An Israeli airstrike in Gaza which killed seven aid workers, including three Britons, has brought home yet again the spiralling human cost of this war, where the Hamas-run health ministry says the death toll is nearing 33,000. Israel has a right to defend itself and to go after Hamas, whose appalling attack on October 7 killed 1,200 people and who continues to hold about 100 Israelis hostage. But it has a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law.
Even before this tragedy, there was widespread concern that insufficient aid was getting into Gaza. Something an Israeli attack on an aid convoy is unlikely to dispel. It also comes as the risk of escalation, and a regional war, continues to simmer. An Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, which killed Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi is likely to produce a response from Tehran, who through its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis have repeatedly attacked Israel.
