An explosion at a Gaza hospital this week has further inflamed the region, turning a conflict of already mind-numbing brutality into a high-stakes race to avoid a much wider conflagration.
At 6.59pm local time on Tuesday, an explosive detonation ripped through the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. The blast killed between 300 and 500 of the Palestinians sheltering or being treated there, but the shockwaves rippled out across the world.
Palestinian women walk by buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.With each day that passes, the stakes get higher and the drumbeat of war gets louder. On Friday, the US Navy intercepted three cruise missiles and several drones heading north along the Red Sea and the Israeli government gave the green light for a ground invasion of Gaza.
Some 360,000 Israeli reservists, in a country of just 9.4 million people, have been called up. Armour is massed on the border of Gaza. Air strikes are pounding the 365 square kilometre strip, and almost 3800 Palestinians have already died. Iran has issued daily warnings of “pre-emption” and of the conflict’s “probable” or even “unavoidable” spread “to other fronts”.
“I came to protest here because America is supporting Israel,” a Palestinian demonstrator in Beirut told the al-Jazeera news network. “We are here for yesterday , but also for the years before,” said another. “We have to break off from the old Gaza tit-for-tat. … It is going to take longer, and it’s going to look totally different,” he said.
”. The hostages will be in peril – and their loss would in turn imperil Netanyahu’s position as prime minister. Israeli military casualties could be high, and Palestinian civilian deaths will be even higher.If there is a Gaza invasion, Hezbollah could attack in the north. The sheer quantity of rockets it has, if launched en masse, could potentially puncture Israel’s Iron Dome missile shield. There could be more Israeli deaths, and its military forces would be fighting on two fronts.
It’s also backed by Russia, whose emerging “alignment” with Iran is “a significant development in the context of great power competition”, according to Manuel Trajtenberg, director of the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel.the fresh crisis represents “a reconfiguring of the Middle East as part of that much wider global geopolitical strategy”.The US will be in a bind. Biden has to support Israel, even during a potentially brutal and law-breaking plunge into Gaza.
“That is the perception in the region – in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt, but most importantly in Iran. They may be slightly wrong but they aren’t completely wrong.”
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Gaza is in the middle of an 'unprecedented human catastrophe' as the Israel-Gaza war continuesWhile Israel continues to bombard Gaza with the fiercest strikes the small enclave has seen, residents are becoming desperate as water runs out, garbage piles up, air strikes flatten homes and hospitals near collapse. Here are the latest developments on the ground in Gaza.
Read more »
Israel-Gaza war: Joe Biden arrives in Israel as Middle East tensions soarUS President Joe Biden landed in Israel on Wednesday night (AEDT) amid rapidly worsening regional tensions sparked by a massive attack on a hospital in Gaza.
Read more »
Joe Biden lands in Israel as Middle East turmoil grows following hospital explosion in GazaPresident Joe Biden touched down in Israel on Wednesday for a diplomatic scramble to prevent the war with Hamas from spiralling into an even larger conflict.
Read more »
Israel-Gaza war live updates: Israeli defence chief says troops will soon see Gaza 'from inside'Israeli's Defence Minister tells troops gathered at the Gaza border they would soon see the Palestinian enclave 'from inside', suggesting an expected ground invasion could be nearing. Follow live.
Read more »
Israel-Gaza war live updates: Doctor describes 'pandemonium' after Gaza hospital blastA surgeon has described the moment a deadly blast happened at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. Follow live.
Read more »
Israel-Hamas conflict updates LIVE: Joe Biden privately gives Israel green light for Gaza invasionUS President Joe Biden is reportedly supportive of Israel’s expected ground invasion; Hamas open to releasing hostages if ceasefire granted; Israel will let Egypt deliver some aid to Gaza. Follow updates here.
Read more »