I've already addressed this point elsewhere:
The TLDR is that giving back land that you were illegally settling isn't particularly praiseworthy. Especially when you then seal off that piece of land by land, air and sea, and thereby take control of its access to water/food/medicine.
And no, the blockade isn't two sided. One is a border, the other is a blockade. Unless you're arguing that Israel's border, which they've long refused to fully define, somehow extends to all of Gazan airspace and the sea coast, which isn't how borders work. Egypt exerts no control over Gazan airspace or access by sea because, again, it's a border.
Netanyahu's goal is to take over the entire territory, including Jordan. Not just the West Bank. A month or so before October 7th, he stood on the floor of the UN General Assembly and held up a map with Gaza, the West Bank, and Jordan completely erased. Replaced with "Greater Israel." It's so crazy to hear people talk about Hamas' desire to wipe Israel out but ignore Netanyahu's open desire to do the same thing to Palestine.
And given that Hamas don't control the West Bank, and given that the West Bank Barrier hasn't been breached, no, the Israeli support for taking over the West Bank isn't about wiping out Hamas. It's about the same expansionist extremism and settler terrorism that Israel has been guilty of for decades.
After Nat Turner's attack, I strongly suspect support for emancipation took a hit amongst white America. The people on the Antebellum South had "every legitimate reason to believe" the slaves would mount further attacks. Those savages. But as we now know, the solution to the slave rebellions was to free the slaves. The slaveowners failed to connect the dots between cause and effect. I think you're doing the same here.
As I think we've already agreed, Hamas are terrorists. I don't blame Israel for being unwilling to deal with them. But I also don't blame any Palestinian government for being unwilling to deal with Netanyahu. This is the problem. The only people who really lose here are the Palestinians. And while plenty of criticism is rightly levelled at Hamas, I see people all the time arguing that Israel can do no wrong. Or, like you, massively misrepresenting the amount of wrong Israel has done.
Lastly, if you think the people of Gaza have no chance for freedom, I suggest you’re not paying attention. There has never been a time in the history of this conflict where so many people have been focused on the plight of the Palestinian people. A return to the status quo over there is almost unthinkable. Due, in large part, to the humanitarian crisis that Israel has created in Gaza. I never understimate the power of the public to forget and move on. But I’m hopeful, for Israel and Palestine’s sake, that this is the moment this finally gets resolved.
