You Don’t Defeat Terrorism by Starving Children

Few would deny Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas—a designated terrorist organization responsible for heinous attacks on civilians. But what Israel is currently doing in Gaza is not defense. It is devastation. It is not a strategic military campaign. It is a humanitarian disaster. And it is not weakening Hamas—it is entrenching it.

The war in Gaza has now entered a phase that cannot be justified by security imperatives alone. For eight consecutive weeks, Israel has enforced a near-total blockade on humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. This comes on the heels of months of bombardment that has decimated civilian infrastructure—hospitals, water facilities, schools—and displaced over 1.7 million people. According to the World Health Organization, food prices have surged by over 1,400% since the end of the last ceasefire. Starvation has become a daily reality for countless families. Charity kitchens are overwhelmed. Children wait for hours with empty bowls while convoys of aid are blocked at the border.

Using starvation as a weapon is a war crime. So is the targeting of civilian infrastructure. These are not gray zones in international law—they are bright red lines that Israel has crossed repeatedly in this campaign. The justification that such measures are necessary to defeat Hamas is not just morally hollow—it is strategically flawed.

The Israeli government has argued that overwhelming force is essential to destroy Hamas’s capacity to wage war. Yet Hamas’s core leadership and infrastructure remain largely intact. What has been destroyed instead are neighborhoods, hospitals, and the last remnants of Gaza’s civilian governance. Military experts, including many in Israel, acknowledge that this approach is unlikely to eliminate Hamas. What it will do, however, is ensure the next generation of extremists—radicalized not by ideology, but by trauma, starvation, and the rubble that was once their homes.

Perhaps most damning is the recent internal investigation by the Israel Defense Forces, which found that soldiers who executed 15 Palestinian first responders on March 23, buried them in a mass grave, and destroyed their ambulances had not violated the military’s code of ethics. If this is the standard to which the IDF holds itself, then the claim of being “the most moral army in the world” rings painfully hollow.

This is not how you dismantle a terrorist organization. If the objective were truly to defeat Hamas, the operation would focus on intelligence-led strikes, ground operations targeting leadership, and dismantling the group’s financial and logistical networks. Instead, Israel is exacting collective punishment on 2 million civilians—turning an anti-terror campaign into a slow-motion humanitarian catastrophe.

What makes this even more tragic is that there is a genuine opportunity for peace and cooperation in the region. Across the Middle East, there is growing fatigue with war, extremism, and foreign interference. Syria, once a pariah, is now being considered as a potential partner in confronting Iranian-backed militancy. In Lebanon, there are signs of political momentum toward disarming Hezbollah. The Arab League has issued strong calls for peace and regional cooperation.

Rather than seizing this opportunity, Israel is choosing to escalate, occupy, and fragment. This is a historic miscalculation.

There is still time to change course.

Israel can reclaim moral and strategic credibility by ending the blockade, allowing unfettered humanitarian access, and adhering to the Geneva Conventions. It can choose targeted counterterrorism over indiscriminate bombardment. It can choose diplomacy over siege warfare. Most importantly, it can choose to treat Palestinian lives as human lives—not collateral damage.

Peace will not be achieved through domination. It will be won through legitimacy, restraint, and cooperation with neighbors who share the desire for a stable, secure, and extremist-free region.

The choice before Israel is stark: pursue justice, or deepen devastation. History will not forget what you choose.