The War Israel never wanted

Operation Protective Edge entered its second week and it is feared that it will become a long and protracted war. Casualties mounted on both sides and on Sunday the UN Security Council called for an immediate end of hostilities. Although this conflict was forced upon Israel by the incessant firing of rockets from Gaza, the world media tend to blame Israel as the aggressor.

The beginning of the ground stage of the operation opened a dangerous phase of the conflict. A labyrinth of tunnels were found by the Israel Defence Forces, some of them booby trapped with explosives. A group of Hamas militants entered Israel through the tunnels on Sunday, but was killed by Israeli forces.

Another complicated matter is the launching of rockets from civilian areas and the storing of weapons and ammunition in schools and hospitals. UNRWA, a United Nations agency in Gaza found missiles in one of their schools during last week. Hamas want as many casualties as possible to extract the sympathy of the world.

Israel on the other hand, does its best to avoid civilian casualties, but due to the densely populated areas in Gaza and the tactics of Hamas, casualties will unfortunately be unavoidable. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) distributes pamphlets to warn civilians to leave an area before executing an attack. They even send text messages to warn people, something unheard of in modern warfare.

Operation Protective Edge stirred up a lot of emotions worldwide and pressure is building on Israel to accept a ceasefire agreement. The fact is Israel accepted a ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt, but it was rejected by Hamas. Israel also accepted a temporary humanitarian cease fire asked by Hamas on Sunday, but was quickly violated by Hamas when they fired rockets on Israeli cities.

It is uncertain when and how this round of fighting with Hamas will end, but it is clear that the terror infrastructure of Hamas has to be destroyed before calm can be restored. It is the duty of any sovereign country to protect its citizens.

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