The 2023 Gaza war — which began after the sudden attacks of the Hamas on Israelis with its Operation Al-Aqsa Flood — has passed more than a month. According to multiple sources including the BBC, the war has by this time disproportionately led to the death of more than thirteen thousand from both sides, more than 2000 Israelis and 11000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, along with humanitarian catastrophy in Gaza. Even though the warring parties especially Israel have agreed to provide more scope of humanitarian corridors driven by international efforts, there is no indication of ending the fighting soon. Additionally, and importantly, it remains unclear whether the Gaza war will escalate in the entire Middle East in the coming days.
It is notable that several diplomatic tours of the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have probably helped prevent the escalation of the war so far. But anger is growing among Middle East countries. While Iran has been repeatedly threatening Israel with ‘dire consequences’, several other Arab countries including Turkey have been growingly and consistently expressing their anger over continued attacks on civilian targets in Gaza and heavily opposing Israel’s intention to temporarily take control of Gaza after the ongoing war ends, possibly leading to a stronger anti-Israel sentiment than ever. It is consequently difficult to certainly say that the war will not escalate in the entire region and involve other regional parties including Hezbollah, which now exchanges fires with Israel, and Iran, the main patronizer of Hezbollah.
But another vital and pertinent aspect is whether there can be a larger war involving the superpowers including the United States and Russia. Such a possibility is not yet visible. Though the United States has deployed warships near Israel favoring the latter, its aim is probably to reduce the possibility of attacks on Israel by Arab countries and the escalation of the war, along with protecting its military bases in the Arab region. Additionally, Russia — a close and strategic ally of Iran which supports Russia in the Ukraine war — has not yet made any remarkable step toward its military involvement regarding the Gaza war. But a larger regional war can probably and unsurprisingly bring the superpowers to the war favoring their respective sides.
Additionally, the impacts of the war are already disproportionately huge for both Palestine and Israel. The loss Palestine faced driven by the continued bombardments and destructions of residential buildings, hospitals and other civilian infrastructures is unprecedented. Many have lost their homes, earning sources and many others in the war. Though Israel has not lost notable civilian infrastructures and the war has brought several consequences including distancing it from the Arab world. While Bahrain has canceled the Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement, other Arab deals with Israel, which has been improving relations with Arab countries for several years, especially the potential Saudi-Israel deal are at stake. Given that the war continues, both parties will face more consequences, no matter which party wins it.
Any larger war in the Middle East is definitely not desired. It is also not desirable that the Israel-Palestine crisis continues anymore. It is probably clear that keeping the Israel-Palestine crisis will keep the hostile relations between Israel and the Arab countries, lead to further attacks and counterattacks in both Israel and Palestine driven by historical anger, geopolitical factors and other causes (even if Israel achieves its goal against the Hamas or causes the latter’s significant loss) and keep the entire Middle East at risk of a larger war in the future too, with or with involving superpowers — even if the Gaza war does not escalate. Effective steps consequently need to be taken to find acceptable solutions.
Given that the United States has good relations with different Middle East countries including Israel and Palestine, its efforts are crucial in finding solutions to the Gaza war. But diplomatic efforts are also needed to end the Israel-Palestine crisis. Since the Israel-Palestine crisis has strongly resurfaced amidst the Gaza war and global leaders have a notable focus on the war, efforts to end the crisis may be more effective now than ever with an effective and functional two state solution. Along with the United States, the role of the European Union and other global and regional powers is also crucial in reaching acceptable solutions to the Gaza war and the Israel-Palestine crisis.
