The possibility of the Israel-Palestine war turning into a wider conflict with other countries getting involved looms large as the Israeli military urges more than a million people in Gaza to leave their homes in preparation for a ground assault.
More than 3,000 people have died since Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel and killed hundreds of people in a surprise and well-coordinated assault on Saturday.
Hamas also took away about 150 hostages as they withdrew from Israeli territory.
In retaliation, Israeli forces have carried out relentless air bombing on Gaza and killed thousands of people as several neighbourhoods were destroyed.
The Israeli military is now considering going into the Gaza Strip for a ground operation on militants’ hideouts and to free the hostages.
The United Nations (UN) has warned against relocating such a large number of people, involving nearly half the population of the 2.3 million people in Gaza.
UN reports said that already 400,000 people have fled from their homes because of the constant assault by the Israeli air force.
Attempts to force more people from the area may turn the ongoing tragedy into a catastrophe, the UN added.
The two outlets of the Gaza Strip that open into Israel and Egypt have both been blocked, preventing food, medicine, and other supplies from coming into Gaza.
For days, there have been power cuts, and hospitals are running out of oxygen, which is essential to keeping critically ill people alive.
Israel has brushed off appeals from international aid agencies and maintained that the siege will continue until Hamas releases the hostages.
Hamas, which has been in control of the Gaza Strip since 2007, has asked people to stay in their homes and ignore Israel’s order, which is aimed at breaking the unity of the Palestinians.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, who has been under mounting pressure from the Israeli populace since Saturday’s attack, vowed to crush Hamas.
However, his tough stand is now threatening to spread the war to other parts of the region, with the possibility of drawing in other countries in a devastating conflict with Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said new fronts against Israel could open if it continues the assault on Gaza.
He told Beirut-based Al Mayadeen Channel as he arrived in the city on October 13, “Muslim countries and people will not accept the continued violations against the Palestinian people.”
The news was also carried by Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, indicating that Tehran was serious about the warning.
Tough choice for Netanyahu
Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister of Israel, is facing the worst crisis of his political life.
He was already under pressure before the attack, as he faced countrywide protests for months when he attempted to bring about a controversial judicial reform.
Netanyahu was also under attack for forming a government with the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history.
The Israeli Prime Minister has, in recent years, refused all suggestions for peace talks with the Palestinians.
Instead, he has given in to the demands of his coalition partners on legitimising the settlement on encroached Palestinian land.
His decision to deploy troops in the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex to regulate and restrict the entry of Muslim worshippers has been a major contributor to the growing resentment in the larger Islamic world.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is regarded as the third most important religious site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.
But Saturday’s attack by Hamas, the worst assault in Israel’s history since the 1973 Yom Kippur war, has been widely seen as the failure of the Israeli security and intelligence establishment.
It has also been humiliating as the rag-tag army of Hamas managed to break the myth about Israel’s invincibility.
For Netanyahu’s carefully crafted image of a tough and uncompromising leader, the emerging scenario has posed a big challenge.
At present, a national unity government has been formed, and his political opponents have also been brought in to help tackle the emergency situation.
But once the dust settles and if the action against Hamas does not meet the expectations of the Israeli people, especially the hardliners, then it could jeopardise his political survival.
In such an event, the pending corruption cases against him could be revived since he will no longer enjoy the immunity of the Prime Minister’s office against prosecution.
US Secretary of State Blinken and US Defense Secretary Llyod Austin have both visited Israel, and Netanyahu has been given a shipment of weapons and the go-ahead to carry out his military plan against Hamas.
But Israel faces a huge military dilemma.
The Gaza Strip is only 41 km long and between 6 and 12 km wide. More than 2.3 million people have been holed up in this narrow, impoverished coastal enclave for years.
A ground assault against Hamas could lead to house-to-house fighting, large numbers of casualties among innocent Palestinians, and endanger the lives of the hostages.
If there is large-scale killing, it could even draw Iran, Hezbollah, and other forces into the conflict and open new fronts for Israel while widening the war to other parts of the region.
The resultant adverse impact of this could affect the oil supply from the Gulf and lead to further inflation around the world.
India has already begun ‘Operation Ajay’ to get the 18,000 Indians in Israel to a safe and secure place.
If the conflict widens, it will have to think of the welfare of nine million Indians living and working in the Gulf countries.
The coming days are bound to give some very anxious moments to the leadership in India and those in other countries.
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