VINAY KUMAR

NEW DELHI :The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides, with more than 4,000 dead.Ten days have passed after Israel was jolted by the sudden barrage of rocket attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The attack  drew massive retaliation by Israel which bombed Gaza strip, triggering a war with Hamas which has taken the death toll to about 4,000 on both sides.
More than one million people have fled their homes in Gaza in scenes of chaos and despair as Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and continued amassing troops Monday in preparation for a full-blown ground invasion.
Declaring that it was 9/11 moment for his country and Israel was at war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to finish the mission to wipe out military capability of Hamas and the sites of the militant group into rubble. He said the Hamas assault was one of the worst attacks on Jews since the Holocaust. Gaza is a strip of land which is 40 km long and 10 km wide and borders Mediterranean Sea, Israel and Egypt. The strip is probably the most densely populated area in the world, housing about 2.3 million people.
After Israeli Air Force raids in Gaza over the past week and Israel warned that about a million people should evacuate northern parts of Gaza strip, reports have spoke about the looming prospect of a ground offensive and air attacks. Israel has said that it has restored water supply to southern Gaza. Israel had enforced “complete siege’’ on Gaza, stopping supplies of food, electricity, water and fuel in the Gaza strip where people, including a large number of women and children, are facing miserable situation.
Israel which was stunned by the unprecedented attack by Hamas which also took about 150 Israelis as hostages found support from the U.S., India and European countries who condemned the terror strike. U.S. President Biden described the assault by Hamas on Israel as an “act of sheer evil.’’  Since then U.S. has rushed to Israel’s aid and despatched the world’s largest aircraft carrier Gerald Ford to ensure that the conflict does not widen. On the other hand, Arab nations have voiced concern over Israel’s retaliation and supported the Palestinian cause. Clearly, the past few days have seen the world getting divided in its opinion on the Israel-Hamas war.
Ongoing Russia-Ukraine war that has waged since February 2022 and the latest Israel-Hamas conflict are extracting a heavy toll not only of lives but also causing economic distress in the world. Humanitarian concerns have been raised in almost all quarters of the world as it will be civilians who will face the suffering and misery caused by the war. The current Israel-Hamas conflict also faces a grim prospect of widening to other fronts as Iran’s support to Hamas is well known.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has sounded a note of caution, stressing on the need to find solutions guided by the respect for international humanitarian law. As the situation on the Israel-Gaza border remains tense and threatens to snowball into a full fledged ground offensive, President Biden has cautioned Israel to exercise caution. It will not be an easy task for the Israeli Defence Forces to navigate through the web of tunnels and subways in Gaza and bust the strongholds of Hamas. Casualties on both sides could be on the higher side and a million people in Gaza will be subjected to untold miseries and sufferings.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in New Delhi)

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