>>513994452
>Why did these people think they could start a war with Israel and not lose horribly?
because Mossad agents in Hamas pushed the idea as a quick in-and-out hostage grab and then Israel exploited and embellished it spectacularly, with intentional friendly fire and mass shootings recorded on HD GoPros by random angry "civilians" who followed Hamas.
They thought they could do prisoner exchanges, since Israel has thousands of Palestinians in indefinite detention without trial