The United States has vetoed one United Nations resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, but President Joe Biden is reportedly proposing a separate ceasefire resolution that would also call on Israel to abandon its plan to crush the remnants of Hamas in the city of Rafah.
He should proceed no further in this. Israel has come too far and made too much progress in the laudable goal of dismantling Hamas to stop now. Before Hamas massacred innocent Israelis on Oct. 7, there were 24 Hamas regional battalions in Gaza. These have been reduced to six, and they are in Rafah. The city must be taken. Hamas must not be allowed to survive.
War is horrific, and this Israel campaign against Hamas in Gaza has been no exception. But as brutal as armed conflict is, Israel has gone to extreme efforts to minimize civilian casualties. It has done a remarkably good job. Hamas claims that 29,000 Gazans have died since Israel began its counterattack following the terrorist invasion. Israel says 12,000 of those deaths are Hamas fighters. If one takes both sides’ numbers as accurate (even though we know Hamas has included deaths that are inflicted by itself or outright false), that would be near a historic low in the ratio of combatants killed to civilians. According to the United Nations, the average rate for wars is about nine noncombatants killed for every one combatant.
Israel’s success in minimizing civilian deaths is all the more impressive when considering that it is Hamas’s goal to maximize them. That is why Hamas fighters hide underground in tunnels and use civilians as human shields. Every civilian death is a public relations victory for Hamas and a setback for Israel. It is only the Israelis who have any incentive to minimize civilian deaths.
One key Israeli tactic is to maintain humanitarian corridors that allow Gazans to flee battle zones. Hamas has used these passageways for its own ends, smuggling soldiers and weapons to fight another day. But Israel has also been patient, pursuing a deliberate and comprehensive plan to displace Hamas from territory where it can burrow into the ground and hide.
Rafah, a city of more than a million people in the south of Gaza on the border with Egypt, is Hamas’s last stronghold. Once Rafah has been taken, Israel can switch to much lower-intensity tactics, including targeted airstrikes and special forces operations. Those who want to minimize civilian casualties in the long run should support, not oppose, Israel’s pacification of Rafah.
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If anything, Biden should pressure Egypt to match Israel’s commitment to protecting civilians. Egypt could provide security to thousands of Gazan refugees every day. But instead of welcoming those fleeing the terror of Hamas, Egypt has built a wall and is keeping them out. This will only make Israel’s job harder.
Biden either supports Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas or he does not. He cannot both claim to support Israel’s war against the terrorists and deny our ally the means to conduct that war. Biden must stare down the pro-Hamas wing of his party and withdraw this United Nations resolution.