Israeli-Gaza Conflict: A War Waged From Different View Points

by Benson Agoha

It is often said that he who wears the shoes, knows where it pinches. The current conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is just one true reflection of that statement.

* An injured IDF soldier is evacuated on July 28, 2014.
Photo Credit: Times of Israel

Ask any two individuals on the street and you will be amazed at what you are told is the underlying reason behind the current conflict, which as the latest figures show, has claimed 1,115 Palestinians and 53 Israelis, with immediate hope of a quick end in sight.

Different groups are fighting for apparently different reasons. 

So even if one side decides to abide by the directives of the United Nations, another will refuse and the fight will continue.

The latest escalation on Monday 28 July is an example.

While Hamas had expressed interest in joining one of several peace talks being initiated, another group's mistake is threatening to became the setback.

On Monday, an explosion (an apparent error) at northern Gaza’s Shati refugee camp on Monday, was thought to have been the handwork of the IDF. And this, according the Times of Israel, could easily become the incident that changes the face of the latest.

Avi Issacharoff, ToI's Middle East analyst said the incident might have been an apparent misfire of a rocket, from the Islamic Jihad. But it prompted a series of fatal attacks on Israeli targets later that day - and subsequently left numerous Israeli army casualties. Ten soldiers were reportedly killed that day.

For the third time since the conflict started, hopes for a ceasefire have been dashed after calls were ignored by both Hamas and Israel.

Still Israel has not ordered a full-scale ground offensive into Gaza. Instead, PM Benjamin Netanyahu is waging a selective war, reportedly aimed at destroying tunnels dug and being used by terrorists to infiltrate Israeli territory.

* Trucks carrying humanitarian aid wait to enter Gaza Street.
 Photo Credit: the algemeiner.

Hamas say calls for a ceasefire will only be adherred to if and when blockades of aid supply routes to Gaza are removed.

As usual, the Israelis are determined to assert their right to defend themselves.

Thankfully, no one disagrees. Nor does anyone disagree that supply routes to Gaza needs to be opened.

Yet according to the IDF, when Israel briefly halted operations to allows emergency services to get through to victims of the war, Hamas reportedly refused to let them in.

Where Hamas is not clogging up aid supply routes, other interested parties have. Two weeks ago, Dave Bender, author of New York based Jewish newspaper, "the algemeiner", reported the blockade of aid supply routes by a lone Israeli Truck Driver, who chose to take matters in his own hands, due to "near-incessant Hamas rocket fire into Israel." The action made access to Gaza's coastal enclave easier.

Until that time, according to Bender, Israel’s Civil Authority (COGAT) had continued to allow hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid in, in order to alleviate daily conditions for the strip’s 1.6 million residents.

Even for residents of the Gaza strip, it is bad news because any full-scale ground offensive into Gaza means more suffering and potentially more deaths.

And as the Israeli PM recently warned, if the campaign becomes prolonged and Operation Protective Edge drags on, it will be more bad news for a territory that is already reeling in conflict.

Online campaigns for a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution have attempted to put pressure on politicians to do something.

And while the United Nations and US have called for an immediate ceasefire, if the actors in the conflict are not willing to listen to politicians, from where will help come?