'We will repeat October 7 again and again' - Hamas official

[Jedi Guy]

100. I hope you are correct, but I fear you will not be.

I don't foresee the IDF sending troops down into the tunnels to fight Hamas unless they have strong evidence that a hostage might be in there. Even if a hostage were down there, odds are good Hamas would kill them rather than allow them to be rescued. The tunnels are almost certain to be booby-trapped, possibly with charges designed to bring them down on everyone inside. That's just how Hamas rolls.

As for the refugee camps, where do you think these tunnels are? Because many of them are directly below the refugee camps or other civilian areas, like hospitals. To reach them, IDF will have to go into those areas, which are full of civilians. Hamas is not going to just sit there and let IDF do that. They'll attack as soon as IDF arrives, civilians or no, and they'll probably do their best to blend in with the civilians.

Please reread my post. I didn't advocate one approach over the other. I said a full ground incursion will likely not be better, and may be worse, in terms of civilian casualties. Those aren't the same thing.

From the view of an IDF commander, though, airstrikes are preferable to a ground incursion. IDF is under no obligation to place its troops at unnecessary risk. One way to minimize that risk is to use airstrikes before launching the ground incursion. Why do you think they've been doing exactly that?