As we approach the completion of a month since the savage terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel that provoked a massacre, in which 1,400 people were left dead in their homes, on the streets and at a music festival, the war that has been unleashed in that small bastion is already the most destructive and deadly since Hamas took control of the entire Gaza Strip in 2007. According to figures provided by both the Israeli authorities and the Gaza health ministry, almost 11,000 people are thought to have died - more than 9,000 Palestinians - in the response taken by Netanyahu since the attack. The number of Palestinians displaced from their homes in Gaza is approaching 1.5 million people.
Everything points to the conflict as having only just begun and although the scale of street demonstrations has been very significant, the truth is that Israel has mobilized the more soldiers than at any time in its recent history and with a perfectly calculated military roadmap. Until now, the main official protests at what is happening in Gaza have been led by the United Nations' secretary general , António Guterres, but despite his repeated calls for a ceasefire, the bombings have neither stopped nor even reduced in intensity.
This war is already the most destructive and deadly since Hamas took control of the entire Gaza Strip in 2007
The United States' position, commanded by the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is accommodating to Israel, its great historical ally. And the European view moves between the one expressed from Brussels with dissonance between the European Commission's president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel. In Europe, the most pro-Israeli position, at least in public, is defended by the German chancellor, the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz. The French president Emmanuel Macron would not be far behind, although his role is following a much more discreet line. This confusion of positions and the ever-present risk of Iran make it appear that nothing will stop the Israeli army in its goal of putting an end to Hamas and moving the territory's current borders.
The clearest example of all this is that, on the verge of the completion of a whole month since the attack on October 7th, one of the most violent days so far took place this Sunday as Israeli forces carried out an attack of massive proportions in Gaza, reaching the coast in their aim to surround the city. Consequently it is a situation which, militarily, is very consolidated and in which, politically, Israel has a great advantage through the silence or laissez-faire of the countries that could make Netanyahu change course. In a way, the West accepts without saying so - or with only minimal tut-tutting to temper the internal public opinion that each country has - the Israeli army's deployment in Gaza. At least, up till now.