A child, injured in an Israeli strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, at the al-Quds Hospital, November 5, 2023 (Mahmud Hams/AFP)

UPDATE, NOV 8: EA’s David Dunn and I have chatted again with India’s WION News about Israel’s continuation of its operations in Gaza, including the mass killing of civilians, in its offensive to “destroy” Hamas.

My blunt assessment on Wednesday morning:

Until the Israeli War Cabinet — including Prime Minister Netanyahu — decides it has “destroyed” Hamas or that for some reason they will not carry on, this will go on on for another months, two months, three months, maybe longer.

There is no alternative for us other than watching the killing or mass displacement of the Gazan population.

Watch David Dunn’s Wednesday interview from 2:19:

The Americans have been stating the need for wider diplomacy, a two-state solution, and the need for greater humanitarian awareness of the rules of war.

Those statements have fallen largely on deaf ears in Israel. It shows the limits of American power in constraining Israel in the way it conducts this operation.

UPDATE 1533 GMT:

I spoke further with The Pat Kenny Show on Monday about Israel’s expansion of its bombing and ground offensive.

Whether you call it a “ceasefire” or “humanitarian pause” doesn’t matter — the Israeli leaders have decided that they continue this until all Hamas fighters have left Gaza or they have “de-populated” the area. And we know “de-populated” means the killing of thousands more, maybe tens of thousands more, Gazans in the days and weeks to come.

And a reflection on responsibility and decency:

Whether it is an Israeli official or a Hamas official, the very first words out of his or her mouth should be, “Life for all civilians is sacred. In our religion — be it Islam, Judaism, or Christianity — life for anyone is sacred and the taking of life should only be done under the most extreme conditions.

That should be the first words out of their mouths.

But it won’t be the first words out of their mouths.

ORIGINAL ENTRY, NOV 6: On India’s WION News on Sunday, I discuss the international community’s inability to hold back Israel’s leaders from mass killing of civilians in Gaza.

If, at the end of the day, Benjamin Netanyahu and his War Cabinet are dedicated to “destroying” Hamas, they will unleash the bombing that has killed many thousands of civilians and will launch a ground offensive that will kill many thousands more.

There is almost nothing the international community, including the United Nations, can do to stop those attacks.

With regret, I have to say that — while understanding Israel’s need to defend itself — for Israel to go on the offensive this way considers crimes against humanity: crimes against humanity that Benjamin Netanyahu thinks are justified if it saves his political future and knocks out some, possibly most, of Hamas’s leadership.

See also EA on Dublin NewsTalk: Israel-Gaza — What Does “From the River to the Sea” Mean?

EA on Australia’s ABC and India’s WION: Israel-Gaza — “Civilians and Hostages Are Expendable”