The recent murder of six Israeli hostages by Hamas was as mindlessly horrific as the initial Oct. 7, 2023 rampage. Hamas shot these young people in a tunnel just feet from where another hostage had been saved by Israelis days earlier. Reportedly, Hamas calculated it was better to slaughter the hostages than take the chance that Israeli forces would rescue them. Israel would not be allowed to get credit for their freedom.

The only “crime” of the Oct. 7 victims was to be Jewish. But the Israeli response has been equally inhumane: indiscriminate bombing, forcing families to flee from one end of the Gaza Strip to the other and back again. Hospitals and schools reduced to rubble. Tens of thousands of women and children killed.

The purported Israeli goal of this slaughter is to wipe out Hamas, an admittedly despicable governing body. But this goal is both practically and theoretically impossible. The more carnage, the more young people are recruited, and the more the world turns against Israel. More likely, Netanyahu perpetuates war to stay in power simply to save himself from prison.

War is invariably hell, but a clear line has been crossed. Massive Israeli protests tell me that their citizens agree. Unspoken but accepted rules of engagement seek to limit war’s carnage. One cardinal principle is that you do not kill hostages at point-blank moments before they are about to be set free. It is this lack of humanity that turns my stomach.

Janice Cooper
Yarmouth