Why not Gilad?

Let's face it...Hamas is being beaten to a pulp. They've taken to hiding in schools and using them as bases to launch mortars at Israeli soldiers they've been unable to dislodge from their positions. Despite all the "peace-protests" and UN condemnations of Israeli "disproportionate force" the IDF is conducting itself in a professional, efficient manner and has proven it has learned the lessons of the 2006 Lebanon war.

Now we hear that Hamas gunmen are attacking aid convoys and seizing fuel, flour and medicine for themselves. From the previously-linked story:

Reports say Hamas takes a cut out of all aid that arrives, including flour and medicine. Supplies intended to be distributed without gain among the population is seized by the group and sold to the residents, at a profit to the Hamas government.

One such incident was recorded Monday, when a convoy of trucks carrying supplies through the Kerem Shalom crossing was opened fire upon and seized by Hamas gunmen. Similar incidents occurred with trucks carrying fuel.

In other cases, civilians are simply used as cannon fodder or human shields. Reports out of Gaza say residents who attempted to flee their homes in the northern area of the Strip were forced to go back at gunpoint, by Hamas men.

The organization is presumably interested in increasing civilian casualties in order to give rise to international pressure against Israel. Arab media reported that in an IDF strike on a UN school 30 civilians were killed, but there is no legitimate way to prove gunmen were among those killed as Hamas tends to bury these bodies quickly, thus eliminating evidence in Israel's favor.

Other civilian complaints state that Hamas gunmen pull children along with them "by the ears" from place to place, fearing that if they don't have a child with them they will be fair game to the IDF. Others hide in civilian homes and stairwells, UNRWA ambulances, and mosques.

In other reported cases Hamas gunmen hold civilians hostage in alleyways in order to provide themselves with a living barricade to ward off IDF forces.

In addition Hamas has opened a "gunmen only" hospital, using those aforementioned stolen medicine shipments.

They have ceased to function as a governing body, their "leaders" are all hiding underground.

And more reports are coming in that Hamas is continuing to execute suspected collaborators with Israel.

Six Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel have been executed in the past two days by Hamas security officers in the fighting zone in Jabalya, Ynet has learned.

Among the alleged collaborators were three brothers, one of whom attempted before his arrest to swallow a cell phone's SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, which is believed to have documented his conversations with Israeli security officials.

Wow, how odd that CNN isn't reporting on this today. MSNBC? Comments from the UN? Christiane Amanpour? France? Anyone? Bueller?

The story continues:

A source in Hamas referred to the report, saying that "an assassination or an air strike cannot take place without guidance from the ground, and all these guys confessed to the act."

According to the source, the three confessed at the presence of their sister, who announced in public that she condemned her brothers and would cut all ties with them due to their betrayal.

A fourth sibling from the same family was executed last week after attempting to escape a bombed Gaza jail. He was imprisoned for collaborating with Israel and for aiding the assassination of Amar Karmut, the former leader of the Salah al-Din Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees' military wing in the northern Strip.

Any way you want to spin it, Israel is winning this fight in a very convincing fashion. Hamas in Gaza is on the verge of collapse...their "fighters" have zero communication with command-and-control. They are essentially just roaming the streets trying to get the Israelis to follow them deeper into civilian centers in a pathetic and disgraceful attempt to push up the civilian casualty rate. But honestly, what's a few more dead Palestinians to Hamas if it increases pressure on Israel to cease-fire? Most of the Israelis killed in this incursion have been in "friendly-fire" incidents. There has been no "third intifada" to speak of and Hizballah has been behaving like good, docile little puppies ever since the Lebanon war that Israel supposedly lost.

So the question begs to be asked...



Why not Gilad?

Bring him home IDF. Make any cease-fire contingent on the return of Gilad, alive and unharmed. Hamas is desperate, they are growing more desperate by the minute and so is the rest of the world to put an end to this. They are FAILING. DO NOT ABANDON HIM to whatever fate his barbarian captors sentence him to when they inevitably goose step through the Strip declaring victory despite the fact that their territory is in ruins.

Do the right thing.

No more rockets.

No more weapon smuggling tunnels.

No more kidnappings.

Bring back Gilad Shalit.