The US must do more to stop the war – and the imminent invasion of Rafah

Editorial: Joe Biden’s phone call to Benjamin Netanyahu may have prevented famine from taking hold on a biblical scale in Gaza – but without a ceasefire, and in the face of continued US sales of weapons to Israel, the White House must brace itself for the prospect of renewed bloodshed on a new front next week

Benjamin Netanyahu cannot be allowed to do whatever he likes in Rafah after Ramadan ends next week (Reuters)

The explanations thus far offered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for the fatal drone attack that killed seven international aid workers are, to say the least, unsatisfactory. Absent the possibility that the aid workers were targeted simply because they were providing aid – which would be unthinkable, even for the wilder elements of the Israeli military – of course the incident was “a grave mistake” and a case of “mistaken identity”.

The IDF thought, apparently, that the occupants of the three vehicles were Hamas terrorists – but we are still none the wiser as to why such an assumption was made about travellers in a deconflicted zone.

Nor does that account for how, precisely, it came to happen – or who, exactly, was responsible. Thus far, two officers have been dismissed over the strikes, for alleged mishandling of critical information and violations of the army’s rules of engagement, though it is unclear at this time whether that will be the extent of their punishment. Perhaps this will become known in due course, as part of the “transparent” process.

However, the unlawful deaths of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) personnel, and the patchy description of the circumstances given by the Israeli authorities, do confirm our worst suspicions about how reckless and indiscriminate the IDF can be – and this is far from the first case of its kind to have emerged.

It gives cause for significant doubt regarding the constant protestations of Israeli media spokespeople that Israel’s military conscientiously follows international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions. More than 220 aid workers have perished in this conflict; are we to believe that all were victims of misidentification? Or are the bombers and drone operators not as careful as they should be? Is the recklessness of the IDF systemic or exceptional?

However pristine the IDF’s protocols and rules of engagement may be, they are worthless if there is a tacitly permitted violent culture wherein the lives of Palestinians count for little and every civilian is regarded as a terrorist, actual or potential. “Israel is at war, and in war such things happen” is the usual excuse – and it’s disingenuous.

The irony of that approach is, of course, that it converts merely hostile and persecuted civilians into supporters of, and fighters for, Hamas. In any case, the deaths of (according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza) more than 33,000 Palestinians, many of them children, along with the imminent famine and the reduction of Gaza to a lunar landscape of dust and rubble, constitute the more obvious evidence that the Israelis have a case to answer about the use of disproportionate force in response to the massacres and hostage-taking that took place last October.

Indeed, a charge of genocide is currently being pursued against the state of Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and Israel is in breach of multiple UN resolutions and ICJ injunctions. As has been said many times, in responding to the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on 7 October, Israel had the right to defend itself. It did not have the right to do whatever the hell it wanted.

Will Benjamin Netanyahu be allowed to do whatever the hell he wants in Rafah when the time comes for the ground invasion, probably after the conclusion of Ramadan next week? The outlook is worrying.

The one power that can restrain the Israeli government (which is growing ever more unpopular domestically) is the United States – and, in his half-hour call with Mr Netanyahu, Joe Biden reportedly made his feelings clear, and issued some stark warnings. As a result, there may now be the prospect of a radical change in the quantity of aid that will soon flow into Gaza.

It is worth mentioning that if aid had already been flowing reasonably freely into Gaza through the usual land routes, the WCK workers wouldn’t have lost their lives a few days ago – and indeed, many more innocent Palestinians would not have starved to death, or been close to it. It certainly gives the lie to another aspect of Israel’s official briefings, which are always fairly incredible: that it had not been restricting the amount of aid coming into Gaza.

At any rate, it is likely that President Biden has prevented famine from taking hold on a biblical scale; as late as such news is in coming, the world should be relieved about that.

What is far less clear is whether the president has succeeded in stopping the war, and in particular the planned assault on Rafah announced by Mr Netanyahu a few days ago. Mr Biden seems to have settled for the usual formula of allowing the Israelis to go ahead, using vast quantities of US-supplied munitions, providing that they protect civilians as far as possible. It does not yet seem to have been acknowledged by the White House that any ground and air operation in Rafah will necessarily entail yet more thousands of civilian deaths.

There is no such thing in such a crowded place as Rafah, with its tented settlements, as a “safe” invasion. The Americans have helped to ensure that some of its inhabitants will be given water and bread in the coming days, but these people will still be bombed to death. The only way to protect them is to stop the war. Now.