Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared his intention to have the IDF take over Gaza city as a further escalation of the conflict that has been going on for 22 months. Critics say that it would lead to the displacement of over a million Palestinians and even greater suffering. According to Netanyahu, the objective is to eliminate Hamas and hand over the city to a civilian local government.
This is an admission that the strategy employed by the Israelis has not worked thus far, despite the enormous cost in terms of lives and suffering. Even though it is strongly refuted by Israel, there is no doubt that there are children dying of starvation because the populace has been cut off from food aid that was being provided by humanitarian agencies. Even Israel’s closest supporters, particularly Germany, UK, Italy, New Zealand and Australia, have strongly opposed Israel’s escalatory intentions. The countries in the region have also described the proposed takeover as dangerous and not a feasible solution.
It is the contention of these countries that the two-state solution is the only way out of the present mess. Even some nations that have held back on this for long have now accorded recognition to Palestine as an independent entity. Israel however believes that this would amount to awarding Hamas for what it has done. Indeed, the primary responsibility for what has occurred is that of Hamas and allowing it to prosper under a negotiated peace accord would endanger Israel’s security even further.
In that sense, in an imagined scenario, if a takeover of Gaza would lead to the ouster of Hamas from the area, it would be possible for some return to peace. But the developments thus far do not encourage such a belief, and it could only lead to Israel becoming further bogged down in a futile conflict. It is rapidly losing allies, with embargoes being placed on military supplies to it by several nations, the latest being Germany. It is already facing a shortage of recruits for the IDF, with an organisation representing reservists urging a boycott of army service if Gaza is taken over. And Netanyahu’s coalition government has been facing inner discord over strategy for quite some time now. The Israeli public is mostly focused on the return of the remaining hostages, which objective still remains distant. It does not seem at present that movement in any direction is going to relieve the suffering of the Gazans.
