To the Editor:
There is a direct path to getting a cease-fire in Gaza, reopening the borders for food imports, freeing the remaining hostages and recovering the corpses of those Hamas has murdered since abducting them: The people of Gaza rise up and overthrow their Hamas jailers. Doing so would send a direct signal that there are people in the Strip who are opposed to what Hamas has done since it seized control of them 17 years ago.
That there has been no such insurrection means one of two things: 1.) Gazans support what Hamas did on Oct. 7, and thus aren’t innocent, or 2.) they are afraid that Hamas will mow them down if they seek to remove its rule. In that case, their hope for liberation lies with the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), and what remains is to identify a way for Gazans to show it, perhaps providing intelligence on where the heroic Yahya Sinwar is hiding among his human shields.
Incidentally, even using the figures Hamas has put out, the total number of Muslim deaths in their war against the Jews is still less than 1% of the 11 million Muslims killed in war since 1948. In that interval, nearly all Jews killed in war have been killed by Muslims.
Yale Zussman
Framingham
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Opinion: For cease-fire, Gazans must rise up and overthrow Hamas