There is more that Israel has to do: the warnings it sends to civilian residents, the evacuations, and the humanitarian corridors are only a beginning; there have to be adequate supplies for the refugees sent south to escape the battle for Gaza City. Hamas’s refusal to share its extensive resources with its own people means that Israel has to step in, however strange that seems. In conventional wars, one side is not required to re-supply the other side when its resources are depleted. But the nature of asymmetry and the recent history of Gaza make it necessary here. It is especially important for Israel to supply fuel for the hospitals over which it has assumed control—hospitals that Hamas used for military purposes while failing to provide the electricity necessary for medical purposes.
Israel, now, has the chance to be an exemplar, a beacon of democracy and liberalism. They must do what civilized people do: take care of people, even those that wish them harm.
There is no other way forward.
Down that path, Israel has the opportunity to give all of us some hope for our shared future. The world feels desperate for some goodness, and if Israel were to take on that mantle, it would win the hearts and minds of so many.