What came to my mind over the weekend was that the response to these attacks is only going to make life for people living in Gaza more intolerable. So what was their endgame here?

I might just be incredibly high right now, and I do appreciate this insights that the conversation led to, but isn’t it kind of simple? Hamas declared an active war campaign, committed a shock and awe strategy, and now will want to negotiate while they have gains - whereas Israel is not wanting to negotiate as they have losses. When the politics and the military aspects approach a standstill - if that happens - then we’ll see who has the most negotiating power at the end of the day, right? Isn’t that how war works in the modern age? And if so, why wouldn’t Hamas want to strike as deeply as they can muster?

Of course they will suffer. That’s already baked into the equation. And the discussion covers this, of course. There is so much suffering, all of the time. It gives rise to desperation as discussed… and so, naturally, that desperation has called its kind to war. And these are the rules of war. They are extracting concessions to correct an imbalance. There’s nothing mysterious going on here, nothing exotic, people aren’t playing a different game under different rules. A war-faring group will always suffer; they will suffer until they no longer need to wage war. Why are we acting like something else is going on here?