ISRAEL’S war against Gaza is not a campaign against Hamas — it is a war against a people. The latest ground operations — now targeting densely populated northern neighbourhoods like Shujaiya — are not just military manoeuvres.

They are a calculated exertion of overwhelming force in a territory where civilians have nowhere left to flee. The stated aim is to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages. The consequence, predictably, is mass suffering. The recent airstrike on the Dar al-Arqam school in Gaza City — killing at least 27 civilians, including 14 children — is a grotesque example. Israel insists the building housed a Hamas command post. Even if that were true, the repeated targeting of such civilian infrastructure exposes the hollowness of claims that this war is being waged with precision or restraint. The numbers speak for themselves. More than 50,000 Palestinians have now died in this war, with women and children comprising the majority. A quarter of Gaza’s population is displaced yet again. Food, clean water, and medicine remain restricted by Israel’s blockade. This is not merely war; it is asphyxiation.

Diplomacy, too, lies in ruins. Hamas rejected Israel’s latest offer — a 40-day ceasefire in exchange for the partial release of hostages — demanding a permanent truce and full Israeli withdrawal. Yet it is Israel — the occupying power, the military hegemon — that bears the greater burden to end the carnage. A wider regional war now looms after Israel’s assassination of a senior Hamas commander in Lebanon, threatening to shatter its fragile truce with Hezbollah.

This cannot go on. The world’s patience is running out. Israel must be held accountable under international law, including by the International Criminal Court, for war crimes. A ceasefire is only the beginning; the siege of Gaza must end, and a political solution must follow. Western capitals, long reluctant to criticise Israel, must recognise its actions as collective punishment. History will not look kindly on those who enabled it.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2025