Israel wants to wipe out Hamas - but the suffering of civilians in Gaza will bring new support to its fighters (Opinion)

Massacre of October 7 - Israel wants to wipe out Hamas - but the plan will not work

For two months now, since Israel's army has been attacking Gaza in response to the massacre by the terrorist organization Hamas, large parts of the international community have been making two closely interwoven demands of the parties to the conflict in Gaza: Hamas is demanding the immediate release of the hostages - and Israel is demanding compliance with international law with regard to the military operation in the Gaza Strip. The problem is that Israel links the end of its attacks directly to the release of all hostages - and this has not worked out for around two months. The question of whether Israel's current strategy is actually helping the hostages is increasingly being raised.

The Israeli population's desire to finally see the hostages released is understandable at every level. It does not take much empathy to imagine the suffering endured by the hostages' relatives and the prisoners themselves. Nothing can justify the terrorist attack by Hamas and the kidnapping of the hostages.

However, the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza are equally unjustifiable from the point of view of ever larger parts of the world, especially in the Global South. For a few days now, the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip has also extended to the south of the territory. This is where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians have fled from the north to seek refuge in supposedly safe zones. Now, at the latest, no one is safe here either. The situation in the Gaza Strip has thus reached a new level of escalation.

Is the West using its influence on Israel - or is it resigning?

Following the breakdown of the ceasefire and the increasingly dramatic conditions in the Gaza Strip, the war has reached a decisive psychological threshold: either influential states around the world will be able to persuade Israel to take a different military approach. Or the calls for proportionality will become increasingly weaker - until large parts of the world community finally give up.

Humans are creatures of habit. We get used to almost everything in our lives. Even to the depiction of suffering and pain inflicted on others. If we cannot change this state of affairs, many of us begin to resign out of self-protection. What keeps us from resigning, from becoming disinterested, are new scenarios and aspects, new images that keep our attention. In relation to the current situation in the Gaza Strip, however, such "new" news will soon be frighteningly scarce.

This is because the cruel details of the situation have already been vividly described and visualized to the world community for weeks: Thousands of uninvolved children, mothers and fathers buried under the rubble. Ancient women making their way on foot from north to south in order to somehow survive. Babies who can no longer be cared for in hospitals.

Arab channels such as "Al Jazeera" have been broadcasting all these scenes uncensored and live on television for weeks. This, and the protests it has triggered, has also increased the pressure on Western political elites to take a clearer stance on Israel's compliance with international law: Both the tone of French President Macron and the stance of US President Joe Biden have intensified in recent weeks. Yes, the power of images is strong, as can be seen here. But stronger than the power of habit? That depends.

However, the expansion of the Israeli army's deployment to the south of the Gaza Strip could make the criticism even louder. Unicef has already described the Gaza Strip as the most dangerous place in the world for children. The WHO is urging Israel to do more to protect civilians. Human rights activists, journalists and Palestinians on the ground report daily on unsafe conditions in the south and the increasing lack of alternatives to find a safe place. Will these calls for help have any effect?

Middle East conflict: the USA seeks a new stance

The first signs of a new attitude towards Israel could recently be observed elsewhere with US President Joe Biden: Due to the attacks by violent Israelis on Palestinians in the West Bank, the US wants to restrict the entry of Israeli extremists.

This would be the first time that the USA has followed up critical words against Israel with concrete action. The USA is Israel's most important supporter and at the same time the country in which more Jews live than in Israel itself. If general support for Israel crumbles here, as recently demonstrated by the blocking of aid to Israel in the US Senate, this could have consequences. The first effects can already be observed here in Germany: Germany would like to extend the entry restrictions for extremist settlers to the European Union, according to a spokesperson for the Federal Foreign Office.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres in turn turned to the Security Council on Wednesday. He invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, which has hardly been used to date and allows him to "draw attention to any matter which, in his opinion, may jeopardize the maintenance of international peace and security". Although this step is not legally binding, it is nonetheless historic. It is to be expected that the Security Council will at least discuss this in the following days. None of this amounts to collective resistance. This would require at least one more binding UN resolution with formulated sanctions in the event of non-compliance with the demands. Whether this will happen remains to be seen.

What seems clear, however, is that Israel cannot fight for lasting protection of the Israeli people with its current approach. On the contrary: the children in Gaza who will survive the current war will probably be traumatized for life. They will grow up with pain, suffering and anger in their hearts. The breeding ground for further terrorist organizations is being created these days in Gaza and in the Arab world. The infrastructure of Hamas may be destructible, but the ideology of terrorism is currently being strengthened immensely. This sad certainty helps neither Jews nor Palestinians. Both peoples deserve to live in peace and dignity.