Even those who condemn Hamas's murderous assault against Israelis, in which 1,200 of them, mostly civilians, were killed, with 150 taken away, cannot help but sympathise with the tragedy that has befallen the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In a tit-for-tat, Israelis have already killed a larger number of people and injured many more. Worse, the entire population has been deprived of water, electricity, and other necessities of life. If Hamas thought they could bargain by holding the 150 or so Israelis hostage, the Israeli forces have been outsmarting them. They say they will continue the blockade until the hostages are released. True, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned the people to evacuate Gaza. Of course, he did not say where they could move, when they have the Mediterranean Sea on one side and Israel and Egypt on the other.
The Red Cross has estimated that nearly three lakh people in the 365-sq-km strip, nicknamed an open-air prison, have been displaced so far. The Israelis have declared their intention to eliminate the Hamas leadership, including the head of its military wing, Muhammad Deif. However, this is easier said than done as they would have likely dissolved into the civilian population by now. It is easier to bombard the area with rockets and missiles than to engage in direct on-the-ground combat, which is what Hamas would prefer. It would indeed be difficult to win such a war when the entire Palestinian population, including women and children, would be more than willing to support Hamas. Keeping Gaza under occupation would be impossible except at great cost. If Israel destroys Hamas in Gaza and pulls out, who knows what destructive forces will fill the vacuum left behind? Israel cannot even consider having a puppet government in Gaza because there would be no such collaborators. All of this leaves Israel with no option but to look for an alternative to war.
While Israel's credibility as the nation with the best network of spies and spying systems suffered a great setback when Hamas militants crossed the border and began killing people in their bedrooms, one favorable outcome is that while Hamas's strike on October 7 was embraced by the Arab Street, there was not much support forthcoming from the Arab world. True, Hizbullah fired some symbolic rockets from Lebanon, but that was more for show than for impact. Although the rockets fired by Hamas are believed to be of Iranian origin, there has been little provocation from the Shia country. Of course, the Ayatollah has made some statements, but they were meant for his domestic audience. The Abraham Accord might not have been a great success, but they seem to have played a restraining role in countries like Bahrain, Morocco, the UAE, and even Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu wants the whole world to treat Hamas as it treated the Islamic State, or ISIS. They are not comparable. Hamas is confined to a narrow strip of land with no expansionist plans, although the destruction of Israel is an objective. The IS controlled a large territory and had ambitions of emerging as the modern-day Caliphate, controlling the whole Islamic world including Saudi Arabia. Therefore, it was despised by all the Islamic states, making the task of eradicating it easier. Here, Netanyahu is primarily to blame for what happened. He had alienated a large section of the Israeli population by his ill-advised move to control the Supreme Court. His credibility is such that some even believe that he facilitated the Hamas attack to solidify his position. Nevertheless, he has no choice but to pursue peace, as an escalation in the war would be detrimental to the interests of world peace.
As the war rages, one agency that is almost invisible is the United Nations. It should have by now taken steps to broker peace in the area. Of course, it did little and is doing little to end the Russia-Ukraine war. The world cannot afford to have a war that has the potential of becoming a mini world war. The only way to eradicate terror is for Israel and its Arab allies to create stability in the area — and, one day, peace.
