This Has to Stop Now

There are clear terms for a ceasefire that only one power can deliver.

Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Yesterday, an airstrike or perhaps a misfired rocket struck a hospital in the Gaza strip, killing hundreds of civilians who were sheltering there after being forced out of their homes by Israeli bombs. That sentence is absolute mush because I have no idea what happened. The IDF claims that the blast was caused by a misfired Palestinian rocket, fired by either Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad; Hamas claims that the strike was an Israeli airstrike. There is some early forensic evidence that seems to support the claim that the disaster was an errant missile, but all parties making that claim, including the United States, are notorious for bombing the shit out of things and then lying about it. The hospital in question, al-Ahli Baptist hospital, is one of several facilities Israel ordered Gazans to evacuate before their bombing campaign. It is a mess. Both sides are more than willing to lie to further their own aims, both sides are lobbing explosive material at each other indiscriminately with little regard for civilian life. Only one side, however, has the power to almost unilaterally end the loss of human life in a matter of hours. Only one side is withholding aid and power and water and other critical services from the other. Only one side is using its massive, overwhelming military advantage and the full support of the West to punish, punish, punish millions of people who had absolutely nothing to do with the losses it sustained. This has to stop, now. Israel has the power to stop it.