Merciless in Gaza

The loss of more than 500 lives in an explosion at Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City has sparked global outrage and could well become a turning point in the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas has blamed it on an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military has claimed that the blast was caused by a misfired Palestinian rocket. According to a Hamas spokesperson, the hospital was housing hundreds of patients, including those wounded or displaced from their homes due to Israeli strikes. Tel Aviv’s protestations of innocence have cut no ice with several countries in West Asia. Syria and Saudi Arabia have squarely blamed Israel for the tragedy, while Libya has accused it of ‘war crimes and genocide’ in Gaza. Iraq has declared three days of mourning, even as Lebanon is witnessing protests.

In stark contrast, US President Joe Biden, who arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday on a solidarity visit, has hastily given the clean chit to Israel, thereby betraying his unwillingness to get to the bottom of the matter. PM Modi is right in demanding that those involved (in the hospital incident) should be held responsible, but that’s easier said than done. Militarily unjustifiable attacks on buildings such as hospitals are regarded as war crimes, as per the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law, but the mechanism for fixing culpability in case of violations has time and again proved to be woefully inadequate.

As in the Russia-Ukraine war, the United Nations seems utterly helpless to reduce hostilities or prevent Israel and Hamas from riding roughshod over international law. With thousands of lives lost since October 7, the clamour for an immediate ceasefire is growing. The bloodbath at the Al-Ahli hospital is a wake-up call for the international community, which must go all out to break the vicious cycle of civilian deaths in Gaza.