Hamas must also be held to account after guns fall silent in Gaza

They urge Palestinians and Arabs to reconcile with the grim reality that the fight against 'terrorism' necessitates the acceptance of a heavy death toll, aka the dreaded "collateral damage".

Heavy indeed. 27,000 dead in less than four months? That's a hell of a lot of damage.

Hamas's responsibilities

To truly uphold the value of human life, we must scrutinise the actions and positions of those leading the Palestinian cause, particularly as their reckless decisions have exposed so many innocent people to Israeli harm.

Go over all the interviews with Hamas officials, and you will see that not one has shown genuine concern over the high casualty numbers in Gaza. Instead, they distanced themselves from the responsibility of civilian protection.

Hamas has no right to endanger the lives of Palestinians according to its wishes and whims.

Comparisons to conflicts like those in Vietnam and Algeria — where significant sacrifices were made for independence or freedom — are flawed.

In these two wars, the objective was to oust a foreign occupier and defeat its local collaborators. This is fundamentally different from the reality of Gaza and the broader Palestinian scenario, where internal division impedes a unified approach to their cause.

The Palestine conflict is unlike any other.

Divisions don't help

The deep rift between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) on one hand, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad on the other, thwarts any effort to forge a national identity or a national cause.

Three decades of deep divisions between Fatah and Hamas have considerably weakened the Palestinian cause and stymied the search for alternative political strategies to reclaim Palestinian rights.

Pointing out the brutality and disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians by Israel is important. But, it is also crucial to hold Palestinian leaders — who have escalated the situation and contributed to the suffering in Gaza — to account.

The impact of war on Palestinians — death, displacement, humiliation, illness — must be acknowledged and felt, first and foremost. To govern the Palestinian people, this should be a prerequisite.

Looming questions 

From the tragedy of each Palestinian life lost, pressing questions emerge, not least whether the outcome of this latest and most horrendous of wars would or could ever justify the loss of life.

When it's over, who will point to the rubble and destruction, the crushed schools and clinics, community centres and factories, homes and hospitals, with displaced millions facing a breakdown in law and order in the tattered fragments of life, and say: "There, you're better off now."

Israeli leaders must be held accountable for their crimes, but Palestinians must also be held accountable for the consequences of their actions.