The much-awaited retaliation from Israel in response to the Iranian attack on its soil came last week and, as expected, was not meant to cause real damage, just as the Iranian one was not meant to take it up a notch either. But bear in mind that this exchange is still dangerous and can lead to dire miscalculations, especially since, according to Israeli officials, the original plan was to strike Teheran. Nevertheless, a full-blown war (a classic one anyway) between Iran and Israel at this point, and in the near future, is unlikely – and even if the hostilities continue, or escalate, it might not be something the world is used to since exchanges would be only by airstrikes and other means of hitting each other from afar.
What we have unfortunately predicted in our last post has come to pass – the whole affair has indeed taken the attention from what is happening in the Gaza Strip and, the whole world is more concerned by the escalation between Israel and Iran. As a first, the head of the Israeli military intelligence has stepped down and resigned from his office for the failure to predict and stop Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Nevertheless, the war continues and the IDF conducted a raid in West Bank, more specifically in Nour Shams Refugee Camp in Tulkarm, which prompted several militias to call for mobilization of the Palestinians across the region. During the operation which spanned over the course of multiple days, the IDF reportedly eliminated 14 fighters and arrested 15 other wanted individuals.
The UNRWA report from the 16th of April brings forward a detailed picture from a humanitarian point of view. The agency has reported 349 armed conflict incidents since the start of the war up to March 15, which have disrupted aid, services and have caused civilian casualties at an unprecedented scale, according to them. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees is also claiming that it has yet to be presented with any evidence by Israel that some of its employees would be members of terrorist organizations.
After Israel’s withdrawal from Khan Younis, more exactly from the Nasser Hospital Complex area, it is reported that mass graves have been discovered, according to Gaza Civil Defense. The causes of death were not yet known and could not be independently verified by news agencies. Nevertheless, this might put yet another dent into Israel’s reputation either way since the truth, which comes after thorough investigations, might come too late and would do little to disperse the doubts from the eyes of the citizens of the world.
This information has prompted, yet again, many voices to ask for at least a ceasefire, if not an end to the war altogether, but, if the experience accumulated from this present war, and the past ones, has taught us anything so far, is that at least for the moment, chances for such a thing to happen remain low.
Civilian suffering continues to be a major issue, according to the EU’s High Representative, Josep Borrell, alongside the aforementioned ceasefire and the release of hostages. It is a deadlock indeed, with little chance of stopping or evolving into a positive direction, bar outside interference or a major incident happening which might prompt either side to give in to at least some concessions.