Gaza delenda est

 The desire for overkill, revenge masquerading as defence, is not new. The Roman empire obliterated Carthage prompted by the orator Cato who would drag the exhortation Ceterum (autem) censeo Carthaginem esse delendam ("Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed"), often abbreviated to Carthago delenda est or delenda est Carthago ("Carthage must be destroyed"), into all his speeches. One hears similar sentiments from extremists in the Knesset today.

Benjamin Netanyahu has frequently stated that Hamas will be destroyed as ISIS (Daesh) was in Syria. This always seemed problematic as it is clear that Daesh is still operating, in parts of Africa for instance. Confirmation came from Patrick Cockburn last Saturday:

During the siege of Raqqa by the US-led coalition, the then US defence secretary James Matttis promised a "war of annihilation" against IS, but it turned out that the ones who got annihilated were the civilian population which numbered about 300,000. I was in Raqqa soon after it had been captured and 80 per cent of the city was in ruins. American artillery fired 30,000 shells and its aircraft dropped 10,000 bombs into its close-packed housing. Nobody knew how many died or were buried under the rubble. 

Anyone wanting to find out more about the calamity facing the 2.1 million people in Gaza, who have no means of escape should read a report by Amnesty International called "War of Annihilation: Devastating Toll on Civilians, Raqqa - Syria" that details how "from 6 June to 17 October 2017, the US-led Coalition operation to oust IS from its so-called 'capital' Raqqa killed and injured thousands of  civilians and destroyed much of the city. Homes, private and public buildings and infrastructure were reduced to rubble or damaged beyond repair."

A final telling twist to the story of the siege of Raqqa helps put in perspective the Israeli claim that mass bombing is an unfortunate necessity in order to defeat Hamas. In Raqqa, the bombardment killed great  numbers, but not enough IS fighters to break their resistance. Instead, a deal was done between IS and the US-led coalition along with their mostly Kurdish allies whereby the IS fighters were bussed out of the city to territory they still controlled further south while civilians were left behind in the wreckage of their city.