Devendra Kumar
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls from Western allies to do more to protect Palestinian civilians, as his country continues to bomb the Gaza Strip. The situation has become increasingly dire, with Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest hospital, running out of power and five patients, including a premature baby, dying due to a lack of medical devices.
According to Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa hospital, Israeli troops are firing on anyone outside or inside the hospital, and preventing movement between the buildings in the compound. The claim that Israeli troops were the sole source of fire could not be verified independently, but the Israeli military has acknowledged that they are engaged in fighting Hamas in the vicinity and are taking all feasible measures to prevent harm to civilians.
Israel has portrayed Shifa hospital as Hamas’ main command post, claiming that militants are using civilians as human shields there and have set up elaborate bunkers underneath it. However, Hamas and Shifa staff deny these claims. The hospital has been surrounded by Israeli troops for days, and the Israeli military claims that they have encountered hundreds of Hamas fighters in underground facilities, schools, mosques, and clinics during fighting in Gaza.
Despite the dire situation, Prime Minister Netanyahu has maintained that the responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas, repeating long-standing allegations that the militant group uses civilians in Gaza as human shields. He has also accused Hamas of using civilians to prevent them from leaving combat zones.
Israeli allies such as France have called for a ceasefire, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying that there is “no justification” for Israel’s ongoing bombing. The US, however, has been pushing for temporary pauses in the fighting to allow for the distribution of badly needed aid to civilians in Gaza.
As the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, Palestinian civilians and rights advocates have pushed back against Israel’s portrayal of the southern evacuation zones as “relatively safe,” noting that Israeli bombardment has continued across Gaza, including airstrikes in the south that have killed women and children.
The US and Israel also have differing views on what a post-war Gaza should look like, with the US pushing for a more comprehensive approach that includes no forcible displacement of Palestinians and a commitment to Palestinian-led governance. Meanwhile, Israel has said that its goal is to crush Hamas and ensure that Gaza is not used as a platform for launching terrorism against Israel.
In this context, Saudi Arabia has hosted Muslim and Arab leaders in Riyadh to devise a cohesive strategy on Gaza. The country has come under pressure to take a more active role in mediating the conflict, and has been keen to demonstrate its influence in the region.