I don't put things in the balance in that way.
The terrorist organisation Hamas is entirely responsible for the deaths of Palestinians because it is holding the Israeli hostages in amongsts its own population. It deliberately created this situation, turning Palestinians into a human wall. That was a key element of its plan.
It has the power to return the hostages. It chooses not to.
Israel is not wrong for attempting to secure their release. Because of the way Hamas has set things up, there will be horrific costs among the Palestinian people when they do so. It's bad news for the Gazan people, of course. But we bombed Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima etc when confronted with evil. By those standards, this is not nearly as costly.
War is a horrible business. That's why it's a bad idea to start one.
If Hamas returns the hostages, the equation changes to the much easier human rights one. I hope they do.
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