At least 11 Palestinians have been killed and several others injured after an Israeli airstrike hit a school in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials. This tragic incident has sparked widespread condemnation and further heightened concerns about the escalating violence in the region.
As per Al Jazeera reports, the airstrike is part of a broader conflict that has resulted in thousands of Palestinian casualties since the hostilities by Hamas began on October 7, 2023. The Israeli military has stated that its operations are focused on targeting Hamas militants and their infrastructure within Gaza. However, critics argue that these actions are disproportionate and have caused significant harm to innocent civilians, including children.
The international community has expressed deep concern over the ongoing violence, with many leaders and organisations calling for an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated resolution to the conflict. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached alarming levels, with the continuous violence exacerbating the already dire situation for the local population.
Tensions in the Gaza Strip have escalated once again, with renewed clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants resulting in multiple casualties and injuries. The latest outbreak of violence has further strained the already precarious situation in the region, where the long-standing Arab-Israeli conflict shows no signs of resolution.
The Arab-Israeli conflict, rooted in deep historical and political grievances, has persisted since the early 20th century. The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which led to the creation of the State of Israel, also resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians—a traumatic event referred to as the Nakba, or "catastrophe," by Arabs. Many of those displaced, along with their descendants, continue to live in refugee camps across the Middle East.
Suppose you look objectively at the black-and-white laws of war. In that case, there is no question that there are some circumstances where a military can attack a school or a place of worship if enemy forces are using it for military purposes. This has been Israel’s mantra when explaining to the world why it has the right to target dozens if not some hundreds, of schools and other civilian locations in Gaza: Hamas is using them so Jerusalem can target them.
Of course, there are questions of proportionality. An army cannot blow up a school that houses 20 civilians to kill one low-grade terrorist. But the legal principle that the IDF – at least as a matter of law – can kill terrorists in such locations if the proportional balance of terrorists to civilians is reasonable remains unimpeachable.
However, the law is the first prong of analysing such a military action. This was the only way to dismantle Hamas’s battalions, reports Jerusalem Post. Also, Israel had solid and consistent US backing and did not yet face significant intervention from international courts until December and, to some extent, until mid-late March.
Israel made several errors in March, such as mistakenly killing seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen organisation. There is an ongoing debate among top defence officials about how necessary it was for the IDF to invade Rafah. However, most are happy that the IDF took over the Philadelphia Corridor.