Israel drives deeper into Gaza

What happened

Israel intensified its offensive against Hamas this week, sending ground troops into densely populated Gaza neighborhoods at night while bombarding Hamas targets by air, land, and sea. The Israel Defense Forces said it had unleashed 2,300 airstrikes since fighting began, Dec. 27. Palestinian and United Nations sources said nearly 1,000 Palestinians, many of them civilians, had been killed and 90,000 displaced. Israel said it had killed a “few hundred” of Hamas’ estimated 15,000 fighters and destroyed dozens of Hamas government buildings, military installations, and tunnels used for smuggling arms. Hamas rocket fire into southern Israel continued, but at a diminished pace.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Egypt to bolster cease-fire discussions, with officials expressing confidence that a temporary truce could be reached. Israel has demanded that Hamas end rocket fire into Israel and stop bringing weapons into Gaza. “Anything else will be met with the Israeli people’s iron fist,” said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Hamas, which is backed by Iran with leadership in both Gaza and Damascus, Syria, said it would observe a cease-fire only if Israel withdrew from Gaza and reopened Gaza’s border with Egypt.

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What the editorials said

Everyone wants to know what goal Israel is pursuing, said The Economist. It’s not to destroy Hamas, but to deliver a painful lesson about the price of attacking Israeli civilians. Over decades of surviving in the midst of hostile nations, Israel has learned that it must respond to all provocations “and to inflict enough death and destruction so that foes think twice about attacking.” In 2006, Israel punished Hezbollah for its rocket attacks by bombing and invading Lebanon. Notably, Hezbollah has failed to aid Hamas this time around. Deterrence works—“for now.”

But at what price? said The Washington Post. “Hamas revels in the Palestinian suffering its terrorism has triggered,” using the casualties to create a “propaganda windfall.” The United Nations, European nations, and, of course, Arab nations in the Mideast are all portraying Israel as the heartless villain in this piece. “Israel’s best option remains a deal with Egypt” to police the border with Gaza and stop the flow of smuggled arms and rockets. The costs of this war have grown too high.

What the columnists said

In the long-term, the costs will be even higher, said Roger Cohen at NYTimes.com. Every Palestinian that Israel kills or maims or shames has relatives, “some of whom may one day strap on suicide belts.” Yes, Israel has a right to defend itself, but not to bomb a crowded strip of land housing 1.5 million people into rubble. “I have never previously felt so despondent about Israel, so shamed by its actions, so despairing of any peace.”

A temporary peace achieves nothing, said Charles Krauthammer in The Washington Post. If Hamas agrees to a truce, it will be able to strike at Tel Aviv itself with new, improved rockets in about two years. But if Israel doesn’t “cave” to pressure, its military can destroy Hamas now, allowing the more moderate Palestinian Authority, which rules the West Bank, to take over Gaza. Israel must “complete the real mission of this war.”

What you’re suggesting is “madness,” said James Carroll in The Boston Globe. In recent weeks, Hamas rockets have fallen just 20 miles from Israel’s secret nuclear weapons facility in the Negev Desert. At some point in the near future, Israel’s enemies will be able to target that nuclear arsenal, “with a massive escalation of psychological and political tensions.” Iran is developing its own nuclear arsenal, which will encourage Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and others to seek their own nukes. Only peace can ensure Israel’s survival.

What next?

Battered Hamas leaders inside Gaza might be ready for a cease-fire. “They don’t want to continue the confrontation,” an Egyptian official told The New York Times. “But politically, they have been totally taken over by their sponsors” in Syria and Iran, who called on Hamas to continue to resist. Meanwhile, Israel was racing to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas’ weapons caches, headquarters, tunnel network, and leadership before calling an end to the offensive. “We have achieved a lot,” said Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, “but there is still work ahead.”