Hamas says it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks, as its new leader

[AloeVera]

43. Poppycock and balderdash.

Hamas has no interest whatever in cessation of Israeli military action in Gaza.

I can't say what is more important to them, freedom for their people as they claim, or maintaining their power. But I'm fairly certain none of them either want to die or want their people to die. I don't demonize people or religions that way, the rank-and-file having nothing to do with Oct 7th, let alone the 2 million civilians - celebrations over dead hostages by a few hundred or thousand notwithstanding.

You can't ignore the facts which disprove your argument. Hamas offered the hostages back - in October - in return for a ceasefire. Hamas accepted the recent Biden framework. Netanyahu did not, added new conditions and then assassinated the chief negotiator.

As well, you can't seriously believe that Hamas wanted Gaza made into a graveyard with the intention of ruling over nothing but ashes and dirt and their surviving people made into starving, utterly dispossessed beggars.

Seems to me this bitterly sarcastic argument about martyrdom and Paradise, with aspersions of Jew-hate thrown in, is the last gasp of staunch believers who just can't face the truth of what should be clear to them by now. Not just Gaza, look at the West Bank if you doubt what the broader goals are and why a ceasefire doesn't fit into those plans.