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Israel-Gaza Megathread #2

This is a refreshed megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.

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What are the chances of any of the hostages coming home? I just saw this on CNN (it won't let me link the article since it's a stream of updates):

An 80-year-old Israeli-American and her 13-year-old granddaughter, who were both kidnapped by Hamas militants from their kibbutz on October 7, have been found dead, the family told CNN on Thursday.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the deaths of Carmela Dan and Noya Dan to family on Wednesday, according to Jason Greenberg, a relative who lives in Massachusetts.

“Their bodies are being returned to their families for burial at this moment,” he said.

Carmela Dan had Israeli, US and French citizenship. Her granddaughter, Noya Dan, was an Israeli citizen.

Here is a list of the hostages from BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67053011

There are lots of children (young as 3), women, and elderly people. I would be shocked if more than a few of these people are alive by the end of this conflict.

A noticing things side note (another post like this, for me).

Mia Shem pleaded for her release in the first hostage video released by Hamas's armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades

Noticing this, and the fact she's hot, I immediately fired up youtube to see what the hostage video. But I couldn't find a single untainted pure source. All early results give mainstream news organizations that start with some jackass news anchor ready to tell me what to think. Every single one. I then go to twitter and search "Mia Shem video" and get exactly what I want with no difficulty.

I'm not sure I understand the implications of this or what to make of it. I've long entertained the idea that basically all mainstream media is biased and trash. Especially post 2016 where Trump derangement syndrome seemed to drive even respectable outfits off the deep end. I don't even watch or read the news anymore. Has anyone else noticed how news media won't give straight information even when it would be helpful in lieu of writing things out long form with possible interpretation? E.g. if they are quoting "someone said something" they won't just straight link or archive the direct twitter post but describe it, possibly piecemeal. Nor will they use graphs or direct quote stats with the possible exception of pew polls. I have, and it both annoys and weirds me out. But this is extra and really got my nogging jogging. What sort of institutional values does this indicate where they absolutely refuse to just report and let me decide? Why is Twitter and telegram so superior?

Other side note. For a long time I wasn't even sure males had been kidnapped. Everyone just wanted to talk about Shani Louk. Eventually I looked it up and found some indication that they had. Looking at a list there does seem bias towards women (wonder why), but still the men are there. I think the total domination of hot women in the dialog of hostages says something. Dontcha think?

The YouTube thing has been going on for a long time. If you want to find primary sources for anything you have to use twitter. Telegram suffers from not being searchable (but also way less censored).

Also is there something wrong with me? I don’t find any of the prominently displayed female hostages that hot