Michael Oren

I do not think at all that Israel can or will stop because we have to destroy Hamas, or we ourselves will die.

High casualty levels, again, is not good for Israel in moral terms. It's also not good in Israel tactical terms or diplomatic terms.

We shouldn't increase that aid. They certainly shouldn't agree to a pause to increase the amount of humanitarian aid going into Gaza.

Ceasefire means Hamas wins.

What they're really saying is, either he should step down or he should say 'I will accept responsibility' which is code in Israel for, after this, I will step down.

It's existential for the state of Israel. It's not a matter of negotiation. It's something we have to end the threat, we just have to.

The Israeli public opinion is running very high against providing this type of aid to the Palestinians. There is a deep feeling among the Israeli public that the Palestinian population in Gaza was highly supportive of Hamas.

I would like to see more aid personally, and I'm sure that this -- what has occurred, this tragedy will probably strengthen the president's hand and trying to persuade Israeli leaders to go against public opinion.

I think, we certainly should. We know where every bomb falls. This is a very organized army. We actually know where our artillery shell assaults. It's all written down. It's all computerized.

And if we restore Hamas rule in Gaza, the whole process is just going to start again.

I think that any effort to release hostages is good. But at the end of the day, Israel was going to have to take the measures to defend itself.

Nobody wants to harm civilians. It's just like we care deeply about the terrible agony that the parents and families of these hostages are going through.