Hamas has Intentionally Sought and Provoked Civilian Harm in Gaza

War is complex, and in our polarising age, an adequate approximation of the truth of any conflict is hard to come by.

- Ajai Sahni

The war in Gaza has been reduced, in the popular discourse, to a reductionist parody of the immensely chaotic reality that prevails—swinging between assertions of genocide or of anti-Semitism, depending on where sympathies lie. Broadly, however, it would be safe to say that the war of narratives—particularly among the ideologically uncommitted—is substantially being won by Israel's adversaries, particularly as the death toll in Gaza approaches 44,000, with another nearly 1,04,000 people wounded. Crucially, nearly 70 per cent of the dead are reported to be women and children, much of Gaza's urban landscape—including hospitals, schools and residential buildings—has been reduced to rubble, almost the entire population has been displaced, in many cases more than once, into areas declared 'safe zones' by Israel, and then these areas have been bombed as well. Unsurprisingly, there is a rising crescendo of global protests against what is being described as Israel's 'genocide' in the Gaza strip.