Peace remains elusive as Israel pounds Gaza’s Rafah

For those who rejoiced on hearing that Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip, had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal to end the seven-month-long war in the devastated land, the euphoria was short lived.

Dismissing appeals from its allies including the United States to steer clear of the city of Rafah where 1.3 million Palestinians are huddled in camps, Israeli tanks and the 401st brigade rolled into the tiny piece of land on Tuesday.

As one Palestinian cryptically remarked, “Netanyahu only cares about coming out on top. He doesn’t care about children.’’

She was referring to the Israeli President’s reiteration that an offensive to take Rafah — which Israel says is Hamas’ last major stronghold in Gaza — is crucial to the goal of destroying the organisation after its October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war.

The latest onslaught is likely to widen the divide between Israel and its closest, ally, the US which has been ensuring a steady supply of arms and equipment to help the Israeli forces keep pounding Gaza regardless of the loss of human lives.

The US president Joe Biden has been chiding Netanyahu and warning him against going into Rafah but those pleas have fallen on deaf ears as the latest incursion proves.

It’s still too early to gauge the impact the attack on Rafah will have on the Middle-East as a whole and on the prospects of the peace process which has taken a hit no doubt.

Even more alarming is the impact the attack will have on the flow of much needed aid including food and medicines meant for the beleaguered Palestinians, through the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

The United Nations has already warned of a catastrophe in north Gaza which is staring at a famine with kids in the grip of malnutrition.

And if the flow of aids stop, it won’t be long before south Gaza including Rafah face the same plight. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry too has condemned the seizure of the crossing, calling it “a dangerous escalation.”

The magnitude of the destruction in Gaza where 34,700 lives have already been lost, is heart-rending to say the least.

The conscience of the world has finally been awakened by the scale of the annihilation the land witnessed in the past seven months with a wave of protests hitting campuses across the world as students fume against the war in countries as far apart as Bangladesh and the USA.

But Israel has turned its back on all these appeals and protests as its powerful war machine relentlessly targets Gaza and its hapless residents.

So lives continue to be lost and it points to the hapless situation the world finds itself in today with super powers like the US and Russia adeptly playing their Veto games while safeguarding their strategic interests.

The world has failed Gaza and the Palestinians in no means measure. And there is really no point in discussing the future of Gaza when its people are being subjected to a deadly bombardment leaving them with no option but to pack their few belongings and flee to safer lands.

Even if peace finally prevails, it will take decades to rebuild Gaza. But the searing memories of a war which destroyed a people, their dreams and all that they considered precious, will be immensely difficult to erase.

For this was a war which laid bare man’s inhumanity to man and the chilling truth that cruelty knows no bounds.