On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza city of Rafah ignited a fire that killed one Dozens of civilians. The carnage was gruesome even by the bloody standards set by Israel’s war: an emergency doctor on the ground told NPR that it was “one of the worst massacres to occur in Rafah and across the Gaza Strip in recent days.”
Strike, and the world Its terrible reactionIsrael’s entire war shows how disastrous it has become.
War is first and foremost disastrous for the Palestinian people. Thousands died – an accurate death count is currently impossible – and many more suffered from injuries, lack of food and inadequate healthcare. It is a human nightmare on an unimaginable scale.
But it is an increasingly obvious disaster for Israel, whose right-wing fanatics have pushed the current government into a self-defeating approach to war that harms Israel’s long-term prospects for security and stability.
At this point, the Gaza war is best described as a form of murder-suicide: one in which Israel kills Palestinians and increases the chances of its own long-term destruction.
It’s a nightmare, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows no signs of rethinking the approach that created it. The only responsible thing for Israel’s partners now is to try and force them to change course. The Biden administration set a “red line” for the Israeli massacre at Rafah that would cut off some aid; It’s time to start implementing them.
murder
The Israeli line is the horror of the weekend in Rafah There was an accident. An airstrike intended to kill two Hamas officials hit something flammable (possibly a fuel canister) that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not know was in the area. This secondary explosion, and not the primary bomb, started the fire that burned the children alive.
“[We used] The smallest weapon we can put on our planes,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters. “Our weapons alone could not have ignited a fire of this size. Something else lit the fire.”
This account may or may not be true: the IDF’s investigation itself Not particularly convincing. But even assuming the Israeli account is true, it’s still damaging.
For most wars, such as those faced by Gazans An indiscriminate Israeli barrage on other populated areas, Rafah is the place they fled to. Over the past three weeks, nearly a million Palestinians have fled their former shelters for fear of weekend airstrikes. yet Hundreds of thousands still remainEither unable or unwilling to be displaced (again).
In such a chaotic and dense area, even the most careful combat will kill many innocents. When refugees Literally carrying gas canisters with them, it is inevitable that one will be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As we’ve seen throughout the war in Gaza, there’s no way to fight off major attacks in places like Rafah on the scale of the kind of atrocities we saw unfold this weekend.
There was logic behind it The Biden administration’s so-called “red line:” Any major Israeli aggression in Rafah would suspend American military aid. Tim Biden claims that Israel’s war in Rafah was limited enough to avoid violating the plan, but this attack Sunday may constitute a violation.
Israeli tanks today Entering the city center. If Israel has not already crossed America’s stated red line, it begs the question of whether such a line exists.
While the Biden team is considering, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deepening. And soon more children will be burned alive.
suicide
According to both the law and ethics of armed conflict, any military action that poses a large-scale risk to civilian life faces an enormous burden of justification. The Israeli argument – that Rafah is Hamas’s largest remaining base of operations – is not good enough.
We have previously seen Israel clear areas such as Al-Shifa Hospital of Hamas fighters. Only for them to return after the IDF left. Hamas has enough evidence that Recruiting thousands of new fighters during the warMakes up for many of its tactical losses.
Nothing about the current conduct of the Rafah attack or the war more broadly suggests change. At present, the current war seems unlikely to yield a true strategic victory for Israel – meaning a sustainable, long-term improvement over pre-war political stability.
This is the view not only of Israel’s critics, but also of many of its military leadership. About two weeks ago, the establishment of the IDF Openly revolted Against Netanyahu’s approach to war. The main point of criticism was that the Prime Minister had no plan for a post-war settlement and therefore had no way of translating the short-term benefits of the war into long-term gains.
“Since October, I have been raising this issue consistently with the cabinet and have received no response,” Defense Minister Yoav Galant said. May 15 said. “The end of military operations must be combined with political action. The ‘day after Hamas’ will only be achieved by the Palestinian entity taking control of Gaza, together with international actors, establishing a governing alternative to Hamas rule.
On May 19, National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz – a member of Israel’s War Cabinet and Irresistibly beloved The next Prime Minister will be- Netanyahu issued an ultimatum. Either he developed an international postwar plan along the lines discussed by Gallant, or Gantz resigned from the War Cabinet on June 8.
The reason for this extraordinary threat was straightforward: Gantz believed that Israel was on the brink of disaster and that only extraordinary action could avert it.
“A small minority has seized the bridge of an Israeli ship and is heading for the rock wall,” Gantz said. “Important decisions have not been taken. Leadership was not done to ensure victory.”
It’s easy to see what he’s worried about.
Internationally, the war is eroding Israel’s support even among its traditional Western partners. After the Rafah massacre, French and German leaders issued condemnations of Israel’s behavior. The US has already blocked some aid, and it is currently considering cutting off more.
Meanwhile, Israel’s attack could actually strengthen Hamas’s political position even as it destroys its military assets. Pre-war Palestinian polls shows that Fatah, the ruling moderate party in the West Bank, is more popular with Palestinians than Hamas – 26 percent political support for Fatah versus 22 percent for Hamas. Today, those numbers have been reversed: a recent poll found 34 percent support for Hamas versus 17 percent for Fatah.
Israel’s war is not only failing to serve its purpose. It is actually undermining two of the most important pillars of the long-term survival of the Jewish state: international support and Palestinian belief in the possibility of coexistence.
inside A recent articlePalestinian human rights activist Mahmoud Mushtaha reflects on how the war is making his work impossible.
“I am constantly engaged in conversations about coexistence and reconciliation. But Israel’s actions against the Palestinians consistently undermine what I stand for,” he wrote. “How do I convince a child who has lost every member of their family to accept a murderer as a neighbor?”
Israel’s current leadership has shown itself unable to heed Mushtaha’s words. The Biden administration still can.
