Recent debates on the Israel-Hamas war have focused on a looming invasion of Rafah at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, where many Palestinian survivors have fled following the total destruction of northern Gaza. Advocates of the Rafah invasion contend that Hamas cannot be eliminated without an invasion and occupation of Rafah. Opponents warn that Israel is already embarking on a genocide and that an invasion of Rafah will only provide cover for additional atrocities against many more civilians.

Straight Arrow News contributor Newt Gingrich argues that the high casualties in Gaza are an unfortunate fact of modern urban warfare in dense population centers, not the result of deliberate genocide. Gingrich indicates that Israel should proceed with its planned operation in Rafah and prioritize the destruction of Hamas. 

The Israeli position has been very clear from day one, that this was finally an event so horrifying that they could never again risk it happening. And they were going to methodically destroy the entire organization, all of the military forces of Hamas and all of their assets. That’s why they’ve been methodically going through what is turning out to be 300 miles of underground, basically the equivalent of the London subway system. That was, by the way, all concrete that was supposed to be going for humanitarian purposes, to build hospitals, churches, public housing, but instead was being stolen by Hamas to build underground tunnels. And the Israelis have been very methodically going after this.

There have been a substantial number of civilian casualties and the reason is simple. Two things, one, anytime you have urban warfare, there are substantial civilian casualties. In fact, the American record in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq is substantially worse than the Israelis. The Israelis have gone to great lengths with modern technology to minimize civilian casualties. But second, Hamas, as a policy, has deliberately put civilians at risk, deliberately hidden behind civilians, and deliberately wanted to increase the number of civilian casualties so they could then arouse worldwide opinion against Israel.

The fact is, violence could stop this evening. Hamas could surrender. They could give up the hostages, they could pledge to never again attack Israel. And yet, every time people talk about any kind of truce, the first principle of Hamas is it has to be temporary, because we reserve the right to resume the war. And remember, Hamas’ position is that not a single Jew will remain. In fact, they produce maps on which Israel does not exist. And it gives you some sense of the depth of their determination.