How Not to Fight a War, Daily Brief, 12 October 2023.

The scenes in Gaza are appalling.

The Israeli government has described it as a “total siege,” cutting off delivery to Gaza of electricity, fuel, water, and food. The sole power plant has shut down for lack of fuel. And all this is on top of conditions that were already dire after 16 years of Israel’s crushing restrictions in the open-air prison for 2.2 million people known as Gaza.

Then, there’s the bombing.

Israeli authorities may claim their aerial attacks are precisely targeted, as if using high explosives in densely populated areas could ever be.

The reality is, due to Israel’s indiscriminate aerial bombardment, hospitals are running out of space and are no longer safe havens. The World Health Organization has documented 22 attacks that have affected health care facilities and ambulances in Gaza since October 7. Israeli air strikes have also damaged refugee camps, schools, and UN compounds in recent days.

Of course,  there’s a wider context – not just the long-term one of more than 16 years of extreme restrictions on Gaza and Israel’s crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution in the occupied territories – but also the immediate one: Hamas’s vile attacks.

Hamas-led attackers killed people in their homes, massacred party-goers at a music festival, and kidnapped children, older people, and others. Deliberately shooting civilians and taking civilians hostage are war crimes.

What the Israeli government is now doing, however, is replying to war crimes with war crimes.

Israel’s minister of Energy and Infrastructure has made it clear the recent Hamas attacks are “why we decided to stop the flow of water, electricity and fuel.” It’s collective punishment, and these tactics are war crimes, as is using starvation as a weapon of war.

To put it a different way: Hamas targeted innocent people, and Israel is targeting innocent people in response.

To make matters worse, in response to Hamas’ rampage, some European governments have suspended (or put under a new review) development aid programs in Palestine. This includes things like funding for the UN, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and civil society organizations. Israel has also reportedly threatened to block humanitarian aid entering via Egypt.

Do they all seriously think that suspending aid will punish the October 7 attackers? Hamas has long been designated as a terrorist organization by many countries and has long been ineligible for their aid anyway. Aid freezes risk further punishing Palestinian civilians who are already facing unprecedented repression an violence. 

No water. No fuel. No electricity. No assistance. No escape from the bombing.

That leaves millions of blameless people with no hope.