Women and children pay the highest price

Illustration: Paola Bilancieri.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are widely considered to be one of the most powerful militaries in the world. According to Israeli leaders, they constitute “the most moral army in the world.” So how do we reconcile these statements with what is currently happening in Gaza and Lebanon, where tens of thousands of women and children have been murdered or injured in the conflict with the Palestinians?

On October 13 and 14, dozens of Palestinian civilians were killed and many others injured in IDF attacks on a Gaza hospital and several refugee camps. The victims included women waiting for food delivery and children playing. The IDF claims that it only works against terrorists and is investigating the incident, which is a poor excuse when these investigations conducted by the Israeli military almost never result in punishment for those responsible for serious crimes.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) states that the IDF fired on dozens of hungry people waiting for food at a distribution center in the Jabalia refugee camp. As a result of these events, several dozen houses were destroyed. The humanitarian organization Save the Children estimated last June that about 21,000 children were missing in the Gaza Strip, and about 4,000 children were buried under rubble. “No parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves to find the body of their child,” said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s Middle East regional director.

UNICEF reports that cases of diarrhea in children under five years of age have increased dramatically in Gaza, as well as cases of scabies, lice, chickenpox, skin rashes, and respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. Hundreds of thousands of children have been killed or injured, and over half a million children need psychological support for lasting injuries. Malnutrition is rampant; If left untreated, malnutrition and disease are a deadly combination.

Last August in Gaza, a 10-month-old baby was partially paralyzed after contracting polio. According to the World Health Organization, no case of polio has been recorded in Gaza for 25 years. Due to poor sanitary conditions, type 2 poliovirus was detected in samples taken from sewage in the territory in June last year. The poliovirus, most often spread through sewage and contaminated water, is highly contagious.

Humanitarian organizations blame the resurgence of polio in Gaza on the disruption of vaccination programs and massive damage to water and sanitation systems. “Hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza are at risk,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell said the re-emergence of the virus in the belt after 25 years “is another sobering reminder of how chaotic, desperate and dangerous the situation has become.” Gaza’s Health Ministry accused the IDF of intensifying “attacks on the health care system” in northern Gaza as more hospitals came under siege or fire.

IDF actions in Gaza and Lebanon, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of women and children, were widely condemned. According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, at least 2,412 people were killed in IDF attacks. The Gaza Ministry of Health reports that 42,519 people have died in Gaza. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, dozens of people were killed or injured in an IDF attack in the city of Beit Lahia.

During a recent trip to Belgium, Pope Francis suggested that IDF attacks in Gaza and Lebanon were “immoral” and disproportionate, stating that they went beyond the rules of war. According to International Humanitarian Law, “Harm caused to protected civilian populations or civilian property must be proportionate and ‘not excessive in relation to the specific and direct military advantage contemplated’ by an attack on a military objective.”

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, investigated allegations of war crimes during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In an open letter containing his findings, he explains the principle of proportionality. In his letter he states: ‘An offense exists if there is an intentional attack against the civilian population (principle of distinction) (Article 8(2)(b)(i)) or if the attack is carried out for military purposes with the knowledge that accidental the injuries to the civilian population would be clearly excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage (principle of proportionality) (Article 8(2)(b)(iv)).”

The IDF consistently violates the elementary rules of war. As Omer Bartov, professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, wrote: “If we truly believe that the Holocaust has taught us a lesson about the need – and indeed the duty – to preserve our own humanity and dignity by protecting the dignity of others, it is time to stand up and raise our voices, before Israel’s leaders plunge it and its neighbors into the abyss.”

While 2,000-year-old bombs continue to fall on women and children, Prime Minister Netanyahu walks proudly among his soldiers. He is completely indifferent to the evil he causes, as Gaza and Lebanon become not only cemeteries of people, but a cemetery of hope and peace in the region.