No. They want the people to stay not because they want to use the Palestinians as human shields. The Palestinians, women and children, were already there and they are bombed anyway. They are no such thing as ‘Palestinian human shields’ in the Israel government dictionary. So it doesn’t make sense Hamas wants them to stay just to be human shields.

They are many reasons. One of the main reason, I think because once the Palestinians leave the place, they’ll never get it back. They’ll be no more Palestinians’ Gaza Strip. Israel is going to make a stern example of the Palestinians for humiliating them. They’ll never be allowed to come back.

Here is an post (translated to English using Google Translate) that I got from a very popular Israeli Telegram channel that can summarise the sentiment of what should be done.

Am; Lek: The Israeli response should include the expulsion of Arab settlements (in the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria), and resettlement by Israelis. And not just bombing offices and eliminating terrorists.

In detail:

The situation in the country is very disturbing, it seems that the Israeli response is going to be: again bombings of offices, banks, warehouses, etc. in Gaza + several assassinations (perhaps even senior officials) + maybe also a ground entry into Gaza to hit other targets, etc., and finally exit back. And maybe there was a deal at the end of releasing prisoners in exchange for releasing terrorists, and maybe not.

This is dangerous for Israel and a historical miss:

1. This will end the campaign that Hamas and all the other enemies around realize that it is possible to harm Israel even with crimes against humanity, and even come out with a “profit”.

2. Therefore, this will cause more such actions against Israel (and in the future we will also get used to it, just as we got used to terrorist attacks in Israel, just as we got used to rockets from the Gaza Strip, etc.).
3. There is no revenge for Arab violence.
4. There is a historic opportunity here to turn the situation around, and for Israel to leave in a much stronger state than it entered, and to avoid deaths, etc. in the future. In the future it will be difficult to get legitimacy from the world again.
5. This action (especially if it includes ground entry) could cost Israel a heavy price, and in vain.
6. If IDF are also released from terrorists, then this will cause more and more acts of terrorism against Israel (also because it shows that the action against Israel pays off. And also releases more terrorists who continue to harm Israel. By the way, this event is also because of the Shalit deal freedmen)
7. Defining a goal such as “destroying Hamas” is a non-measurable and not so realistic goal: even if 90% of the Hamas terrorists are eliminated, the rest can rise through the ranks, and new recruits can also join. And there is no “victory picture” and no clear evidence of who won the battle (just as it is not clear who won in any of the previous rounds in Gaza)

What, for example, should be the Israeli response:

1. To carry out an action of deporting Arab villages (for example deporting the residents of Hawara to Sinai) to declare that every murdered Israeli will be deported to a village or neighborhood in an Arab city, and henceforth this is Israel’s war policy. You can even call these settlements after the names of the murdered. That both illustrates the revenge, and will also help the housing crisis and the financing of the war… For example - if Israel evicts dozens of Arab villages, and sells to the Israelis (at a “price for a settler?”) 100,000 houses + land at an average price of NIS 500,000, this is 50 billion NIS in revenue (it is possible to transfer part of the amount to the owners of the land if they vacate willingly and were not involved in terrorist activity against Israel)

2. Deport the residents of Gaza to Sinai (it is possible without land entry, for example, open the crossing to Sinai, ensure that there is no water, etc. in Gaza, and start bombing from north to south, and smuggle the Arab population to Sinai. You can even declare that this is the goal. You can also declare that every Arab who rescues prisoners Jews/bringing bodies of terrorists, etc., can enter Israel and obtain citizenship). It is even possible to imply that Israel is going to bomb the Gaza Strip with a nuclear bomb, also to scare and drive away the residents of Gaza. Another advantage: if the most militant side of the government demands it, and there are discussions about whether Israel is going to use nuclear weapons, and at the end of the Israeli action there will be “only” a “disengagement 2” plan in which all the residents of Gaza are deported to Sinai, it will not seem so extreme…

Advantages:

1. Only a loss of territory is a loss as far as the Arabs are concerned, and therefore they will not want to initiate any more such actions - if they knew that for every Israeli killed they lose territory. By the way, in Israel’s wars, the Arabs refer to the war of liberation and the six-day war as their loss - because they lost territory in those wars, compared to the Yohak war, for example, even though Egypt lost, they refer to it as a victory, because there was no Israeli occupation of territory.

2. Revenge for the murderous act.
3. Even before the last action, we got used to there being terrorist incidents against Jews every day, and sometimes also seriously wounded and murdered. In this way, it is finally possible to get rid of the nests of murders such as Hvara who are swallowed up inside Israel, and this will save a lot of deaths and security resources in the future.
4. There is now a short window of opportunity to do this: also in terms of the legitimacy of the action, in Israel and in the world.
5. If the result of the war is that the Gaza Strip is emptied by the West, and they begin to establish an Israeli city there, and in addition, in Judea and Samaria only Ramallah and Taiba remain Arab, and all the rest become Israeli settlements, no one will argue who won and who lost the battle.

good luck!

( Dan Assolin )