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PHOTOGRAPHER/THE LANTERN
Palestinians carry a dead man into Shifa hospital in Gaza City, killed during the Israeli army operation in Gaza, Sunday. Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip Sunday, bisecting the coastal territory and surrounding its biggest city as the new phase of a devastating offensive against the Hamas group gained momentum. The Israeli military used overwhelming firepower from tanks, artillery and aircraft to protect the advancing soldiers, and Gaza officials said at least 31 civilians were killed in the onslaught. One Israeli soldier was killed.Before the ground invasion by Israel on Saturday, there had been 430 Gaza casualties, including 26 women, 74 children and an unknown number of male civilians. Israel has suffered four deaths from the rocket attacks.
And although Israel has directly caused the most damage in this conflict, Hamas is no less responsible. Hamas has chosen to direct rocket fire at the cities of southern Israel, deliberately targeting civilians. Hamas knew what the response from Israel would be, yet ignored the effect it would have on the lives of the people they claim to represent. Hamas has even used mosques and university buildings as weapon building sites, gambling on Israli's unwillingness to bomb such civilian sites and risking the safety of Gaza civilians. Throughout this conflict, Hamas has seemed willing to trade the blood of innocent Palestinians for the possibility of a political victory against Israel.
As Israel and Hamas fight for victory in this conflict, it is the civilians of Gaza who suffer. Their already weak economy was destroyed by the Israeli-led boycott, and now much of Gaza lies in rubble. It is time for the powers that be in this conflict to stop and think about those they are hurting. It is time for both sides to turn the other cheek.
Hamas, if it truly cares about its fellow Palestinians, should stop its rocket attacks and start to worry more about its own people and less about chasing the unattainable dream of ending the "occupation."
And if Hamas chooses not to stop its rocket attacks, Israel needs to stop following the misguided lead of the United States. It must respond to terror not with missiles, bombs and economic sanctions, but by attacking the underlying problem of Palestinian poverty.
Although Israel might win a short-term victory against Hamas in this current conflict, they are fueling the extremism of the next generation. If Israel chooses to continue punishing a whole nation of people for the actions of a few, this conflict will never end. Instead, Israel should defuse the extremism by working to build the Palestinian economy. They need to reopen Gaza borders and not only allow aid from other countries to go to Gaza, but also work to provide aid on their own. Instead of working to destroy the infrastructure of Hamas, they need to work to build the infrastructure of Gaza. If Israel can improve the lives of Palestinians, Hamas and other extremist groups will be helpless to do anything but watch as their support dwindles.
Travis Schulze is a senior in international relations. He can be reached at schulze.43@osu.edu.
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