Gaza: A Human Tragedy and a Just War

I’ve written about this before: it doesn’t matter what your nationality is or what the context may be—what the people of Gaza are enduring is a human tragedy. You cannot approach a mother watching her child suffer and start talking to her about context or blame. The suffering of a child in war is the same whether it’s in the U.S., Argentina, Cambodia, Nazi Germany, or Gaza.
(Interesting fact: support for Hamas in Gaza exceeds the support the Nazi Party once had in Germany.)

All war is a tragedy. All war is horrific. There are no “good” wars—but there are just wars. And Israel’s war to dismantle Hamas and bring back the hostages is a completely and unquestionably just war.

After October 7, ask yourself: how would any other nation in the world have responded? Would the United States have tolerated a terror army on its border massacring its civilians and taking hundreds of hostages? Would France? Germany? No country—no matter its politics or values—would have stood still. Israel’s response is not only understandable; it is exactly what any other nation would have done in its place.

Hamas and Sinwar chose to attack Israel and massacre its people with both an aspiration and a strategy.

Their aspiration was for Hezbollah to attack from the north, while they captured the south. Meanwhile, Iran and the Houthis would bombard Tel Aviv, and even the West Bank might rise up in the east—all converging in an effort to destroy Israel. (That would have been a true genocide.)

Their strategy was meticulously planned over 15 years: constructing hundreds of miles of underground tunnels that—according to IDF estimates—span between 350 and 450 miles, at a cost of at least a billion dollars, diverted from civilian needs into Hamas’ military infrastructure.

Once the IDF repelled the initial offensive, Hamas immediately retreated into those tunnels—fully stocked with supplies and now, holding 250 hostages. Hamas’ plan was always the same: hide underground, let civilians above suffer, and force Israel into an impossible fight—tunnels beneath urban centers, where any military operation would inevitably bring civilian misery.

This is the most difficult war Israel has ever faced. No country has ever fought on such a battlefield. Just as Israel’s victories over Iran and Hezbollah will be studied in military academies for centuries, so too will Hamas’ preparation and patience.

It is crucial to understand that Israeli society is still deeply traumatized by October 7. That trauma grows every day the hostages remain in Gaza. Watching the videos of the so-called “handover ceremonies”, specially the delivery of the Bibas babies coffins, during the last ceasefire only deepened that pain—it did not heal it.

Those who question Israel’s “fixation” on the hostages simply do not understand the Israeli psyche. Imagine your sons or brothers being tortured in your neighbor’s house—would you ever stop trying to bring them home?

Israel and the IDF have made many mistakes. But is there such a thing as a war without mistakes? A war without tragedies?

Yes, Israel made the decision—after the last ceasefire—to restrict the flow of food into Gaza. The logic, on paper, was clear: if Hamas steals the aid and resells it, then cut off its funding by distributing food directly to civilians. The idea might have made sense in theory, but its tactics and execution failed.

Is there hunger in Gaza? Yes.
Is Israel deliberately engineering a famine? No.
Is Israel partly responsible? Yes.

And what about Hamas? The ones who steal aid trucks, hide food, and shoot civilians who refuse to obey their orders or dare to take humanitarian assistance—where is the criticism of Hamas? Where is their accountability? They refuse to agree to a ceasefire, and this is not only acknowledged by Israel or the United States but also by Qatar and Egypt. Hamas thrives on war; they win through the suffering of the Palestinian people.

A common argument (one I myself have used) is that the world applies a double standard: every tragedy in Gaza is magnified through a microscope while wars and famine in other parts of the world—such as Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—are met with near silence.

I see this in two ways:

1. For the rest of the world: This reaction of Western citizens can only be explained by ignorance (their algorithms that make it seem as if Gaza is the only place where suffering exists) or by raw antisemitism.
2. For Israel and its allies: The argument “but look at Syria, Congo, Ethiopia, Yemen—those are far worse” does not convince me. We should not compare ourselves to them. We must compare ourselves to our own values and principles—the moral test of a nation is not how it compares to the world’s worst actors, but whether it lives up to its own values.

We all want this war to end.

For the sake of Israelis and Palestinians alike, this war must end. With Hamas removed from power and every hostage returned home. Otherwise, Hamas wins the war while justice, peace, and truth lose.

Note: Unless it is purely for domestic populist reasons, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent statement—that he would recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire—sounds like something out of a political satire. On one hand, there was zero mention of Hamas or any pressure directed at them. On the other, the message to Hamas is effectively: if you keep the war going, if you refuse to release the hostages, you get rewarded with a state.