Palestinian Lives Matter, Except to Hamas Responsibility for civilian casualties in Gaza lies with the jihadists.
As Israel prepares for its likely ground invasion to pursue Hamas in Gaza, the world is warning about civilian casualties. The moral point to keep in mind as the fighting gets intense is that the responsibility for those casualties will lie with Hamas.
Israel has an obligation to do what it can to protect civilians, and it is doing so. It has warned Gazans to move to the south of the territory as it prepares its campaign. It is using precision-guided bombs when it can to target Hamas combatants rather than civilians. No one has a bigger strategic stake in reducing civilian Palestinian casualties than Israel given the propaganda fodder they provide its enemies.
Contrast that with Hamas, which gave no warning to the Israeli and foreign civilians it slaughtered on Oct. 7. Killing civilians was the explicit goal. Hamas has ordered Gazans not to flee, and its leaders hide weapons in hospitals, schools and mosques.
Israel built bomb shelters for its citizens. Hamas built a network of tunnels for its combatants but keeps its civilians above ground, where they can be used as human shields or casualties showcased on TV. It’s not too much to say that Hamas wants Palestinian casualties to stir an uprising on the West Bank and turn world opinion against the Jewish state.
Yet the United Nations and others criticize Israel more than they do Hamas. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has denounced Israel’s evacuation order but he says little about Hamas’s human blockade.
The world is also largely silent about Egypt’s refusal to let civilians escape through its Rafah crossing with Gaza. If Egypt fears Hamas terrorists escaping with civilians, it could still let women and children flee. Other Arab nations could also take in Palestinians until the war is over, but none have volunteered.
One accusation is that Israel’s bombing of Gaza is a form of unjust “collective punishment” against Palestinians. But Hamas runs the government in Gaza, which it has ruled since its election in 2006 and its forcible ouster of its Palestinian rivals in 2007. Governments that launch wars from their territory invite attacks on that territory.
Blaming Israel for these civilian casualties amounts to denying the Jewish state its right to self-defense. It means that Hamas can launch attacks on Israel with the goal of slaughtering women and children, but Israel can’t attack Hamas in Gaza because civilians might be unintentional casualties. It means Hamas would retain a terrorist sanctuary from which it can attack Israel whenever it has the means and opportunity.
No other country on earth would agree to the terms of defensive engagement that much of the world wants to impose on Israel. If Mexico launched an assault on El Paso from Ciudad Juárez, the U.S. would send in the military to find the killers and destroy their sanctuaries.
Israel has shown forbearance against Gaza in the past, targeting Hamas fighters and infrastructure. But Hamas was left in power in Gaza to rearm and plot its murderous assault on innocents this month. Israel now says its goal is to destroy Hamas, and doing so will save as many Palestinian lives in the future as it will Israelis.
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