SALT LAKE CITY — It's been a week since the Hamas attacks on Israel.
"The events last Saturday have killed 1,300+ Israeli civilians. In response, 2,000 Palestinians have been killed. That number dwarfs any of the previous military encounters between Israel and Hamas," said Utah State University Assistant Political Science Professor Austin Knuppe.
In the past few days, Israel has ordered the evacuation of over a million in Gaza — home to over two million people — as the Israeli military prepares for a possible ground operation. Gaza is also facing a humanitarian crisis.
"What we saw in the last few days, where the Israeli military says 'Gazans need to leave; We're going to escalate our attacks against Hamas,'" Knuppe said, "Not only is forced displacement as a war-fighting strategy immoral and illegal — it leaves Palestinian civilians with very few options."
Knuppe says it's not clear where Gazans are supposed to get their basic needs like shelter, food, and water met. Even before the Oct. 7 attacks, there were complaints in Gaza about water treatment, sewage and garbage, among other things. International organizations like MedGlobal are anxiously waiting to provide more aid.
"I really hope that at some point there can be a humanitarian quarter that opens so organizations like ours, MedGlobal, can get our supplies in," said MedGlobal board member Thaer Ahmad. "After the killing, the destruction, and the homes that are gone, the people are left with nothing there. They've lost family members, they've lost their homes, they've lost their jobs."
Knuppe says as the war continues, being able to understand disparate moral and political facts will help with the varying public discourse.
"The ability to say it's evil for Hamas to target and kill Israeli civilians, and it's evil and illegal for the Israeli military to target Palestinian citizens," Knuppe said. "Similarly, in the same breath, you can say the State of Israel has a right to exist, and the way the occupation affects Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is deplorable."
