The bodies of 109 Palestinians including 23 children and 11 women were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and spokesperson Khalil Degran told the Associated Press that more than 100 wounded also arrived to the hospital. In addition, he said the rest of the 210 Palestinians killed were taken to Al-Awda Hospital after the spokesman said he spoke to the director there. But the numbers at that hospital could not be confirmed by the AP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war until all hostages are freed, but Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official now based in Lebanon, struck a drastically different tone.
“The horrific massacre committed today by Netanyahu and his fascist government against the Palestinian people in Gaza, which led to slaughter of 210 and more than 400 wounded so far — under the pretext of liberating those detained by the resistance — confirms what the resistance has said repeatedly: that Netanyahu doesn’t plan to reach an agreement to stop the war and free the captured Israelis peacefully,” Naim said, according to the Associated Press.
If Hamas didn’t take hostages there wouldn’t be tanks rolling around in Gaza right now. They took the hostages to force Israel into a ground campaign knowing it would maximize Palestinian civilian casualties. That is the goal of Hamas. The whole strategy of Hamas is to increase hatred because that’s what brings in the money and the recruits.
Israel doesn’t have those tanks because of their hatred. They have them to protect their civilian population. It’s just that there’s Israeli civilians in Gaza right now because Hamas took them there.