Already thousands of Palestinians have been killed as Israeli jets and artillery pound the Gaza Strip. What started as a horrific attack against civilians last week – when Hamas massacred more than 1,300 Israelis – is bringing horrible devastation to the coastal enclave. UN facilities have come under fire, journalists have been killed and hospitals bombed. Israel has also acknowledged hitting targets without any warning, as was offered in the past. According to the country’s leading human rights group, B’Tselem, Israel’s bombing and blockade amounts to “a criminal policy of revenge”.
With a ground invasion imminent, many Palestinians have fled their homes in response to Israel’s demand that Palestinians in the north move south of the Wadi Gaza riverbed. But most of Gaza’s hospitals are in the north, prompting the World Health Organization to say the order is a “death sentence” to patients. The temporary removal of civilians in war zones can be lawful. Egypt, reportedly, is being offered a debt write-off if it accepts refugees – risking Cairo being complicit in forcing Palestinians out of Gaza for good. As Jan Egeland, secretary of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said, without guarantees of safety or return, the evacuation order “would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer”.
The worry is that Israel’s call is less about protecting civilian lives and more an attempt to give itself diplomatic cover for Palestinian deaths. Shuttle diplomacy appears to be moderating its war plans. Southern Gaza will get water, though it remains without food, fuel and electricity. Humanitarian corridors have allowed Gazans to head south. But the bombing of 70 civilians along a designated safe route, very probably by Israeli munitions, has undermined faith in a secure flight.
Israel has the right to defend itself. International law allows for necessary and proportionate force in self-defence. It does not permit collective punishment. Belatedly, Joe Biden has spelt out that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with the massacres. Both the UK government and Labour agree and aren’t willing to censure Israel – yet – for its plans or its behaviour. It should not be hard to condemn Hamas and name its actions as evil, while also condemning war crimes committed by Israeli forces. More Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in one week than in the six-plus weeks of war in 2014. About half are women and children. While some of those who have lost the most call for peace and understanding, in Britain others not directly affected, sickeningly, seek to spread hate. There have been sharp rises reported in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents.
Things could spiral out of control. Hezbollah is bombing Israel’s northern border. Haaretz says “settlers are trying to drag Israel into war in the West Bank”. A ceasefire is needed. Hamas should free the hostages – or face its leadership being wiped out at terrible human cost, as Israel will probably use more force than is needed to address its threat. The hurt that Israelis must feel cannot be underestimated or minimised. But military overreaction will only deepen the hatred between two peoples. The current path is a bloody road to nowhere. Revenge acknowledges no limits. Whereas it is the recognition of such limits that marks the domain of justice. It and time will allow the necessary search to be resumed for new and better ways for Palestinians and Israelis to live together.
