Gaza/Israel Update (04/02): Israeli airstrike kills foreign workers of World Central Kitchen (Chef José Andrés food aid charity)

[ort]

I got it from here who claims their source is the UN OCHA.

 

https://israelpalestinetimeline.org/charts/

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

6 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

 

Is there any source for this other than dci-palestine.org?

 

2 minutes ago, ort said:

I got it from here who claims their source is the UN OCHA.

 

CHARTS: Deaths and Injuries in Israel-Palestine since 2000

ISRAELPALESTINETIMELINE.ORG

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At least 9,597 Palestinians (2,177 children) and 1,251 Israelis (134 children) have been killed by someone from the other side since September 2000. At least 101,558 Palestinians and 11,962 Israelis have been injured by someone from the other side since September 2000.… Continue reading CHARTS: Deaths and Injuries in Israel-Palestine since 2000 →

 

 

The UN OCHA data itself can be found here:

 

https://www.ochaopt.org/data/casualties

 

[Spork3245]

1 minute ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

 

The UN OCHA data itself can be found here:

 

https://www.ochaopt.org/data/casualties

 

 

4 minutes ago, ort said:

I got it from here who claims their source is the UN OCHA.

 

https://israelpalestinetimeline.org/charts/

 

Thanks, I really didn't want to keep trying to find ways to phrase "children death toll in Israel-Palestine" on Google

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

An interview with a senior political leader of Hamas

WWW.ECONOMIST.COM

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Our editor-in-chief sits down with the deputy chairman of the militant group’s political bureau

 

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How doess Hamas justify the atrocities committed in Israel? Why has it done this? What does it plan to do with the hostages? In a conversation with Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior official, Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist's editor-in-chief, presses for answers.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Initial US intelligence suggests Iran was surprised by the Hamas attack on Israel | CNN Politics

WWW.CNN.COM

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The United States has collected specific intelligence that suggests senior Iranian government officials were caught by surprise by Saturday’s bloody attack on Israel by Hamas, according to multiple sources familiar with the intelligence.

 

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The United States has collected specific intelligence that suggests senior Iranian government officials were caught by surprise by Saturday’s bloody attack on Israel by Hamas, according to multiple sources familiar with the intelligence.

 

The existence of the intelligence has cast doubt on the idea that Iran was directly involved in the planning, resourcing or approving of the operation, sources said.

 

The sources stressed that the US intelligence community is not ready to reach a full conclusion about whether Tehran was directly involved in the run-up to the attack. They continue to look for evidence of Iranian involvement, which caught both Israel and the United States by surprise.

 

And since the attack, government officials have noted that Iran has provided longstanding and significant support for Hamas, including weapons and financing, that unquestionably contributed to Hamas’s ability to pull off such a massive operation.

 

But the sources said that this intelligence – which has been briefed to lawmakers on Capitol Hill – has led US analysts to lean toward an initial assessment that the government of Iran did not play a direct role in the attack.

 

The sources did not disclose any details about the nature of the intelligence, which one source briefed on the information said is extremely sensitive.

 

 

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One source familiar with the intelligence noted that while the group maintains operational independence from Iran – making it plausible that the Iranian government may not have known about the attack in advance – without Iranian support, Hamas could not exist as it does now. In other words, this person suggested, why would Tehran be any less culpable if they didn’t know about the specifics of the attack in advance, given that they enable the activities of the group that carried it out?

 

“That’s why you can speak out of both sides of your mouth on this,” this person said.

 

 

Hmmm...this doesn't necessarily preclude one part of the Iranian regime (the IRGC) knowing and the other (the political leadership) not knowing.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

From CNN:

 

Talks underway to allow US citizens and Palestinians to leave Gaza, Israeli official says

 

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Talks are underway to allow United States and Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip to exit the territory into Egypt ahead of any land invasion of the territory by Israeli forces, according to a senior Israeli official. 

 

Under the proposal being discussed, all US citizens would be permitted to pass through the Rafah border crossing if they present their US passports, while the movement of other Palestinian civilians would be limited to 2,000 people a day, the official with knowledge of the negotiations told CNN on Wednesday.

 

Final approval of the arrangement would need to come from the Egyptians, who control the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. The Israeli official said it was “in Israel’s interests” for as many Palestinians as possible to leave Gaza.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Palestinian death toll

 

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The ministry of health has updated the death toll and numbers of those injured.

 

Gaza Strip:

• 1,100 dead
• 5,339 injured

 

West Bank:

• 28 dead
• 150 injured

 

Israeli death toll

• 1,200+ dead
• 2,400+ injured

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

McCaul (House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman) has confirmed that Egypt passed along the warning to Israel three days before the attack:

 

Egypt warned Israel days before Hamas struck, US committee chairman says

WWW.BBC.COM

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But PM Benjamin Netanyahu describes any claim Israel received a specific warning as "totally fake news".

 

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Israel was warned by Egypt of potential violence three days before Hamas' deadly cross-border raid, a US congressional panel chairman has said.

 

House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee head Michael McCaul told reporters of the alleged warning.

 

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu described the reports as "absolutely false".

 

Israeli intelligence services are under scrutiny for their failure to prevent the deadliest attack by Palestinian militants in Israel's 75-year history.

 

"We know that Egypt has warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen," Mr McCaul told reporters following a closed-door intelligence briefing on Wednesday for lawmakers about the Middle East crisis, according to AFP news agency.

 

"I don't want to get too much into classified, but a warning was given," the Texas Republican added. "I think the question was at what level."

 

[CitizenVectron]

I find it very interesting how differently the US is approaching this incident, at least compared to past violence. Definitely not taking Israel's side 100% in terms of info, PR, etc. The fact that any US official is even admitting that Israel knew of this (which is not towing the official Israeli lines) is very different compared to how this would have went down in say, 2003.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

1 minute ago, CitizenVectron said:

I find it very interesting how differently the US is approaching this incident, at least compared to past violence. Definitely not taking Israel's side 100% in terms of info, PR, etc. The fact that any US official is even admitting that Israel knew of this (which is not towing the official Israeli lines) is very different compared to how this would have went down in say, 2003.

 

Well...not quite.

 

The statements from Biden are being hailed/condemned as the "most pro-Israel" ever given by an American leader and that he's given effectively given Israel carte blanche to do whatever the hell it wants to in Gaza without restraint.

[CitizenVectron]

37 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Well...not quite.

 

The statements from Biden are being hailed/condemned as the "most pro-Israel" ever given by an American leader and that he's given effectively given Israel carte blanche to do whatever the hell it wants to in Gaza without restraint.

 

Yeah, little to no difference in terms of military support/action, but I meant more on the messaging/media side of things. I could be off-base, though, I've never paid too close attention to Israeli-Palestine issues.

[Greatoneshere]

3 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Yeah, little to no difference in terms of military support/action, but I meant more on the messaging/media side of things. I could be off-base, though, I've never paid too close attention to Israeli-Palestine issues.

 

You're not totally off-base. Since social media, people are far more aware of the regular atrocities done to Palestinians in all these intervening years and understand this attack didn't just come out of nowhere. In previous decades, everything was so pro-Israel that most people weren't even aware Palestinians were a subjugated people by them. Given Hamas struck first and are doing horrible things, most people are on Israel's side but anyone looking at the bigger picture can see that between Israel, Hamas and the general Palestinian civilian population, its the Palestinian civilian population that's the most screwed and that we didn't get here in a vacuum. 

[Jason]

@Joe get your Congressman in line

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

10 hours ago, SuperSpreader said:

 

I'm for it! 

 

Just out of curiosity, are you aware of what event the Arch of Titus commemorates?

[SuperSpreader]

5 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Just out of curiosity, are you aware of what event the Arch of Titus commemorates?

 

Yes and I've seen it in person.

 

I see lightning it as Jews triumphing over Rome. So many empires much larger than Hamas have tried to take them out and none of them exist anymore. Assyrians, Rome, Nazi Germany, Russian Empire, etc etc.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 minutes ago, SuperSpreader said:

 

Yes and I've seen it in person.

 

I see lightning it as Jews triumphing over Rome. So many empires much larger than Hamas have tried to take them out and none of them exist anymore. Assyrians, Rome, Nazi Germany, Russia, etc etc.

 

Alright - just making sure!

[SuperSpreader]

Just now, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Alright - just making sure!

 

I think it's beautiful and for me a reminder that Catholicism is just Judaism for Pagans. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Today in Gaza, I no longer believe we will get out of this alive

WWW.ALJAZEERA.COM

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Early this morning, a blast blew in the windows, and I shielded my baby with my body and realised: No place is safe.

 

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As I write this, I no longer believe we will get out of this alive.

 

On Wednesday, I woke from my sporadic sleep to the sound of the bombardment that has continued nonstop for the past four nights. Each day we wake up in a different house. But each day the sounds and smells we wake to are the same.

 

Our home was badly damaged on the first night of the bombardment. So we moved to my parents’ home. Then on Tuesday, a missile strike that destroyed a home just one building away left my parents’ home uninhabitable. So we came to the home of my in-laws. Now, there are 40 of us here. It feels as though the missiles are following us – getting closer with each strike – and we are running out of places to run to.

 

I prayed fajr, the pre-sunrise prayer, and then lay down beside my two-month-old son as he slept. I couldn’t smell his skin, his hair through the stench of gunpowder, smoke and dust that seems to permanently fill the air.

 

It was just a few minutes later that the windows blew in, covering us with shards of glass. I instinctively covered his tiny body with my own. Then, I grabbed him and ran, all the while crying out for my eight-year-old daughter.

 

“Banias! Where is Banias?” I pleaded as everyone ran, all of us calling out for our children, our parents amid the mayhem. When I found her, she was crying and shaking. My husband and I took turns hugging her to comfort her as best we could, knowing that there was so little comfort to be found.

 

Still shaken, we ran downstairs to the ground floor, so we could leave if needed, but then, the bombardment appeared to stop. Outside, the air attacks had levelled yet another home, just metres from where we were. It was hit without prior warning. Oftentimes, a small strike is followed by a larger one. Thankfully, the people who lived there were not inside when it struck.

 

When we were still at my parents’ home, we had similarly run downstairs amid the shouts and cries of neighbours warning one another to take cover after a strike hit a nearby building.

 

The moments waiting for the second, bigger strike to hit were unbearable. I held my baby tightly and turned his face towards my chest as though I could shield him from the dust and the fumes from the explosives.

 

Hours passed. Then on Tuesday evening, a big missile hit, flattening the building. Our screams filled the air amid the sound of shattering glass and objects. About 10 minutes later after the dust had settled, we saw my parents’ front door and windows had been destroyed and the furniture was covered in debris. We quickly packed our belongings and left.

 

I thought my parents’ home would be safe. I thought my in-law’s place would be safe.

 

But where do we go next? There is not a home in Gaza that is safe.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

After a hard fight to clear militants, Israeli soldiers find a scene of destruction, slain children

APNEWS.COM

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The Israeli military led a group of journalists, including an Associated Press reporter, on a tour of Kibbutz Be'eri, a village a few miles from Israel’s fortified border with Gaza.

 

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Trudging down a cul-de-sac turned to rubble, an Israeli army commander stopped in front of one scorched home, its front wall blown wide open. Look at what Hamas militants have done, he said, to this close-knit community that only days ago brimmed with life.

 

“Children in the same room and someone came and killed them all. Fifteen girls and teenagers, they put (them) in the same room, threw in a hand grenade and it’s over,” Major Gen. Itai Veruv said.

 

’This is a massacre. It’s a pogrom,” he said, recalling the brutal attacks on Jews in Eastern Europe in the 19th and early 20th century.

 

 

‘It was a pogrom’: Be’eri survivors on the horrific attack by Hamas terrorists | Israel | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Once popular with Israelis as a weekend getaway, Be’eri is now indelibly associated with a massacre

 

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The smell of death hits you at the entrance to kibbutz Be’eri. Until Saturday morning Be’eri had a population of 1,200, the largest of the 12 villages that make up the Eshkol regional council that runs along the border with Gaza.

 

Now it is a place indelibly associated with horror and tragedy, as one of the centres of the massacre undertaken by the militant Islamist group Hamas in southern Israel beginning on Saturday morning.

 

Be’eri, once popular with Israelis as a weekend getaway with its art gallery and nearby mountain-biking trails, had by Tuesday been turned into a war zone, the bloated bodies of the Hamas terrorists who attacked this place still dotted around the kibbutz, and tanks and armoured cars at the entrance where Hamas smashed in.

 

Audible in the distance the sound of detonations can be heard coming from the direction of Gaza, outgoing artillery firing close by from the positions now occupied by the army.

 

Be’eri, founded two years before the state of Israel, was once a pleasant place to live with houses and apartments set apart among the trees, and grassy verges joined by little sandy roads. Now the homes are broken and violated.

 

 

Quote

 

That terrible experience was chronicled in text messages, and desperate calls to family calling for help, and in the gruesome videos shot by Hamas itself within the kibbutz.

 

In text messages during the attack with this Guardian reporter, one resident – who survived with their family – had pleaded for help in contacting the army as Hamas stormed neighbouring houses.

 

Describing sounds of nearby shooting, the resident said: “We need to get the army here. It’s not enough. Please get the army come to save us.”

 

Amit Man, a 25-year-old paramedic, was one of those who lived here. Her last contact was a text she sent to her sister Haviva from the kibbutz clinic, where she was treating the wounded members.

 

Then there was Yaffa Adar, an 85-year-old who had lived in Be’eri for most of her life. Among those missing, believed captured, there is video of Yaffa sitting surrounded by young men telling her to “smile” in Arabic.

 

For those residents of Be’eri still alive, things can never be the same.

 

“I feel like the state of Israel ceased to exist,” Amit Halevi, the 70-year-old chairman of Be’eri, told the Haaretz newspaper on Monday, echoing Veruv. “What is this, some pogrom in Lithuania?”

 

Uri Ben Tzvi, another survivor from Be’eri, compared his experience to one of the Holocaust’s most famous victims

 

“I was like Anne Frank,” said Ben Tzvi, 71, who hid with his wife in a narrow corridor in one of the kibbutz’s structures. “It was a pogrom. Like going back to the Kishinev pogrom,” he said referring to a 1903 series of massacres in what is now Moldova.

 

 

[TUFKAK]

I’m keeping my interactions limited 

 

my sister just landed in the US.

 

We should all keep in mind, that this is where people run to when things go bad. 

[Air_Delivery]

Cheering on Israels actions right now is "Post 9/11" mentality.

Killing a bunch of Palestinian children isn't justice. 

[LazyPiranha]

Apparently Biden’s spokesperson had to clarify that neither he or any US official has actually seen pictures or independently confirmed for the beheaded infants, they just took Netanyahu’s word and media reports at face value.

[Comet]

30 minutes ago, LazyPiranha said:

Apparently Biden’s spokesperson had to clarify that neither he or any US official has actually seen pictures or independently confirmed for the beheaded infants, they just took Netanyahu’s word and media reports at face value.

That’s a fucking awful look. 

[Spork3245]

1 hour ago, Air_Delivery said:

Cheering on Israels actions right now is "Post 9/11" mentality.

Killing a bunch of Palestinian children isn't justice. 

No sane person is cheering for civilian death on either side. 

[Signifyin(g)Monkey]

To me this looks like the escalation conundrum in action.

 

This is a more organized, more large-scale, more ‘professional espionage’-esque operation on the part of Hamas militants than the usual ad hoc acts of terrorism we’re used to from them.
 

It’s so organized and wide-reaching, in fact, that it resembles…the disproportionately destructive IDF offensives that have been repeatedly executed in retaliation for said acts of terrorism.

 

I can sort of see this as Hamas trying to ‘play at Israel’s level.’  Unfortunately we all know Israel’s response is likely going to be to ‘take things to the next level’ in  the counteroffensive.  In their mind it’s crucial that the warfare remains asymmetric.

 

Consequently the level of hopelessness and despair I feel whenever I read or hear about new developments in this conflict has likewise escalated.

[mclumber1]

I do worry that this will spiral out of control, to the point where sympathetic Muslim majority countries will offer more than moral support for Hamas, and in response the west offers more than just moral support for Israel.  There is a risk this turns into a wider conflict, and that only helps countries like Russia and China deal with their own "problems" while the US and Europe are diverting attention to the middle east. 

[SuperSpreader]

People on social media aren't doing "their side" any favors. Saw a clip about a woman who died and her family had just moved there so they didn't know many people, so thousands showed up at her funeral and all the comments are "well Israel is illegitimate!" "Well did you cry for Palestine because we will defeat Israel!"

[Spork3245]

A friend and teacher of mine is retired Sayeret Matkal (Golani), he's not Israeli by birth but chose to go serve via birthright when he turned 18. Just left last night to rejoin his battalion, his wife and children support his decision but are understandably simultaneously upset and worried.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Egypt discusses Gaza aid, rejects corridors for civilians, say sources | Reuters

WWW.REUTERS.COM

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Egypt has discussed plans with the United States and others to provide humanitarian aid through its border with Gaza Strip but rejects any move to set up safe corridors for refugees fleeing the enclave, Egyptian security sources said on Wednesday.

 

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Egypt has discussed plans with the United States and others to provide humanitarian aid through its border with Gaza Strip but rejects any move to set up safe corridors for refugees fleeing the enclave, Egyptian security sources said on Wednesday.

 

Gaza, a tiny coastal strip of land wedged between Israel in the north and east and Egypt to the southwest, is home to some 2.3 million people who have been living under a blockade since Palestinian Islamist group Hamas took control there in 2007.

 

Egypt has long restricted the flow of Gazans on to its territory, even during the fiercest conflicts.

 

Cairo, a frequent mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, always insists the two sides resolve conflicts within their borders, saying this the only way Palestinians can secure their right to statehood.

 

 

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One of the Egyptian security sources, who asked not to be identified, said Egypt rejected the idea of safe corridors for civilians to protect "the right of Palestinians to hold on to their cause and their land".

 

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According to the Egyptian security sources, talks between Egypt and the United States, Qatar and Turkey discussed the idea of delivering humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula under a geographically limited ceasefire.

 

Turkey's president said work had started to deliver aid, without elaborating.

 

The Rafah crossing, which is the main exit point from Gaza not controlled by Israel, has been closed since Tuesday after Israeli bombardments hit on the Palestinian side, according to officials in Gaza and Egyptian sources.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

No power, water or fuel to Gaza until hostages freed, says Israel minister | Israel | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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US secretary of state lands in Tel Aviv after fifth night of bombardment and preparations for ground invasion

 

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Israel has said there will be no humanitarian break to its siege of the Gaza Strip until all its hostages are freed, amid growing concern over dwindling water, food and fuel supplies after a fifth night of bombardment.

 

The energy minister, Israel Katz, wrote on social media that no “electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter” until the “abductees” were free.

 

 

[SuperSpreader]

51 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Egypt discusses Gaza aid, rejects corridors for civilians, say sources | Reuters

WWW.REUTERS.COM

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Egypt has discussed plans with the United States and others to provide humanitarian aid through its border with Gaza Strip but rejects any move to set up safe corridors for refugees fleeing the enclave, Egyptian security sources said on Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, mclumber1 said:

There is a risk this turns into a wider conflict,

 

 

Maybe not. 

 

This is MENA regions plan to aid Palestinians

 

[Jwheel86]

CNN is reporting that the IDF is cratering runways in Syria. 

[SuperSpreader]

6 minutes ago, Jwheel86 said:

CNN is reporting that the IDF is cratering runways in Syria. 

 

Iran was moving vehicles along Syria and Iraq towards Israel - there was a convoy struck by air from an "unknown" source on the border of Syria and Iraq a few days ago

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

48 minutes ago, Jwheel86 said:

CNN is reporting that the IDF is cratering runways in Syria. 

 

The strikes were directed against the airports in Damascus and Aleppo.

 

Syria says Damascus and Aleppo airports hit by Israeli missiles

WWW.BBC.COM

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Israel has previously hit targets in war-torn Syria linked to Iranian arms supplies.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Poll: Majority blames gov’t for Hamas massacre, says Netanyahu must resign (The Jerusalem Post)

 

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Four out of five Jewish Israelis believe the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are to blame for the mass infiltration of Hamas terrorists into Israel and the massacre that followed, a new Dialog Center poll released on Thursday found.

 

An overwhelming majority – 86% of respondents, including 79% of coalition supporters, said the surprise attack from Gaza is a failure of the country’s leadership, while a staggering 92% said the war is causing anxiety.

 

Furthermore, almost all the respondents (94%) believe the government must bear some responsibility for the lack of security preparedness that led to the assault, with over 75% saying the government holds most of the responsibility.

 

 

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The survey, which polled 620 Israeli Jews from across the country, also found that a majority of respondents believed Netanyahu should resign following the conclusion of Operation Swords of Iron.

 

A slim majority of 56% said Netanyahu must resign at the end of the war, with 28% of coalition voters agreeing with this view, and  52% of respondents also expect Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to resign.

 

 

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In addition, most respondents said they do not trust the government to lead the war on Gaza, though the poll was conducted before former defense minister Benny Gantz joined an emergency unity government on Wednesday evening.