All Eyes On Israel

The Israeli military is trying to exterminate Hamas and all the innocent civilians in Gaza who come in its way

- Seema Guha

LIKE the avenging God of the Old Testament, Israel is raining down death and destruction on the people of Gaza. Ordinary citizens, who have no say over Hamas, have to pay the price for a militant organisation’s murderous assault. Both Israel and Hamas are blind to the sufferings of the people caught in this meaningless bloodletting.

Israel’s relentless onslaught has cost more than 11,700 lives—the majority of them helpless children and women. Al Shifa and Al Quds, the two biggest hospitals in Gaza, have shut down. Doctors who had kept the hospitals working—despite lack of medicines, food, electricity and water—have now been forced to close their doors. On the other side is the fate of the over 200 hostages taken by Hamas. What of them? Among them, many are old; there are several children too. But no one has a clue. Civilians on both sides are pawns in the power game between Israel and Hamas. At a time of acute shortage in Gaza, are inno­ cent civilians being provided with food or water? Hamas has claimed that 50 of the captives were killed in Israeli bombardment.

Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get back Israeli civilians taken hostage by Hamas fighters on October 7. On November 11, demonstrations were held in several places in Israel for their release, the main gathering was in Tel Aviv. The demonstrators vented their anger against Netanyahu for not being able to bring back the hostages. Several relatives of hostages said the priority should be to rescue the hostages. “Do not talk to me about conquering; do not talk to me about flattening [Gaza]. Do not talk at all. Just take action… bring them home now,” Noam Perry, the daughter of a 79­year­old hostage, said.