(Telegraph-UK) Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp - The IDF has been ratcheting up pressure on Hamas in Gaza City, pretty much Hamas's last major stronghold. Israel has already warned the civilians there to move to designated safer areas. On Friday, Hamas issued a specific order threatening civilians who leave. They are intent on sacrificing their own population to bring international pressure on Israel to halt its offensive. Egypt is abetting Hamas by refusing to open its borders to give civilians temporary refuge. Most desperately want to find safety in Sinai and on recent visits to Gaza almost every one of the 100 or so Gazans I met told me exactly that. In virtually every other conflict around the world, neighboring states open their borders. During the Syrian civil war, Arab countries and Turkey took in millions fleeing the fighting. Meanwhile, the IDF has been making immense efforts to ship thousands of tents and other supplies into southern Gaza, as well as beefing up the joint U.S.-Israeli humanitarian aid distribution operation. The IDF has a more sophisticated system for mitigating civilian harm than any other armed forces in the world, developed over many years of fighting enemies that actually want to maximize the deaths of their own civilians. This offensive is not a matter of choice for Jerusalem but a tragic necessity. No country that wanted to survive could take any other path. The writer, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, was chairman of the UK's national crisis management committee, COBRA.
2025-09-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive