Thursday, October 19, 2023
Forced..
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
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..
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Rules of War..
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.
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.