Richard Engel: Thousands of People Are Dying in Gaza No Matter Who Is Counting the Numbers

EXCERPT:

ENGEL: “The thinking from Hamas, as best we can understand, from Hezbollah and from Hamas, is that Hamas is happy to drag Israel into a long-term guerrilla war in Gaza. They are hoping that this will be another Vietnam or another Somalia for Israel. If Israel is willing to take this bait, go into Gaza, lose troops, then the thinking from Hezbollah is it will wait. It will allow Israel to get sucked into a quagmire in the Middle East, potentially dragging in the United States, and then it could attack at a later stage. So we are, as I said, in a very critical phase, where Israel is going deeper and deeper into the Gaza Strip. Hamas seems very happy to pull Israel into this fight, regardless of the consequences for the people of the Gaza Strip, no matter how many people are losing their lives in Gaza, and thousands of people are dying in Gaza no matter who is counting the numbers. It is quite obvious."