"Hamas is perhaps the first regime in recorded history to fight a war designed to maximise casualties among their own population."

"Hamas is perhaps the first regime in recorded history to fight a war designed to maximise casualties among their own population. And that only works for them if there is a host of outsiders, 'progressives,' who will agonise over and blame Israel for that suffering. ...
    "ISIS and Hamas learned strategy from the same playbooks. ... Hamas ... develop[ed] a jihadist strategy based on ... theological justification for ... 'attention-grabbing' atrocities to attract recruits and sow fear in the enemy's hearts.' ...
    "Westerners clearly misperceive Hamas when they imagine that their actions on October 7 were spontaneous and opportunistic; rather, it appears that the strategy of atrocity was theoretically informed, well designed, and then executed to elicit an overwhelming Israeli response and to put the Gazans at peril."

~ Michael Hochberg & Leonard Hochberg, from their post 'The Strategy of Atrocity in the Gaza War'