Content warning: The following article contains mentions of war and death.

If any hope has been wasted during this conflict, it is unquestionably due to our faith in the possibility of a peaceful resolution to the war in Israel. So many glaring questions have yet to be answered and people continue to be slaughtered every day. How are we to reconcile with the cost on both sides? This is a broad question but an important one. With that in mind, we should also focus our attention on what could come of this war if solutions are not achieved quickly.

Speculations of World War III are on the horizon and for good reason. Professor Kiron Skinner describes this war as too “multifaceted” to not be concerned about a larger conflict in the region. Lurking north of Israel is the threat of Hezbollah, based in Lebanon and Syria. Farther east lies the contentious government of Iran which doesn’t recognize Israel as a state (along with various other countries in the broader Middle East). These relations must be kept in mind when considering a likely ground invasion of Gaza by Israel.

Even New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman, who, in my view, gives a sympathetic account of Israel’s struggle advises that Israel tread lightly. He writes, “I believe that if Israel rushes headlong into Gaza now to destroy Hamas — and does so without expressing a clear commitment to seek a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority and end Jewish settlements deep in the West Bank — it will be making a grave mistake that will be devastating for Israeli interests and American interests.”

The problem with a ground invasion is that it will come at the continued cost of innocent Palestinian lives. Israel has dropped leaflets over the Gaza Strip warning people that if they do not leave, they will be counted as a terrorist. In what world is this considering the humanity of the Palestinian people? Where are they supposed to go? Moreover, other Arab states could possibly use this as a justification to intervene, thereby manifesting the repercussions that Friedman stated above.

This should concern us all. In more ways than one, a larger war stemming from the Israel-Palestine conflict has the potential to be more consequential than the most recent Iraq war. This is not a guarantee, however, we have yet to see how destructive the world forces can be in the technological age. Ever since those fateful days in August of 1945, the world has been collectively building an arsenal for moments like these. A scary but necessary thought.

So what can we do? As a country, we need to stop defending an Israeli state that aims at the destruction of the Palestinian people. According to the U.N., over 5,000 Palestinians have died, many of them children since the brutal attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. In addition, “nearly 600,000 internally displaced are sheltering in 150 UNRWA facilities overall with nearly 420,000 in 93 of the agency’s shelters in Middle, Khan Younis and Rafah areas, further to the south – that’s an increase of around 14,000 civilians in the past 24 hours.”

It is widely admitted amongst the international community that Israel is committing war crimes, just as they are accusing Hamas of doing. The statistics listed above represent a clear case of collective punishment. There may be cases of Hamas dwelling with citizens and using them as human shields, however, even this argument doesn’t justify violating international law. To do so, one would have to prove that every civilian that is killed in Gaza was guarding or shielding Hamas fighters. No legal argument can provide grounds for the ghastly sights of people buried under rubble, children missing their heads and dead babies stiff in their tiny body bags. Sure, the sound of it is vulgar and repulsive, but so is the fact it is happening at all. It is something we should all be aware of when hearing the lousy attempts at ethical justifications of such a hideous occupation.

The plight of the Palestinian people is the plight of humanity. This also holds for those held hostage by a fanatical terrorist group in Hamas. Israel continues to put its own citizens and those who support their aggressive regime on the international stage at risk for attacks seeking revenge. As Friedman stated above, the United States must stand up for what is right. Palestinian deaths number far higher than what Hamas did to Israel, so why does the bombing over Gaza become more aggressive every night? So far, there has been no attention to what is a “proportionate” response.

The world depends on it.