They are used as human shields – and they cannot escape

Columnists 

 

The war between Israel and Hamas  

 

Now the risk of civilian casualties in Gaza is shining 

 

Wolfgang Hansson  

 

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.  

 

Updated 17.06 | Published 16.41  

 

Israel sends out QR codes to maps showing where Gazans should flee.  

 

But many have neither electricity nor internet. 

 

The war in Gaza is already one of the deadliest in modern times and there are indications that it will get worse. People have nowhere to run. 

 

Now that Israel has launched its ground offensive across Gaza, both the military and the government assure that they are doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualties. 

 

But the numbers speak for themselves. 

 

Israel estimates that around 3,500 Hamas men have been killed so far. In total, over 15,000 residents of Gaza have had to put their lives to death since Israel began its offensive following the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.  

 

This means that nearly four out of five dead are civilians. 

 

Palestinian refugees in Rafah. Photo: Fatima Shbair/AP 

 

Close to 6,000 of the dead are said to be children. Thus, the Gaza war is one of the deadliest for children in the relatively short time the war has been going on. In Ukraine, not even half as many children have been killed, despite the fact that the war there has been going on for almost two years. 

 

Data on the death tolls do indeed come from the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza, but have proven to be fairly reliable in previous wars.  

 

Surely Israel is telling the truth when they say they are not deliberately out to kill civilians. But the facts in the case are that a disproportionately large part of the dead are civilians anyway.  

 

The risk is that it will get even worse if Israel continues with the same warfare in southern Gaza as it has applied in the northern part of the territory, where 60 percent of the buildings are said to be destroyed or damaged.  

 

The war in Gaza is already one of the deadliest in modern times and there are indications that it will get worse. People have nowhere to run, writes Wolfgang Hansson. Photo: Hatem Ali / AP  

 

Gaza is one of the world's most densely populated areas. 2.3 million people live on a land area that is no larger than a third of Öland. About 80 percent of them have fled their homes, the majority to southern Gaza at the behest of Israel.  

 

Now they are being asked to flee again.  

 

Israel distributes maps of which areas people should go to. The problem is that it is partly done in the form of QR codes that require a charged mobile phone and internet to work. 

 

Electricity is now in short supply in Gaza and internet connections come and go. In addition, many people live in tent camps or in overcrowded schools.  

 

How hundreds of thousands of people are constantly able to move according to the Israeli military's instructions without coming into the line of fire is a mystery.  

 

 

The war is not only about the casualties. Doctors report from Gaza how they are forced to amputate body parts of injured children and adults. Often without adequate anesthesia. 

 

Gaza is in an ongoing humanitarian disaster where people do not have enough food, water or medicine. Many cannot take care of their personal hygiene.  

 

Israel's warfare is constantly worsening the humanitarian situation for the civilian population.  

 

During last week's pause in fighting, a number of hundreds of aid trucks entered Gaza, but it is far from enough. When the war is now underway again, the aid risks being reduced to a trickle again. Especially as the only way to bring in supplies is via the border crossing with Egypt which is in southern Gaza.  

 

According to the UN, 50,000 pregnant women live in this hell. In the middle of the war, 180 children are born every day.  

 

 

Palestinian women in Rafah look at the devastation after an Israeli attack. Photo: Hatem Ali/AP  

  

The civilian population suffers in all wars. It is unavoidable. But the question is whether there has ever been a war like the current one in Gaza. 

 

In normal wars, the civilian population may flee from the direct combat area. There is a front that people can avoid.  

 

In Gaza there is nowhere to run. There are no safe places here.  

 

The border with Egypt is closed to Palestinians who do not have foreign citizenship. Israel does not admit any refugees. At sea, it is also impossible to escape. 

 

People in Gaza are trapped as if in a small cage while Israeli bombs explode everywhere and tanks roll in the streets. 

 

The civilian death toll is likely to rise sharply again. Israel's assurances that it is doing what it can to protect the civilian population are almost a mockery.  

 

Palestinians mourn their dead after an Israeli bombardment in Gaza on Monday. Photo: Ahmad Hasaballah / Getty Images 

The West has so far expressed some tolerance for Israel's warfare since it was Hamas that started this round of fighting with its bestial attack on Israeli civilians almost two months ago. 

That understanding won't last forever. The US this weekend increased the pressure on Israel to better protect civilians.  

Israel needs to make its warfare more surgical in order to strike at Hamas without simultaneously targeting the civilian population. Easier said than done when Hamas simultaneously uses the civilian population as human shields.  

The impression is that the Israeli government has dropped its focus on freeing the remaining approximately 130 hostages. Now the goal of crushing Hamas is again priority one. 

But the more civilians are killed, the greater the pressure on Israel to agree to a new ceasefire.

 

FACTS  

The war between Hamas and Israel in 2023  

On Saturday, October 7, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas carried out a coordinated terrorist attack against Israel. Armed Hamas militiamen broke through the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel in a coordinated fashion. Thousands of rockets were fired at Israeli territory.  

More than 1,400 people, the absolute majority of whom were unarmed civilians, were shot, stabbed and burned to death. Massacres were carried out in kibbutzim and at a music festival organized near the border.  

About 240 people, among them children, have been taken hostage and taken to Gaza by Hamas. A few of the hostages have been released.  

The day after what was described as the deadliest attack on Israel in the country's history, the Israeli government formally declared war on Hamas. In extensive and sustained bombing, entire areas of the Gaza Strip have been left in ruins. Israel has vowed to destroy terror-labelled Hamas.  

According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, over 15,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. There, too, the majority are judged to be civilians. The figures are not verified by any independent party. 

 (TT)