents, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry.
...

I have no confidence in anything Hamas leadership might say about casualties.  What we do know is that the mass murder of 1,140 Israelis and the taking of 250 hostages were all non-combatants.  Many were women and children including babies.  If Hamas was interested in a ceasefire it would have to return all the hostages to get one.  When the Palestinians had a state, Hamas eventually took it over and they eventually started killing Israelis, and leaders of the group indicated their objective was in effect the killing of all Jews in Israel.  That is why the Israeli leadership sees the destruction of Hamas as the only means of stopping the genocidal ambitions of the group.

See also:

Israel has destroyed two thirds of Hamas regiments, Netanyahu says

And:

 Rifts emerge over Israeli handling of war, as UN warns of catastrophic situation in Gaza

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