At the time of writing, the Israeli offensive in Gaza has claimed over 28,000 deaths, with more than 68,000 individuals injured and 7,000 reported missing. Alarmingly, children and women constitute approximately two-thirds of these casualties.
To put this into perspective, if such a ratio were applied to the United States, it would equate to over 16 million people killed, injured, or missing within less than five months of this devastating conflict initiated by Israel against Gaza.
The campaign appears to be systematically designed to make Gaza uninhabitable. Research centres have estimated that, as of the beginning of last month, Israel had dropped around 65,000 tons of explosives on Gaza.
This staggering amount is equivalent to the potency of over four nuclear bombs similar to those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with each bomb having a yield of 15,000 tons. While Hiroshima covers an area of 900 square kilometres, Gaza is nearly three times smaller.
This relentless assault has specifically targeted infrastructure crucial for the survival of Gaza's residents. The attack has decimated the healthcare sector, destroying hospitals, medical facilities, and ambulances, resulting in the deaths of over 340 healthcare professionals. Hundreds more have been injured or detained.
Currently, around 10,000 cancer patients and 8,000 hepatitis patients face potentially fatal outcomes due to the collapse of healthcare services. Additionally, the lives of 60,000 pregnant women are in jeopardy without adequate medical support.
Most educational institutions and essential services, including water, electricity, and sewage systems, have also been destroyed or damaged.
In an attempt to suppress the dissemination of information, more than 120 journalists have been killed, further cloaking the dire situation from international view.
Residential areas have been levelled, and the basic necessities of life remain out of reach for Gaza's 2.2 million inhabitants, who are now deprived of food, water, fuel, and medicine.
The looming threat of an attack on Rafah, home to over 1.5 million Palestinians in an area of less than 60 square kilometres, places tens of thousands more at risk of death or injury.
Multiple Israeli officials have explicitly articulated that its military's crimes in Gaza serve as a deterrent to all Arab nations, emphasising the consequences that await them should they challenge Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has asserted that failure to achieve dominance in Gaza would render coexistence within the broader Middle East untenable for Israel.
This stance underscores the belief that Israeli supremacy — supported by military might and destructive capabilities — is essential for peaceful coexistence with Arab nations.
Lessons learned
But what have Arab nations gleaned from the brutality and genocidal war perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza?
The chief lesson learned by Arab nations during this conflict is the need to have military capabilities capable of self-defence. Relying on Israel to uphold international law and humanitarian standards in any prospective future conflict would be deemed an uncertain gamble.
Moreover, coexisting with Israel under the prevailing power imbalance poses an existential threat that Arab nations cannot afford to tolerate.
Secondly, the culpability for the perpetuation of the genocidal war in Gaza extends beyond Israel to include the Western powers, notably the United States. If the US were genuinely committed to halting the conflict, it could easily do so.
