- The global community woke up to the horrendous and gut-wrenching news of the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas on Israel last week. The spine-chilling visuals of terrorists dragging, shooting, and killing people of all ages with such brutality were beamed across the world leading to outrage and widespread condemnation. Taken aback by the unexpected attacks, the Israeli counter-response to Hamas was swift and on expected lines leading to even more destruction and loss of lives along the Gaza Strip. As reported, thousands of lives on both sides have already been lost with Israel further stepping up its attacks on Hamas. The Israeli leadership has abundantly made clear that it will not stop anytime soon.
PC: asiantimes
- The statement of PM Netanyahu that Hamas started the war, but Israel will finish it makes it plain clear how the nation is responding to the crisis at hand. More than 3 lakh reservists’ services have been requisitioned with plans afoot to carry out a ground offensive against Hamas terrorists. Israel is now in full battle mode, taking the fight back to Hamas. It’s a justified and understandable response to terror attacks that indiscriminately targeted civilians, extracting a death toll exceeding a thousand. The count may go up for sure. Of course, Israeli forces have regained control of their breached border with the Gaza Strip. Despite facing tremendous pressure from the countrymen, the Israeli leadership is advised to remember a few things with larger connotations.
- Tel Aviv must understand that while Hamas leaders and fighters are legitimate targets, rising numbers of collateral Palestinian civilian deaths would be nothing but bad optics, perhaps not right now but almost certainly down the line. Moreover, conflating Palestinians in Gaza with Hamas helps the narrative of Israel’s enemies. One of Hamas’s objectives was to derail the ongoing rapprochement between Israel and some Arab nations, a follow-up on the Abraham Accords. If Israel goes all out and flattens Gaza, those Arab nations will have no choice but to halt those negotiations indefinitely, given the sympathy that Aran societies have for the Palestinian cause. And the international community needs no larger regional conflagration now.
PC: newsweek
- Further, an all-out Gaza offensive by Israel may draw Iran-backed Hezbollah into the conflict. From there, anybody guesses that the escalation matrix could go anywhere. Iran may directly get involved and with the US sending its warships to the region in support of Israel, things could get nasty in no time. There are already suspicions in some quarters that Iranian planners aided Hamas in its assault on Israel. And with Iran aligning with Russia in the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Palestine conflict could become another flashpoint in the strategic-security tussle between the West and the Russia-Iran-China trio. There is no real gain for Israel in taking its military counteroffensive too far. Tel Aviv must be mindful of these aspects.
