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PARIS — The video is unbearable to watch. An anonymous person in Gaza was filming a moment of relative calm: children playing soccer in a schoolyard, just like anywhere else in the world. Suddenly, an explosion, chaos, victims, screams and horror: an Israeli missile hit the entrance of Al-Awda School, east of the vast refugee city of Khan Younis.
The toll was heavy, with at least 27 dead and injured in these overcrowded neighborhoods of people who have been displaced from other districts of Gaza.
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Two days ago, we were focused on the bombing of Kyiv’s largest children’s hospital by a Russian missile. I asked how military personnel could target children. I must ask the same question today in a different context: that of the war that the Israeli army has been waging for nine months in Gaza , following the massacre committed by Hamas in southern Israel.
The Israeli military command claims that the missile fired from a plane was aimed at a Hamas fighter and that it would open an investigation to find out why there were civilian casualties. After nine months of relentless bombing that has killed tens of thousands, including thousands of children, destroyed cities and provoked famine, these explanations have been used too often to be convincing.
Elusive victory
This war is the longest in Israel’s more than seven decades of statehood, which have not been short on conflict. Since Oct. 7, the Israeli state has led a war officially aimed at eliminating Hamas in its stronghold of Gaza, home to more than 2 million Palestinians.
The images of young boys being bombed while playing soccer are right in front of us.
Victorious statements report thousands of Hamas fighters killed and tunnels destroyed. But victory always seems out of reach, as the objective of eliminating Hamas seems unattainable even by senior Israeli officers.
The most wanted man in Gaza, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, is not only untraceable, but he is even said to be continuing to steer the negotiations that regularly raise hopes of a ceasefire. Meanwhile, civilians, especially children, are paying the highest price while the rest of the world looks away.
The war drags on
Israel is keeping two irons in the fire: the head of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, was in Doha on Wednesday with the head of the CIA and envoys from Qatar and Egypt to discuss a possible ceasefire allowing the release of hostages and humanitarian aid. But the negotiation always stalls on the final details.
At the same time, Israel dropped leaflets in Arabic over Gaza City, in the center of the territory, to encourage the population to move south before a large-scale military operation. Tossed around for nine months by Israeli offensives, exhausted residents have taken up the path of internal exile once more.
Thus, the war drags on, in a deleterious political context within Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tied his fate to a virulent far-right; and in an international crisis context that allows no decisive collective action. The images of young boys being bombed while playing soccer are right in front of us, but the world looks away.
