Was what the Hamas/Palestinian fighters did terrible, even evil? sure.
And look at what the Israeli forces have done to them for the past 75 years of armed oppression.
The Palestinian 'forces' are a militia, at best. They have no airforce, no heavy artillery apart from some surface to surface short range rockets, no armoured mechanised divisions. The Israelis are going to slaughter what's left of the Palestinian people.
How exactly would the Palestinians declare war on the Israelis? With what army?
I have a pretty good idea about how that would go. Scorched Earth. no survivors.
And annexation of palestinian land has been going on for way longer than that, with the blessing of the British, who thought it was a neat idea to have a buffer state in the region.
Tensions raging since Middle Eastern state’s founding in May 1948 date back much further
www.independent.co.uk