Good Morning,
As I write this Israel has driven it’s forces deep inside the Gaza Strip, even taking over Al-Shifa hospital, jarring the world with disturbing images of fighting in a health care facility, that was designed to shelter and heal the wounded, not to be a battle ground between the IDF and Hamas.
The accusations that both sides are guilty of war crimes swirl, but Israel maintains Hamas used Al-Shifa as a command centre including underground tunnels packed with arms and fighters, and even possibly holding some of it’s hostages there.
239 Israeli’s were captured in bloody attacks on Israeli bases and nearby towns 41 days ago, when Hamas stormed into Israel and murdered 1400 innocent civilians, kicking off a bloody war in Gaza.
The IDF spokesman issued a video of soldiers walking through the hospital claiming to have proof of Hamas warcrimes, videoing AK-47 rifles and grenades allegedly hidden by Hamas behind MRI machines.
The network of tunnels have yet to be entered, but no doubt they exist below Al-Shifa, and for the sake of credibility the IDF will have to let journalists see them.
Israel has to justify it’s campaign in Gaza, amidst the growing outrage around the world about civilian Palestinian casualties, which are 11 thousand and counting.
The pressure even on American President Biden, who has stood next to Israel, is intensifying.
Rather than a Back Story today on how about why we got to this crisis, and I want to look forward to tomorrow and it’s coming quickly.
Big heavily armoured up armies easily take ground. I’ve seen it in Iraq and Afghanistan, and elsewhere, but as Hamas shrinks back into the population, melting away from obvious points of defence, it begins to get complicated.
Who is going to run Gaza? Israel doesn’t want the area back again which is becoming mostly rubble. Some of the extreme members of Netanyahu’s government want Gaza to cease to exist, but that’s impossible.
It will have to occupy Gaza until some kind of trusted force can fill the void of a Hamas but Israel seemingly has no candidate, and to have any credibility any future authority can’t be endorsed by Israel.
So who will construct this new Palestinian governing authority? Soon the Israeli advance will stop because the obvious targets will already have fallen.
Then the Hamas’ nightly attacks on Israeli soldiers will begin. As it did during the Israeli occupation, drive by shootings and sniper fire, and bomb attacks will claim the lives of Israeli forces that have to guard the ground claimed by Netanyahu.
Calls inside Israel will come quickly to leave Gaza, but Netanyahu has no exit strategy, and is only focused on rescuing his badly damaged political position, as the PM who led the biggest intelligence failure in Israel’s history, and failed to protect it’s citizens from Hamas’ rampage Oct 7.
So the pressure on President Biden goes beyond talk of a cease fire or pause, and includes demands for a long term solution to the Palestinian problem, ie a 2 state solution.
The solution will in part have to be imposed on Israel, which has failed time and time to give Palestinians a homeland, governed by a moderate Palestinian Authority, if one still exists.
Hamas can be removed if the international community gets behind a new Palestinian Authority which will pledge an end to the attacks on Israel, and sells a better tomorrow for Palestinians living under siege in the West Bank, and in Gaza.
But in the backdrop, is the fact the PA failed to implement peace agreements before, and mired in corruption were rejected by the Palestinian people who voted for Hamas in 2006.
If anything Hamas will be more popular now, not less in Gaza. And that’s always been a problem. Palestinians who accuse Israel of warcrimes, have in fact carried out terror attacks against Israel, justifying violence in every tragic chapter of the conflict.
And Palestinians need to be led out of this cycle of extremism by moderate peace makers, if there are any left after this war.
Dana