[johnnyworker]

First Israel "completely withdrew", now it didn't, but for good reasons.

There simply aren't justifications for using starvation against civilians, calling them animals and calling for their extermination, while IDF soldiers make videos rifling through the belongings of Palestinians to mock them, talking about colonization. "They" (Israeli hard right etc.) always wanted to take the land, so using the crimes of Hamas as an excuse to do just whatever, for just targeting infrastructure to make Gaza unlivable, as they so proudly describe in interviews, while repeating how it's all just self-defense is just too transparent.

> it's clear that this would have been a lot worse for Israel if the blockade wasn't there

You think? As they say, there is nothing scarier than a man without hope, and nobody is complaining about not letting weapons in. At least I am not.

There is the cost to Israel. You cannot commit and justify atrocities, dehumanize other humans completely, without getting deeply damaged yourself. As Chris Hedges wrote about comraderie (versus friendship), it feels great in war time, it's a high, for a while, but the comedown is really depressing and lonely.

And then there is the damage in the eyes of the world, which will keep trickling in for many years. The US, UK, Israel and Germany have no credibility right now except to each other and the usual vassals.

[vasilipupkin]

Israel completely withdrew from Gaza. This inability to deal with the basic facts of the situation is amazing to me. Are you seriously arguing that Israel didn't withdraw? here, watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueN-wntJqNE

After it withdrew and Hamas took over and started firing rockets, after that, Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade. This is not hard, this is not confusing.

"here is the cost to Israel. You cannot commit and justify atrocities"

They are not committing atrocities. What you call atrocities is the inevitable tragedy of war. Yes, war is bad, it's bad for everyone, including Israel

But what's the alternative? Leave Hamas in power? that is not a possible alternative, that's been tried for 17 years, it has failed.

[runarberg]

Israel only withdrew ground troops and settlers from the Gaza strip, it maintained the occupation via other means, including full control over the airspace, telecommunication, sea access, the population registry, etc. Israel fully controls all but one border crossing, and the only remaining is controlled by Egypt, but fully monitored by Israel and is subject to Israeli approval.

Israel maintains a 300 meter no-go zone inside the Gaza strip which they regularly shoot at Gaza residents for entering (although reports exist which states people have been shot at up to 1.5 km from the border).

Israel reserves the right to enter the Gaza strip whenever they see fit.

Israel has kept a continuous blockade of Gaza since 2007, between 2005 and 2007 there were also blockades of various levels of intensity. This started before the Hamas takeover of the strip.

Israel claims it ended the occupation but nobody outside of Israel believes that. This includes the UN, EU, International Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, etc. Even the US state department considers Gaza to be occupied territory.

No, Israel only ever partially withdrew from Gaza. Their conduct prior to oct 7 is more then enough to qualify as occupation.