Escalating Israel’s military operation in Gaza to the max – which is reportedly what Israel’s prime minister is leaning towards – will stretch an already exhausted army.
No wonder Eyal Zamir, Israel‘s chief of staff, is reportedly reluctant to go down that route, however much of the messaging from the top has been that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will follow whatever the political echelon decides.
No wonder, then, that IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani was reluctant to flesh out the implications of an expanded operation or what a full military “occupation” – touted now as having entered Benjamin Netanyahu‘s lexicon – will look like.
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As he pointed out, Hamas benefits from international outrage over the spectre of famine in Gaza.
It turns the tide of public opinion against Israel, taking the pressure off Hamas. That may be, in part, why the latest round of ceasefire talks collapsed.
The IDF refuses to accept responsibility for Gaza being on the brink of famine, instead accusing the UN of failing to do their part in an ongoing war of words, although Lt Col Shoshani acknowledged that distributing aid in a war zone is “not simple”.
That is why it should have been left to experts in humanitarian aid distribution – the UN and its agencies, not to US military contractors.
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Given the large number of aid-related deaths reported daily, not just by Gaza’s health ministry but also by doctors who are treating the injured and tying up the body bags, there should be greater accountability.
Lt Col Shoshani said the missing link is the proof that it is IDF soldiers doing the shooting. He is right.
If international journalists were granted access to Gaza, to support Palestinian colleagues whose every day involves both the danger of operating in a war zone and the search for food and supplies for their families, then there might be greater accountability.
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It is not sufficient to claim that the IDF operates “in accordance with our values, with our procedures and with international law”, which is what Lt Col Shoshani told Sky News.
That may suffice for Israeli audiences who see very little on their screens of the reality on the ground, but it is not enough for the rest of us – not after 61,000 deaths.
If the IDF has nothing to hide, it should allow international journalists in.
That would alleviate the burden of reporting on Palestinian journalists, at least 175 of whom have lost their lives since the war began.
It would also allow a degree more clarity on what is happening and who is to blame for the hell inside Gaza now.
More than 100 journalists, photographers and war correspondents have signed a petition demanding “immediate and unsupervised foreign press access to the Gaza Strip”.
Signatories include Sky News’ special correspondent Alex Crawford.
They are renewing calls for both Israel and Hamas to allow foreign journalists into Gaza to report independently on the war, something they have been barred from doing since the start of the latest conflict in 2023.
The petition goes further to say if “belligerent parties” ignore the appeal, media professionals will be supported to enter Gaza without consent “by any legitimate means, independently, collectively, or in coordination with humanitarian or civil society actors”.
