The Israel-Hamas 'War' has been at the forefront of all the ongoing conflicts. Opinions differ when the conflict is brought up ranging from support for the Palestinian people to justifying Israel's attack against Hamas. Within the context of this conflict, it is essential for us to remember that war is not made up of numbers alone. Reducing entire populations to the death tolls means overlooking the fact that humans lie at the very center of concerns about security, that matters of security don't concern 'states' alone.
In the case of the Israel-Hamas conflict, we need to bring back the focus on the human lives that are suffering. Following the total siege of the Gaza Strip on October 9, there has been an acute shortage of food, water, electricity and gas supply. As a result, all children under the age of 5 are at a risk of severe malnutrition while women are unable to receive adequate healthcare and nutrition for themselves (United Nations, 2024). Various hospitals shut down because they ran out of fuel, while many other hospitals were bombed due to suspicions of hiding Hamas members. Israel has destroyed Gaza's food systems entirely and turned food, which is meant to be a basic necessity for people, into a weapon of war. There has been widespread destruction of dwellings in Gaza, making them uninhabitable. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that nearly 85% of the Gazan population is internally displaced, as they search for safety elsewhere.
I'm not certain if the word 'war' is applicable in this conflict considering the impact it has on the lives of Gazan citizens, not only in the present day but also in the future. Israel's fight seems to have a greater impact on the lives of the Palestinian citizens than on the members of Hamas, as the citizens are turned into 'collateral damage' in Israel's "fight against terrorism".
Considering the nuances of this conflict, it is essential for us to expand the very notion of security itself. What one person, group, society, or state perceives as a threatening source of insecurity, another may not (Krause, Williams, 2018). The more obvious perspectives in this conflict include the way the Israeli government views itself and the Israeli citizens as the referent object while Hamas is the clear threat object for them. This narrative prompted Israel's actions against Hamas in order to maintain security of its citizens. Here, the referent object is the Israeli state that is acting on behalf of its citizens while Hamas is a non-state entity that has attacked without any 'real reason'. Another narrative would be one that views the civilians of Gaza as the referent object that has been suffering as a result of the conflict, and the threat object is the Israeli state's actions that have caused immense food insecurity in the Gaza Strip and have deprived them of their homes. At the same time, the immediate threat object for the civilians is perhaps the starvation and disease itself.
Viewing this conflict from the postcolonial and feminist perspectives highlights the nuances of the conflict. Acts like hostage-taking, bombings, ambushes are seen as 'cowardly' and 'terrorist-like' when done by militias (Barkawi, 2004) such as Hamas. This disregards the fact that these groups would stand no chance whatsoever if they played by the rules set by the strong, who in this case is the Israeli state with a much superior, high-tech firepower. If anything, the methods employed by the Israeli state could be seen as falling under the same category as those by Hamas, considering the widespread insecurity it has created in the Gazan civilians. The methods employed by the state have hints of similar ‘cowardly’ acts when it brings Gaza so close to a famine, and leads to dehumanization of the civilians as they are denied basic necessities everyday. The weaponization of food to Gaza showcases how the Israeli state is also using unconventional methods in the conflict– a move that would otherwise be put under the same category of ‘terrorist-like’ if done by a non-state actor.
The ones feeling the brunt of this unequal 'war' are majorly innocent women and children. The dichotomy of war and peace is indeed very much gendered (Shepherd, 2009). The impact of the war is also gendered in the way it impacts male and female bodies differently.
It is not simply a matter of how many women and children have been killed so far. Rather, it is important for us to understand how the impact of this conflict is different for women. The violence exerted on women is not limited to physical and bodily violence– it is the violence felt in their intimate everyday life.
“I yearn for the girl I used to be before the war”, one young woman exclaims as she is stripped of her femininity as a result of the ongoing conflict, while another woman– Etemad Assaf– talks about her fears of giving birth in such conditions (Al Jazeera, 8 March 2024). Women are unable to perform their femininity as they wish to because the conflict forced them into different, particularly taxing roles. Performativity of femininity is more so about choice– a choice which is being taken away from the women in Gaza. Similarly, particularly for pregnant women, not only are basic necessities like food and shelter, water and sanitation being denied, but also the availability of hospitals. The healthcare system has been crumbling, leaving them with no sanitary and hygienic place to rest and recover after giving birth.
In the conflict between Israel and Hamas, food and healthcare have both been turned into tools of war, a way for one party to exert control and influence over another. The denial of food, water and healthcare to civilians perhaps shows us an example of what Foucault calls ‘biopower’. The state uses these mechanisms to target characteristics that are specific to life itself (in this case, the Gazan lives)– birth, death, and illness. When the threat object is shifted to Gazan civilians– even innocent women and children– rather than the militant group Hamas, the tools used to pursue security are also shifted from traditional weapons of destruction to ones that target the very intimate everyday life of people.
In conflicts such as this one, it is easy to overlook the ones who are at the very center of the struggle, i.e., the people, the civilians. It is also awfully easy for one to undermine the plurality of truth, the relativity—actions by a military group can be considered terrorist-like without taking the historical context into account, while the same are often justified if executed by the official State. It is important for us to remember that one person's terrorist can also be viewed as another person's freedom fighter. While keeping these different narratives in mind, we must not forget the human individual at the center. In the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, it becomes critical for us to not limit ourselves to only one notion of security. The conflict brings to our attention how the everyday lives of civilians– particularly women and children– are being militarised but not quite securitised. The discussion above perhaps alludes to how the conflict is no longer between Hamas and the Israeli state, but rather between the civilians and the state.
References:
Krause, Keith, and Michael C. Williams. 2018. “Security and ‘Security Studies’: Conceptual Evolution and Historical Transformation.” In The Oxford Handbook of International Security, edited by Alexandra Gheciu and William Curtis Wohlforth. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Barkawi, Tarak. 2004. ‘On the Pedagogy of “Small Wars”’.International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-)80 (1): 19–37.
Parashar, Swati. 2016. ‘Feminism and Postcolonialism: The Twain Shall Meet’. Postcolonial Studies 19 (4): 463–77.
Shepherd, Laura J. 2009. ‘Gender, Violence and Global Politics: Contemporary Debates in Feminist Security Studies’. Political Studies Review 7 (2): 208–19.
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 16 January 2024
United Nations- The question of Palestine, 15 March 2024
Humaid, M. ‘I yearn for the girl I used to be’: Gaza women tell their stories. Al Jazeera. March 08, 2024. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/3/8/a-suffering-i-would-not-wish-on-any-woman-women-of-gaza
Hello Shivanshi, this article provides an engaging analysis of the gendered dimensions of the Israel-Hamas war, bringing attention on the special vulnerabilities that women and children suffer in the middle of the chaos. Its emphasis on the human cost of combat highlights the importance of holistic security policies that prioritize the well-being of all conflict victims. How do you think the historical grievances and cultural narratives influence the attitudes and behaviors of Israeli and Palestinian populations, and how may addressing some of these issues might help with peace building and reconciliation efforts?
Shivanshi, your post reflects a profound understanding of Israel’s Genocide against Palestine. Exceptionally done! Analysis of referent and threat objects through multiple perspectives really connects to the course and helps us to understand the deepening and broadening of security much better. Your take on the gendered impact of war illustrates how we often turn a blind eye towards the disproportional impacts of war on different genders. This reminded me of the menstrual hygiene discourse that happened during the conflict and the extreme difficulty the menstruators in Palestine had to endure in terms of their access to menstrual products, water, and medicine, and the irregularity in the cycle due to the psychological trauma. Considering this would have been an excellent addition…