Opinion Israel must heed UN advice of ‘rules even in war’
Express View: For two peoples caught up in historical animosity, one of the hardest tasks is to break the chain. It is time for all parties to pull back from the brink before the conflict in West Asia descends further into catastrophe
Israel palestine war, United Nations, UN security council, rules even in war, gaza airstrike death toll, 
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As Israel intensifies its ground offensive, the reports coming out of Gaza tell disturbing tales of a deepening humanitarian crisis. Neighbourhoods that have been reduced to rubble; the injured and the dead, among them children not yet in their teens, in hospitals that have little to no resources to carry out treatments or treat death with dignity; a blockade that has severely limited access to aid, potable water, food, medical equipment and fuel.
It amplifies the voice of reason in the UN’s repeated appeals for balance: That the “appalling attacks” by Hamas on October 7, that left 1,400 dead and 220 Israelis taken as hostages, does not justify the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people”. And that an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, together with the release of Israeli hostages and the passage of aid to Gaza, is of primary and urgent importance.
Israel has expressed outrage over the UN’s statements on its action in Gaza, but it is time for it to step back. Indeed, there can be no overlooking the “violations of international humanitarian law” in Gaza. With a total area of 360-square kilometre that is home to 2.3 million people, the Gaza Strip is one of the world’s most densely populated areas. It is also a place of undeclared incarceration, from where people caught in the fray between Hamas and the Israeli forces have little chance of escaping. Since the Israeli pushback began, the UN has pegged the number of displaced Palestinian people at over a million. A recent update from the Gaza health ministry has pegged the number of those dead at over 8,000.
The narrative of retribution seldom acknowledges the fact that an eye for an eye makes the world blind. Hamas’ act of violence needs the strictest condemnation and the West and India have all spoken unequivocally against the atrocity. But it is also incumbent on Israel to respect the UN’s calls for a ceasefire and its caution that “even war has rules”.
Imperative military action can never degenerate into indiscriminate reprisals against civilians. Israel only needs to look at the US’s long war on terror after 9/11 in Iraq and Afghanistan and draw upon its past experience with Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestine Islamic Jihad outfits to realise that violence only begets more violence. It is here that Israel’s friends and allies, including India, have a role to play.
With India’s new foreign policy pragmatism in West Asia and its ability to bring together disparate voices, it should leverage its relationship with both Israel and the Arab world to work towards peace. For two peoples caught up in historical animosity, one of the hardest tasks is to break the chain. It is time for all parties to pull back from the brink before the conflict in West Asia descends further into catastrophe.
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