Worsening situation

The ground operation launched by Israel against Gaza can only add fuel to the raging fire and cause more casualties among innocent people in the Gaza Strip. 

By doing so, Israel has effectively embarked on yet another military adventure against Gaza and its inhabitants, ostensibly to “plug” tunnels dug by Palestinians across the frontier with Israel, but ending up to be much more than that. 

The Israeli ground offensive has widened since it started two days ago, pushing up the rate of Palestinian casualties. 

More bloodshed  among civilians and more destruction in the coastal enclave can only deepen the wounds of the Palestinian people — not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank — and make them that much less eager to engage in peace talks. 

Hamas fighters appear to be the main target of the new Israeli aggression, but the real victims are innocent civilians. The majority of the casualties among the Palestinians since Israel’s attacks on Gaza started more than 10 days ago are children, women and the elderly. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has bragged about accepting an Egyptian-brokered truce and exploited the Palestinian rejection of the vague terms of the ceasefire proposal. 

What Hamas wants is a permanent ceasefire based on solid grounds that entail, inter alia, the end of the state of siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. That is not much to ask for. 

Instead of engaging Hamas in further talks through Cairo and other intermediaries about the other dimensions of the ceasefire, Netanyahu decided to launch a new ground offensive over and above the 10 days of aerial, sea and land bombardments with a view to frustrating all sincere efforts to re-establish a durable and just truce. 

The international community is closely watching Israel’s moves and will, hopefully, pass a fair judgement.