Tragedy has piled on tragedy in Gaza. Yet Israel’s attack on Nasser hospital – the only functioning public hospital left in the south – still stood out. One strike was followed within minutes by another, hitting those who had raced to help the wounded. Monday’s attack was multiple egregious acts in one: hitting a hospital, injured civilians, rescue workers and journalists.
With events caught on video, Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “tragic mishap” instead of blaming Hamas for the deaths or smearing the dead. (The military, which has a record of misleading claims following incidents, later alleged a camera had been “positioned by Hamas” at the site.) Can anyone believe that this was all an error, when such “double tap” strikes are becoming routine, and when those killed this time are so typical of those killed throughout this war?
“Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians,” the Israeli prime minister continued. Why, then, have more journalists died in Gaza in the last two years than globally in the previous three? Why has Israel killed hundreds of medical workers, spurring calls for a new crime of healthocide? Why are so many doctors detained? Why, judging from the Israeli military’s own data, do civilians account for an astonishing 83% of the dead?
Palestinians are dying, too, in the human-made famine caused by Israel’s obstruction of aid. A quarter of a million are already starving, on the judgment of a UN-backed body known for the caution of its analyses. How many more must die?
How can Palestinians have a future without their land? How can they defend their society when those at its heart, embodying its knowledge and culture, including doctors and journalists, are eliminated? How can they look to tomorrow when their children cannot go to school and their universities are destroyed?
Does Mr Netanyahu believe that he can continue to neglect the fate of those kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October when the protest movement led by the families of hostages is gathering pace? Can the military simply ignore the growing resentment of reservists especially? Is Israel willing to sacrifice what remains of its global standing to one man’s political self-preservation and the desire of his far-right partners to ethnically cleanse Gaza?
Does Donald Trump, who has unique power to halt this war, believe he can one day win a Nobel peace prize when he lauds the man subject to an international criminal court warrant as “a war hero” and refuses to intervene to stop the slaughter? Does he think a peace deal in the Middle East can be built on the bones of more than 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza? Is the US aware that its personnel too could be liable for assisting war crimes through their cooperation?
What excuses are left for Israel’s other allies? Are they willing to stand up for the institutions and principles of international law, which have helped to protect their own nations, or will they watch them be further eroded by Israel’s actions in Gaza and US animosity? As former ambassadors and senior diplomats lay out clear proposals for urgent action, do these governments realise that they too are losing credibility, not only internationally but domestically?
The questions go on, but the immediate answers to this catastrophe are simple: a lasting ceasefire, the return of hostages, and the urgent delivery of huge amounts of aid to Gaza.
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