The barbarity of Hamas's October 7th attack rendered any immediate search for its motivations unthinkable. The need for an attempt to rationalize the murder of 1,195 people and the abduction of hundreds more—predominantly innocent civilians—was not even felt. In the year and a half since October 7, 2023, Israel's military response, however, killed over 35,000 Palestinians, a majority of whom are reported to be women and children. The scale of the disproportionateness of the response is staggering. Many, including myself, who initially supported Israel based on the horrific persecution endured by Jews throughout history, find it disillusioning to witness Israel inflicting such immense suffering on the Palestinians. Consequently, much of the world's population that initially stood in solidarity with Israel is now reassessing its stance.
The aftermath of the October 7 attack saw Gaza being razed to the ground from incessant bombings. As the Hamas terrorists live among civilians, Israel says, they have no other option but to bomb civilian areas. The question is that how many innocents can be wiped out to kill a handful of terrorists? How many more civilians must die before Israel realizes that they tipped the balance against humanity, rendering its actions a far greater injustice than any security gain achieved by killing terrorists?
Israel proclaims that they always announce before striking, so that people can vacate before a bomb drops on their head. Ok, where will the people go leaving their home behind? Even the Arab countries no longer accept Palestinian refugees—and understandably so—as who would want their country’s resources to be divided and shared and the general standard of life to decline for outsiders. Another point to note is that if Israel can carry out extreme precision strikes on a target as tiny as an apartment in a multistoried building in a big city, then why can’t they do the same in Gaza? Why do they have to raze the entire region? Does displacing 85% of Gaza’s population align with legitimate self-defence? What is the acceptable ratio of killing one terrorist to the number of innocents?
The 2.3 million people living in Gaza have been enduring years of oppression. The condition of life of people in the Gaza Strip is a life more miserable than death. The Israelis patrol the entire Gaza border and constrict the entry of supplies and services inside. Israel rationalizes by saying that they allow sufficient food and essentials for civilians to enter, limiting only to the extent necessary for the Hamas terrorists living inside not to feast on them. leaving the population scrounging for food and daily essentials. Hamas being in power inside Gaza seizes most of the supplies, leaving the general population starving for food and deprived of daily essentials. Also, Israel does not allow independent journalists to enter Gaza, so the extent of the misery is still not accurately known.
What do the Israelis really want? After seizing Golan Heights from Syria, West Bank from Jordan, and East Jerusalem from Jordan, does Israel want to snatch Gaza from the Palestinians now, after completely ridding the region of the last Palestinian?
In today’s civilized time, every nation follows a world order. If a country is allowed to seize another country’s land using their military might citing security concerns, then we will be back to the pre-medieval age of conquests, empires, and kingdoms. And, now with countries possessing nuclear weapons, one can imagine the cataclysm that will follow. Israel must understand that national security cannot be achieved through indefinite subjugation. On the contrary, they will forever remain embroiled in war.