Standoff between Hamas and Israeli calls for political solution, not war

It is the third week since Israel began bombarding the Gaza Strip, reducing many buildings to rubble.

The question however is: Is there an end game? Where does this stop, and how, and when? Nearly 5,100 people have been killed in this war, half of them children. I need to ask, why?

Security experts have expressed their concern that there is no evident sign of an exit strategy for Israel, assuming it plans to exit. Nobody really knows at what point the Israeli military campaign will consider its goals have been realised and begin to hand over to a political authority.

Tel Aviv wants to stop rocket fire from Gaza. And they want to crush Hamas "terrorists" and possibly reoccupy Gaza as their short-term plan.

Israel mobilised 360,000 reservists for the operation in the Gaza Strip which is 360 square kilometres. There is doubt that short-term goals like eradicating tunnels and maybe targeting Hamas leaders and killing them are achievable by force of that magnitude. But beyond that, what happens?

Hamas is not present only in the Gaza Strip; it exists throughout Palestinian territories. It has supporters in the Middle East and beyond. So crushing Hamas is going to be very difficult for Israel, both militarily and politically.

The regional players, Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, can equally escalate the war. If they get involved, Israel will have to fight on different fronts.

While many countries have labelled Hamas a terrorist organisation, others have not. These include Switzerland, Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Norway, India, and the Philippines.

The US resolution at the United Nations Security Council in 2018 to label Hamas "terrorists" was supported only by the US, with European countries abstaining.

In respect of Hamas' onslaught and barbaric massacres, there can no longer be any excuse for not designating Hamas as a terrorist entity.

The last comparable mega ground offensive by Israel Defence Forces was in 2006 in Lebanon when they crossed the border and went into south Lebanon to try and arrest Hezbollah forces that had captured Israeli soldiers.

Israel had not come up against fighters like Hezbollah's in the West Bank in previous decades.

The question is, how ready is Hamas for them with its tunnels, with its booby traps, with its trained fighters? And how many casualties would they inflict on Israel?

How many casualties would Israel inflict on innocent Palestinians? What of the tolerance level for warring and proxy players? All of this is unknown. How will that happen exactly?

Israelis and Palestinians are currently embroiled in the 'Hamas's war machine' on the previous four occasions, and it will not be any more successful now.

Once bombs stop exploding, the Israeli government will be forced to go for reconciliation with its nearly 1.9 million Arab citizens (20 per cent of the population).

Similarly, it must make concessions, like stopping evictions in East Jerusalem and settlement growth in the West Bank, to bolster the moderate Palestinian authority at the expense of the more radical Hamas.

Hamas rationalises its onslaughts on Israel by citing the struggle against Zionist 'colonialism'. Israel rationalises its brutal assaults on the Gaza Strip by quoting the struggle against Islamist 'terrorists'.

The endgame is that Israel will not defeat the Palestinians militarily. It needs a political solution, not temporary military dominance.

The writer is the National Organising Secretary of Ford Kenya Party.