Humans..

 

News of the deadly explosion came just hours before President Biden departed for Israel for a visit Wednesday to deliver a message of support to a key U.S. ally following Hamas' terror rampage in southern Israel. 

Mr. Biden had also planned to meet with the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority on a stop in Jordan, but that meeting was canceled in the wake of the hospital tragedy.

Ahead of the president's visit, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. and Israel had "agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multinational organizations to reach civilians in Gaza," the small, densely populated Palestinian territory.

Relentless Israeli airstrikes and a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed by Israel in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, have driven roughly half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents from their homes and created a humanitarian crisis as food, fuel and water all run desperately short.

Law..

 

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused the Israeli government on Tuesday of breaking international law by imposing a total blockade of Gaza in response to the attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.

After an emergency meeting to discuss the repercussions of the attack, Borrell also said an "overwhelming majority" of EU foreign ministers supported continuing aid payments for the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank.

Used to..

 

Human

 

Human Rights.

Border..

 

Border Security.

Fire..

 

Rules of War..

 

Nearly a week into the war, hundreds of children have been reportedly killed, and thousands more reportedly injured.

UNICEF is calling for an immediate ceasefire as 1.1 million people—nearly half of them children—have been warned to move out, ahead of what is expected to be a wide scale military assault into one of the most densely populated places on earth.   
Children and families in Gaza have practically run out of food, water, electricity, medicine and safe access to hospitals, following days of hostilities and cuts to all supply routes. 
“The situation is catastrophic, with unrelenting bombing and a massive increase in the displacement of children and families. There are no safe places,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. 

“An immediate ceasefire and humanitarian access are the top priorities to allow much needed aid to children and families in Gaza. We need an immediate humanitarian pause to ensure unhindered and safe access to children in need, no matter who they are or where they are. There are rules of war. Children in Gaza need lifesaving support and every minute counts.”

Trickle Up..

 

Winning..

 

Hamas is a third-rate militia compared with Syrian and Egyptian forces, compared to Israel’s sophisticated Army and arsenal. Yet the conflict that erupted this weekend feels more ominous. “Powerful, centrifugal forces have been unleashed that have rewritten the rules for the entire region,” Bruce Hoffman, the senior fellow for counterterrorism at the Council on Foreign Relations."

Unlike confrontations in previous decades which followed a pattern of death, destruction, and negotiated ceasefires, this war is “completely unpredictable,” Hoffman said.

Even a decisive Israeli military victory is unlikely to end the country’s increasingly perilous security challenges. It’s not even clear what “winning” means. 

“There’s no question Israel can inflict tremendous damage on Gaza, on its infrastructure and on its people, and can also target Hamas leaders,” Dan Kurtzer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel. 

But movements regenerate, and “sometimes the next leadership turns out to be more radical, more extreme, than the one that was before,” Kurtzer said. Al Qaeda of Iraq, for example, evolved into the Islamic State of Iraq and then, after a U.S. air strike killed its founder in 2006, into isis in 2013.

Now..