The horrors in Gaza will only get worse

The grim horror in Israel and Gaza is about to get worse. The terrorist attacks by Hamas that killed a reported 1,400 Israelis, wounded over 3,500 more, and kidnapped nearly 200

- Jesse Jackson

The victims were largely civilians, including many children. The Netanyahu government has responded with a “complete siege” of Gaza, plus massive bombing that has killed a reported 2,778 Palestinians and wounded 9,700, overwhelmingly civilians, including many women and children. Now, the Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, promises that the horror has only just begun.

Israel has demanded that more than a million Gaza residents in northern Gaza evacuate while it amasses forces for a land invasion. Israel cut off food, water, and electricity to Gaza, though they have since restored the water supply to southern Gaza.

The Gaza residents who flee in panic have no place to go. Israel is one border. Egypt refuses to take them. The sea is a third border. If Israel launches the promised invasion, many of its soldiers and Hamas fighters will be killed or wounded. But far more civilians – the elderly, women, and children who have nothing to do with Hamas – will lose lives and limbs under the rain of bombs and bullets unleashed. The laws of war – already ignored – will be trampled.

Just as the Hamas terrorism that targeted civilians violates the laws of war, so too does the siege and expulsion in Gaza. Israel demands that those who live in northern Gaza evacuate. Those who are left will too easily be categorized as Hamas members or sympathizers that Israel has promised to erase. Then Israel will likely tell the Gazans huddled in the south to return north, and the south will be “cleansed.” The fighting will be fierce – and civilians will suffer the most.