Well Netanyahu really went into Hamas' trap this time. I mean Israel should have learned by now one lesson: you cannot end terror with a war. That's what America had to learn the hard way after it went insanse due to 11/9, and also threw human rights overboard. War is always the best terror breeding program imaginable: for 1 dead terrorist 10 people will gladly carry on his torch.
The Good Friday Agreement between Ireland and the UK shows how to end terror. But even with it now being 25 years effective Brexit clearly showed how fragile this agreement is still until today if somebody takes a knife, pokes in and twists it around.
All possible options Israel could do right now are bad choices which will lead just to more suffering: Israel could again occupy Gaza strip, which they don't want to return. They could continue their unprecedented attack, which only will enrage the Arabs more and more. Or they could sit back and do nothing, also a bad choice.
From an Israeli perspective the Palestines right now are not trustworthy. So letting the Palestines in Gaza govern themselves again also it out of the window. And since both opponents have some serious red lines where both will not make a compromise, like the status of Jerusalem, we've got a recipe for a conflict that will just continue giving for the next decades.
I am pretty sure if somebody in our lifetime is able to resolve this conflict peacefully he should be awarded the Noble Prize for Peace of the century. The roots of the conflict are deeply embedded in both societies, and being able to overcome this will take at least 2-3 generations.
BTW: yep, that GOP congressman is garbage. But in context of that conflict it's not the first time somebody said "flatten Gaza and make it a parking lot." Would it work anyway? Not really, people would just move to Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and continue their stuff from there. The only thing gained would be Gaza being empty with lots of dead, innocent civilians and tons of new terrorists will be born, who consider themselves freedom fighters.
In terms of Gaza: ripping Hamas as good as possible out would be one step, but not with the methods right now. The next thing would be a serious reeducation wave, like the allies did with Germany after WWII because the Palestines are highly indoctrinated. This needs to be ripped out of their heads. Give the people a real perspective in case they do behave well and let time do the rest.
The sad truth above all this stuff in the region is that most neighboring muslimic countries nowadays came to the conclusion to live peacefully aside Israel, and consider the Palestines as radical troublemakers, which could bring internal tensions to their own countries. Which is the reason why Egypt doesn't want to let the Palestines in as refugees. Egypt has a border to the strip, so they could. But they really do fear the potential of undermining the state of Egypt the Palestines would bring in.
Even more important: even the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is really not a big fan of Israel, is still telling that their door for normalization of the relationship to Israel is still open. Which is a little bit balancing like on a tight rope, because KSA nowadays is not a big fan of the Palestines at all. However, since KSA is also the home of the holiest sites of Islam they cannot go too easy on Israel as well.
