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Israelis are still resolute that Hamas can't control the Gaza Strip,

but they want the hostages back,

and they're starting to understand it's going to be a long historic viewpoint into the future to make that goal

that Hamas isn't a power in the Gaza Strip.

This has crossed the rubicon in the Israeli psyche, that this war is no longer something

that is at the best interest, if you can end it, get the hostages back and make sure that there is,

at least on the record, a different government in the Gaza Strait.

It's 7.30 a.m. on Sunday, June 29th in New York City, it is 2.30 p.m. on Sunday, June 29th in Israel,

as Israelis begin a new week, counting 631 days since the war began, and while 50 hostages still remain in the underground tunnels of Gaza. After a stunning 12-day military campaign in Iran, potentially lifting the greatest existential

threat that has been looming over Israel for decades, the focus in Israel is shifting back to Gaza. Earlier this week, seven Israeli soldiers

were killed when an armored vehicle was hit by an explosive device. A few days later,

the daily national newspaper Haarets published a troubling article citing soldiers describing

being ordered to deliberately shoot at unarmed

Gazans waiting for humanitarian aid. The IDF acknowledged that it was probing the allegations that

troops are using deadly fire on Gazans, but denied that they were being ordered by their commanders

to do so. The prime minister and the

defense minister issued a statement refuting this report entirely calling it, quote, a blood libel.

The war in Gaza is just over three months away from approaching its two-year anniversary as IDF

soldiers continue to be killed on a weekly basis. And we still have no sense for

what the future holds for the Israeli hostages still in Gaza. So Israelis are increasingly asking,

perhaps in stark contrast to the sentiment towards the achievements in the Iran war. Where are things

...