> The Palestinian people can oust Hamas

How? They lack the organization and military capability to do so.

And while Hamas hasn't done them any favors, with the way Israel has been behaving, I'm not surprised your average Palestinian in Gaza isn't feeling like helping the Israeli objective, even if it likely would be in their long-term interests as well.

They do it in cooperation with the IDF who are determined to do so.

I addressed that in my very short comment; not sure where I wasn't clear. With Israel itself admitting that they are killing roughly 2 civilians for every Hamas fighter they kill, why would you think any civilian in Palestine would trust Israel or be interested in working with them?

The fact that it might make logical sense to you or I that they should is entirely irrelevant. We're not there, and if we were, I doubt we'd be much driven by logic at this point. Not to mention we wouldn't have had access to the internet or regular communications with anyone for months now, and only see the death and devastation.

<< why would you think any civilian in Palestine would trust Israel or be interested in working with them?

It is not the same, but in a sense this odd naivety was a similar surprised reaction to US withdrawal and quick rollover of 'local' army in Afghanistan.

<< We're not there, and if we were, I doubt we'd be much driven by logic

I think this is worth highlighting. edit: The reason to avoid war is because it is horrific and can remove all sense from a man.

They could. But they’ll never do it as long as it looks like Hamas is the only one fighting for them.

Yes, while their optics is like this, it's hard for them to get to a peaceful solution.

It's not just their optics. It looks that way to the rest of the world as well.

When the IDF kills (at least) two civilians to every combatant, and then drives many others out of their homes and into starvation, it really does make it look like Hamas is the only organization that will fight for them. And Hamas barely even does that (seeing as they are a terrorist organization that uses Palestinian civilians like sacrificial pawns), but they come far closer to it than any other organization in a position to do anything.

If we want Gazans to support an alternative to Hamas, then we need to come up with an alternative to Hamas that supports Gazans better than Hamas does. That should be pretty easy; it's a very low bar.

The average age in Palestine before Oct 7th was 19. You’re asking a nation of kids to be more mature and organized than the Israeli government who is killing them and their families

It doesn't seem like the Palestinian people are extremist Muslims any more than the Israeli people are extremist Jews.