How Many Palestinians Dead in Gaza Is Too Many -
There has already been enough of this war. It must end now, under any circumstances, at any price. There is no point to continue it. Its terrible cost will exceed any possible benefit, if any benefit could ever arise from any war. We also no longer have any legitimacy for continuing to destroy the Gaza Strip and kill tens of thousands of its residents.
Now, when our justified anger has died down, if only a little, and our tempers are slightly less inflamed, we need to consider the war’s continuation dispassionately. And there’s only one possible conclusion – end it now.
The deals to bring the hostages home and free Palestinian prisoners have gone better than expected so far. The promises have been kept, on both sides. Even Bella the dog was freed in seemingly reasonable condition.
But most of the hostages haven’t yet been freed. We must continue working to free them until every last one of them is home, which will likely mean freeing every lastPalestinian prisoner in Israel. Anyone who finds this idea hard to digest would be wise to start getting used to it.
And to achieve the hostages’ return, there’s no need to continue the war. On the contrary, continuing it might well thwart further releases and even endanger the hostages’ lives. Only deals will get them all released. And deals can take place only under the conditions of a cease-fire.
Israel’s second goal hasn’t been achieved, but it probably can’t be achieved at any sane price. After almost two months of fighting, Hamas is still alive and kicking. And at least some of its forces remain organized, as was evident during implementation of the hostage deals.
The Israel Defense Forces says it has killed 5,000 Hamas combatants. Maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t. But Hamas’ senior command remains intact, as does some of its infrastructure.
We were told that most of its infrastructure and command posts were in Gaza City. So we destroyed the city. Now they’re telling us that most of it is actually in Khan Yunis. And the day after we finish destroying Khan Yunis, they’ll tell us the truly important infrastructure is in Rafah. Then we’ll also kill Rafah, until they tell us that Hamas’ beating heart is really in the Egyptian part of Rafah. Like the horizon, this goal will keep getting farther away whenever we approach it.
A Palestinian and a child walk through the destruction caused by an Israeli strike.Credit: Mohammad Abu Elsebah / DPA / Reuters
Hamas has been dealt a severe blow. Its future now depends on whatever international agreements are reached no less than on further fighting.
The Gaza Strip has been punished enough, far more than it deserves. Its northern section has been destroyed; 20,000 of its sons and daughters have been killed; 5,000 children have died. Even if the IDF’s estimate that it killed 5,000 Hamas combatants is correct, the proportions are horrific. In Ukraine, people would be appalled by such proportions.
Is it really permissible to kill 20,000 people, including 5,000 children, in order to kill 5,000 combatants/terrorists/people involved in the fighting/armed men, however monstrous they are? And would 100,000 civilians also be permissible? A million? “As many as necessary” is the usual response, and it is patently immoral and unacceptable.
I doubt anyone in Israel can truly imagine Gaza’s suffering. But in Israel, now is not a time for having mercy on Gaza.
Resuming the war means occupying and destroying southern Gaza. More than double the number of Gazans that this area contained before the war are crammed into it now. And even before the war, it was densely populated by global standards.
So where will they all go? To the destroyed north? To the overcrowded Gazan town of Al-Mawasi? To closed-off Egypt? And where will they go after the war ends, when not one stone is left standing in Gaza and there is no wood to gather, no coal for the stoves, no bread, no fire, no water, and all that’s left is ashes, to paraphrase a poem by Moshe Tabenkin? It’s impossible to resume the war without taking this into account.
It’s also impossible to resume the war without considering the ever-increasing international damage Israel will suffer. More pictures of death and destruction from Gaza will destroy the last remnants of Israel’s reputation, even among its sworn friends. We would defeat Hamas and lose the world. We would defeat Hamas and become a monster, even in the eyes of some of our own countrymen. And then what?