The Siege of Gaza

It used to be fairly common to hear Israeli military leaders speak candidly about the reasons why Palestinians attacked Israeli  troops and civilians.  At a funeral  in 1956 for an Israeli security officer shot by Palestinians while defending the Kibbutz of Natal Oz, the Israeli army chief of staff Moshe Dayan noted in his oration: “Let us not today fling accusations at the murderers. What cause have we to complain about their fierce hatred for us? For eight years now, they sit in their refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we turn into our homestead the land and villages in which they and their forefather's farmed.” (qtd. Diana Bantu, “Blaming the Victims,” JPS vol. 44:1, pp. 92)

It is hard find such candor, humility, or self-awareness these days among officials.  On October 9, the Israeli defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he had instructed the military to place Gaza under siege, a word rarely uttered in public by Israeli officials.  “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip,” Gallant said. “There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly."

The prospects of a siege are terrifying. If the past is to teach us anything of the present, we should be reminded that in July of 2014, Israel launched a massive attack against Palestinians killing roughly 2,100 and injuring over 11,000. The Israeli air force launched over six thousand sorties; between the Israeli army and navy together, the two launched over 49,000 artillery and tank shells onto the densely populated Gaza Strip. The siege included drones, American Apache helicopters firing U.S.-made Hellfire missiles, and American F-16's carrying two-thousand-pound bombs.

Gaza is the third most densely populated territory in the world.  It is roughly twice the size of Washington,  D.C.  Its inhabitants live in an open-air prison.  The Israeli siege will likely (and may already have) brought a degree of destruction vastly disproportionate to Hamas’ wanton act of terror.  

October 10, 2023