You mean during this war or before? If during, then yeah probably (although Hamas won't release the numbers of terrorists/civilians killed) But again, that's just war, and war is horrible. We can all agree on that.

Absolutely! I meant during this outbreak but I don't think it matters. It's always the same.

That is to say, the escalation in violence was in the west bank, not in Gaza. Gaza was a relatively quiet area for months up until the attack (except for disturbenceses on the fence which Israel stupidly disregarded)

This is true but obviously it's related.

Then by that standard there have been 0 cease fires in Gaza since Hamas took over. Rockets are fired from Gaza at least once a year - is that peace in your eyes? Calling for it now after all those years is just ridiculous. Maybe a pause for humanitarian aid, but ceasefire? Basically giving Gaza back to Hamas? What sane Israeli would live in one of the slaughtered Kibutz while Hamas is still in power?

No it is not peace. Plus with the iron dome the rockets are pointless and stupid. But Israel has been blockading Gaza for 16 years, it's an open air prison. A cease fire would be to help the civilians trapped. You ask what sane Israeli would live in one of the slaughtered Kibutz: imagine if you couldn't leave because a superior power is keeping you by force. It fucking sucks. But nobody will help you because we aren't sure if your neighbour is a secret terrorist, so we may have to bomb your house. Sorry.

The only way to actually achieve peace is for Israel to recognize the human rights of Palestinians and allow a Palestinian state to exist. If you oppress people you can't be surprised if they rise up, and acting like the victim is misleading at best.

War != Genocide. They both have massive civilian deaths - but it's an important distinction. The 7/10 attack does indeed justify entering a war - where sadly lots of civilians are killed. Poor Gazans have both Israel and Hamas to blame for allowing this war to happen.

I will just quote the UN

genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

Killing members of the group;

Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Israel has undoubtedly done the first three. Only one is required. You might argue intent but this doesn't fly in my opinion. They have told people to leave to the south to be safe, then bombed the roads south and bombed the actual south. Cut off water. Bombed densely populated civilian areas. The hospitals cannot function now. I refuse to believe this is not intentional killing, and this is not a regular case of war where "sadly lots of civilians are killed." The only monsters worse than Hamas are Israel and the IDF. We will look back on what's happening here with horror.