I hoped that the hostages taken by Hamas might deter any extreme excesses from the IDF
Israel already said they will bomb houses indiscriminately without checking if they contain hostages beforehand IIRC; they don't care.
the Israeli government is more than willing to make a couple hundred martyrs
Already more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory airstrikes, including at least 20 children.
Also, while Israel has the backing of the imperial core, ultimately if the recent events have proved something it's that no matter their advances in terms of means / funds / tech, ultimately sufficiently organized and motivated resistance fighters made that count for very little. Erez crossing for example was supposed to be an ultra-secure high tech border checkpoint and it got wrecked instantly.
Israel already said they will bomb houses indiscriminately without checking if they contain hostages beforehand IIRC; they don't care.
Already more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory airstrikes, including at least 20 children.
Also, while Israel has the backing of the imperial core, ultimately if the recent events have proved something it's that no matter their advances in terms of means / funds / tech, ultimately sufficiently organized and motivated resistance fighters made that count for very little. Erez crossing for example was supposed to be an ultra-secure high tech border checkpoint and it got wrecked instantly.
According to the guardian, it's 91 children.