And Hamas still has prisoners they took Oct 7, 2023…
Israel marked the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack that began its longest war in subdued fashion on Tuesday, with new hopes of ending the conflict but with hostages still in captivity and its exhausted military adding to the death toll of Palestinians and to the destruction in Gaza.
The arrival of the Jewish harvest festival, Sukkot, a national and religious holiday, shut down most businesses across Israel for the day. The government delayed official remembrances of the war’s traumatic first day until Oct. 16, after the High Holiday season.
But Tuesday’s milestone was inescapable.
There were quiet gatherings at some of the kibbutzim near Gaza that suffered the most in the massacres of Oct. 7, 2023, and informal events drew participants throughout the country.
Full article, HERE from the NY Times. And I’m surprised at how honest the article is…
Two years… And thousands of lives affected directly, with an untold number who will never forget what happened two years ago yesterday…
As an ‘nonparticipating’ third party, I have to admire Israel for their restraint they have showed. I will be honest when I say I thought they would level Gaza within 6 months, salt it, and turn it into a desert again…
What has happened is that many of the ‘supporters’ are no longer supporting Hamas, thanks to the US and others who have helped defend from the almost continuous rocket and missile attacks day after day. Hezbollah is pretty much gone, the Houthi ‘rebels’ have been bombed back to the stone age (again), Iran has been taken off the table as a funder and their nuke plans set back years if not destroyed, and the world has been put on notice that Israel is willing to strike anywhere to take down the leadership of Hamas and the sponsors of terror in the mid-east.
I do believe the change in administration here has mitigated at least ‘some’ of Israel’s responses. They could have done a lot worse…
The other thing that has come out is the accuracy of the strike teams and weapons, including smart bombs and missiles. Hitting ONE apartment in a building? Nobody could do that 10 years ago… The whole building? Sure, that was easy.
The attacks on the Iranian nuke sites? Done, with ‘new’ weapons. And they weren’t nuclear. Although I do believe Israel reserves the right to go that route if they need to.
I truly hope Hamas gives the hostages back soon, as all the other players are tired of waiting and tired of being strung along. Because the ‘Palestinians’ truly have no where to go. None of the muslim countries will allow refugees in, even Egypt won’t take them. And Syria isn’t capable of supporting any who might sneak across that border, after Israel went after Hezbollah and the Syrian regime (and Assad ran to Russia with most of the country’s funds apparently).
I said yet another prayer for those still held, the families, and the families of those who died. That is all I know to do at this point.
