More than 1,300 Israelis and 2,200 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas launched a nonsensically barbaric military attack on the Jewish State, provoking swift and severe retaliatory action as the conflict threatens to expand into an Iranian and American war.
While pledging full support to Israel, a longtime American ally, President Joe Biden said the U.S. is working to “ensure humanitarian supplies reach civilians in Gaza” as concerns mount over whether Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks goes beyond measures that would be considered the right to self-defense and calls mount for the U.S. to restrain Israel.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “demolish Hamas” as troops prepared to move into the Gaza Strip in pursuit of Hamas militants whose deadly rampage shocked the world.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Sunday that Israel’s response to the Hamas attack has gone from self-defense to collective punishment, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.
Israel has urged exhausted Gaza residents to evacuate south, which hundreds of thousands have already done in the besieged enclave that is home to more than 2 million people.
Hamas, which runs Gaza, has told people to ignore Israel’s message. Hamas has a 40,000-strong military wing but the brutal retaliation from Israel could destroy the homes and lives of many of the 2 million residents of Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is believed to have between 80 and 400 operational nuclear weapons in addition to 169,500 active personnel, 465,000 reserve troops, and more than 3 million potential conscripts available for military service.
While some pro-Palestinian voices have been absurd, others argue that the lack of any political solution for Palestinians residing in occupied territories led to “an explosion of anger” that resulted in the current crisis, which is very dangerous and may have consequences for the entire region if not the world.
“We are fighting against human animals,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who announced what he called a “complete siege” on Gaza, following a surprise attack by Hamas on Israel.
In an interview widely shared on social media—which critics claimed was a call for “ethnic cleansing”—former Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said that people in Gaza should evacuate their residences and relocate to the Sinai Desert in Egypt, where temporary tent cities could be established for them, amid the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Some Republicans are calling for an all-out annihilation of Gaza, among them South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who said: “We’re in a religious war here. I am with Israel. Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. Level the place.”
“I emphatically condemn the murderous invasion by Hamas into Israel during its religious holidays. The killing of innocent Israelis in their homes by Hamas, during an invasion from Gaza, shows them to be what they are – a murderous terrorist organization,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, the warmongering lawmaker who is accused of being an Egyptian spy in his latest criminal indictment. “I hope the detractors of Israel will now understand the constant life and death struggle the Israeli people live with every day. It is time for the international community to unequivocally condemn Hamas. The United States must unequivocally stand with Israel at this time of war with Hamas.”
Graham, who testified for the New Jersey Senator during his 2017 criminal trial, and Menendez represent a large part of the American populace while a tiny sliver of the left is actually critical of Israel, but there are sane arguments.
“The U.S. must work to immediately de-escalate to prevent the further loss of life, and not fuel and exacerbate the violence by sending more weapons to Israel,” said a spokesperson for Jewish Voice for Peace. “There is only one way to end violence: to address its root cause, 75 years of Israeli military occupation and apartheid. We must end U.S. complicity in this systemic oppression.”
Graham and Menendez have crazy counterparts in Iran and around the world.
Iran’s foreign minister called on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, warning that the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, and that would make Israel suffer “a huge earthquake.”
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned that the United States will suffer “significant damages” if the Gaza war spirals into a bigger conflict.
“We have conveyed our message to the Zionist regime through its allies that if they do not cease their atrocities in Gaza, Iran cannot simply remain an observer,” Iranian state media cited Amirabdollahian as telling the network.