UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.

A photograph of a large group of Palestinian children, seated and lying amid the rubble and ruin in Gaza, watching the ‘Lion King’ projected on a screen, has gone viral on ‘X’. Shot by freelance photojournalist Omar Ashtawy, the image is a stark commentary on how the fast pace of the global news cycle, focused largely on self-absorbed world leaders and their erratic actions, has a way of obscuring some of the biggest stories of our time.

Nearly three years into Israel’s war on Gaza — now widely acknowledged as a genocide — claiming over 70,000 lives so far, this is the everyday reality of children in Gaza.

The violence simply does not let up. The killings have not ceased. On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians, including a three-year-old child, in the central Gaza Strip. Israel is now threatening to expel them for flying kites. Reports also tell us that the killing of Palestinian children and teens by Israel has surged in West Bank. The children watch Uncle Scar’s power-hungry schemes, that place little value on life, perhaps unaware of how his human counterparts in the real world have upended own lives.

If we were to turn the spotlight on India, New Delhi’s stance is hardly inspiring hope. Speaking to The Hindu, Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin said India needs to be more vocal about violations of international law and use its global weight to push for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. New Delhi must also examine arms transfers to Israel seriously, she told Stanly Johny in this interview. “They need to be vocal about what is right and what is wrong, and they need to be vocal about violations of international law. This is what is expected of India,” she said. You could also watch it here.

As the United States and President Donald Trump, who have been steadfastly backing Israel’s war on Gaza, get more confrontational with Iran yet again, the news cycle is focussed on that. Iran’s attacks on American warships outside the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S.’s retaliatory strikes on three Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf waters recently pointed to another escalation in a war that has already persisted six-months. The Hindu editorial today weighed in on the development and contended: “As both sides seek escalation dominance, the war risks spiralling out of control. America is visibly under pressure. Mr. Trump has to accept the cold fact that he has lost this war and return to reviving the MoU before it is too late.”

The other recent event that hogged headlines was the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, from August 31 to September 1, 2026. Notably, PM Modi joined the statement slamming the US and Israel for the war in Iran. Is India shifting its position, or just making friends ahead of the upcoming BRICS summit in New Delhi and Pakistan’s Presidency of the SCO next year?

Do read Kallol Bhattacherjee’s profile of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, or the house of multilaterals, and watch Worldview with Suhasini Haidar for a breakdown of what transpired.

Region in focus

Closer to home, we are tracking Nepal’s painful recovery from the recent devastating floods. The disaster posed an unprecedented challenge, Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix said on Monday (September 7, 2026), with multiple search operations underway in Himalayan hydropower tunnels. The August 26 glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border killed at least 1,385 people, with more than 5,500 missing across the two countries.

However, fresh concerns triggered by the glacial collapse are unlikely to sway Beijing’s plans to go ahead with the construction of a mega dam on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo, or the Brahmaputra River, in a seismically active region in Tibet near the border with India, our China Correspondent Ananth Krishnan reported. “ Of concern to India is how much water is likely to be stored in the reservoir and how the tunnel will affect downstream flows, as well as possible broader ecological impacts. The lack of information has posed an obstacle in assessing the possible impact.”

Our Notebook column this week was a reflection on the major climate shocks witnessed in the region in quick succession. The floods in Pakistan in 2022, floods in different parts of India over the last few years, the cyclone in Sri Lanka in 2025, and now, Nepal’s staggering floods. A Pakistani friend recently shared a 2009 piece from Himal Southasian on her social media. Authored by former diplomat Shyam Saran, it contended that South Asia is an ecologically interconnected system and called for a collaborative response to the climate crisis. Journalists in the region, however, have had more stories about natural disasters than collective strategies to tell.

Another exclusive we bring to you this week is Suhasini Haidar’s interview with Bangladesh’s ousted, former PM Sheikh Hasina. “How can a press conference damage India-Bangladesh relations? I did not know that I was so powerful that one press conference of mine could damage Bangladesh’s foreign policy,” she said.

Published – September 07, 2026 01:56 pm IST

Mother of three-year-old Palestinian child Tayyem Hamdan, who was killed in an Israeli strike according to medics at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, reacts during his funeral in the central Gaza Strip, on August 30, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Palestinians gathered on Tuesday (August 4, 2026) for a mass funeral of more than 100 bodies finally recovered from a deadly Israeli strike in Gaza in 2023. More than 300 people were killed on November 22, 2023, weeks into the war with Hamas, when warplanes flattened a residential block in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood.

Around 40 bodies were recovered soon afterward in a frantic scramble of rough tools and bare hands, but most were buried deep beneath the rubble. Reports of the high number of victims in one of the war’s deadliest attacks took days to reach the public in the chaos just before its first ceasefire.

Over the weekend, first responders dug through the destroyed buildings and recovered remains of 112 victims, including 40 children, according to the Civil Defence, a rescue agency operating under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.

It said 157 bodies still have not been found.

“The only crime of these martyrs was that they remained steadfast and resilient in their homes, believing that these homes would protect them,” one relative, Taysir al-Hassayna, told The Associated Press following the funeral prayers.

For the missing, it’s “as if their bodies had evaporated without a trace.”

The current ceasefire has allowed recovery of remains

Only now are some bodies of people killed in the war’s ferocious early months slowly being recovered, as a fragile ceasefire that took effect in October allows such efforts to push ahead in parts of devastated Gaza.

Those discoveries have contributed to the war’s rising toll. The Hamas-led militant attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 73,377 Palestinians, including since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

At least 7,400 people have been reported by relatives to still be under the rubble, Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Ministry’s records department, told the AP. The true number is likely thousands higher because in some cases entire families were killed in a single bombing, leaving no one to report the missing, al-Waheidi has said.

The people mourned on Tuesday (August 4, 2026) were from a residential block belonging to the Hassayna and Abu Sharia clan, and many were related. The Associated Press has identified at least 60 families across Gaza who lost 25 or more family members during the first three months of war.

On Tuesday (August 4, 2026), the remains of the victims, wrapped in Palestinian flags, were laid in rows on the ground. Many were marked with photos, and flower petals were scattered around all. Hundreds of people surrounded the bodies for funeral prayers, some standing on the rubble.

Following the prayers, people carried the bodies on stretchers along a narrow street lined by destroyed buildings and buried them in a nearby cemetery.

Gaza is struggling to rebuild amid ceasefire violations

The ceasefire halted much of the fighting, but at least 1,252 people have been killed in Gaza since it took effect, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants but says women and children make up most of the dead.

Israel says its strikes are against militants who endanger its soldiers, took part in the October 7 attack or carry out other violations. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

Gaza remains largely shattered. Most of its 2 million Palestinians are displaced, many living in tent camps where poor conditions and overcrowding have led to rodent infestations and outbreaks of infectious diseases such as chickenpox.

Each side has accused the other of violating the ceasefire, and negotiations on further steps have largely stalled. Hamas has held onto its weapons, despite agreements to disarm, and the Israeli military has refused to withdraw and controls over half the territory.

The Board of Peace official overseeing Gaza’s postwar transition, Nikolay Mladenov, on Monday met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in part to discuss a new disarmament deal the U.S.-created board has reached with Hamas.

Last week, President Donald Trump announced an agreement that calls for Israel to cease its military operations in Gaza and for Hamas and its allies there to halt all militant activity. After the text of the agreement was released, Israel said it had “serious security concerns.”

Published – August 05, 2026 07:04 am IST

The language of world politics has become remarkably predictable. Every military strike, diplomatic initiative, economic sanction, or strategic partnership is justified in the name of national interest. Television debates and commentaries have a common vocabulary — power, deterrence, balance of power, strategic autonomy, and security. It almost appears as though International Relations has become an emotionless discipline, focused on power concentration, where morality and ethics have little place. Yet the defining geopolitical crises of recent years tell a very different story.

Influence of Western traditions

International Relations, both as an academic discipline and as a practice of diplomacy, has been largely shaped by Western intellectual traditions, with much of academic research originating in the United States of America. No wonder, famous IR scholar, Stanley Hoffman, in his article, argued that IR is an American Social Science. It is difficult to refute Hoffman’s argument because initially the modern international order emerged when European powers dominated much of the world, leaving the Global South with little role in designing the institutions, norms, and rules that continue to govern global politics. However, the discipline itself acquired its modern identity after the Second World War, with the U.S. based scholar, Hans Morgenthau’s Realism becoming the dominant framework for understanding international affairs. Realism portrays the international system as anarchic and argues that states, in the absence of a central authority, are compelled to pursue their national interests. Although the theory is far more nuanced than its popular interpretation suggests, public discourse has reduced it to two defining ideas—anarchy and national interest. Over time, Realism travelled from classrooms to newsrooms, becoming the default language through which foreign policy is interpreted.

There is much to appreciate in the Realist tradition. It reminds us that power, military capability, and strategic calculations remain central to international politics. However, the dominance of Realism has also encouraged the belief that foreign policy is little more than a rational pursuit of national interest. Ethical considerations are often dismissed as idealistic, while emotions are treated as irrational distractions. Yet certain recent scholarships in International Relations have increasingly challenged this assumption. Scholars such as Neta Crawford have argued that emotions are not the opposite of rationality; rather, they are integral to political judgment. Fear, grief, anger, humiliation, empathy, and pride actively shape how leaders interpret threats, define interests, and respond to crises. Foreign policy, therefore, is not merely an exercise in cold strategic calculation, but also a product of moral perceptions and collective emotions. This dynamic is encapsulated by scholar Brent Sasley, who notes that while state leaders make formal decisions as members of a group, “they do so within a particular (social) context and on that (social) basis”.

Question of political legitimacy

The recent U.S.-Iran conflict illustrates this point. Much of the strategic analysis focused on military capabilities, damage assessments, and the future balance of power in West Asia. Comparatively little attention was paid to the emotional and ethical consequences of the conflict. The assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was not only Iran’s Supreme Leader but also one of the most influential religious figures in the Shia world, produced consequences that extended far beyond military calculations. Rather than weakening the Iranian state, his death generated an extraordinary wave of national solidarity. A society that had appeared politically divided only months earlier united around a shared sense of loss, nationalism, and religious identity. Crawford’s observation that grief and the desire for revenge continue to shape political behaviour long after the battlefield has fallen silent is particularly relevant in this context. Military planners may calculate strategic gains, but societies often respond through memory, identity, and emotion. Therefore, it is important to note that foreign policy must not be judged solely by the actions of a government, but also by how those actions shape and influence global public opinion. The debate surrounding the assassination largely focused on how Washington would engage with a post-Khamenei Iran. Far less attention was devoted to the ethical questions raised by such an operation and its implications for America’s moral standing. Strategic success does not automatically translate into political legitimacy.

The changing international perception of Israel offers another important example. Following the Hamas attacks of October 2023, Israel received widespread sympathy and support across much of the world. Most governments affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself. However, as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened, due to mindless aggression shown by the Israeli army, public opinion began to shift. Large demonstrations across Europe and North America reflected growing concerns over civilian suffering and questioned the proportionality of Israel’s military response. In this, governments and societies increasingly spoke in different voices. While many governments continued to emphasise security considerations, public opinion became increasingly influenced by humanitarian concerns. Thus, while military superiority can alter realities on the battlefield, it cannot prevent the erosion of moral legitimacy.

Ethical concerns over globalisation

History offers numerous examples of ethics shaping international politics. Throughout the Cold War, the U.S. consistently presented itself as the defender of democracy, human rights, and individual liberty while portraying Soviet communism as an authoritarian system hostile to political freedom. The post-war liberal international order derived much of its legitimacy not merely from military and economic strength but also from its claim to uphold universal values. Even globalisation was promoted as a project that would bring societies closer together through greater interdependence and cooperation. Although globalisation generated unprecedented economic growth, it failed to bridge the structural inequalities between the Global North and the Global South, leading many to question whether the liberal international order had fulfilled its ethical promises.

The position of Global South

Historically, the Global South has been among the most vocal in injecting moral considerations into international politics. The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was not merely a strategy to avoid Cold War rivalries; it represented a normative vision of sovereign equality and a collective call for a more just world order. Contemporary India continues to invoke similar ideas through its emphasis on the Global South and the civilisational philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’— the world is one family. Notably, India’s international standing has historically rested not only on its growing economic and strategic capabilities but also on its democratic institutions, pluralism, and anti-colonial legacy. During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, for instance, international public opinion gradually shifted in India’s favour after the humanitarian catastrophe in East Pakistan became widely known. More recently, India’s consistent opposition to cross-border terrorism has enjoyed broad international support because it resonates with widely accepted ethical norms.

This moral capital, however, cannot be taken for granted; it must be continuously reinforced through consistent foreign policy choices. For instance, India’s relatively restrained response to recent developments in West Asia has generated debate over whether its pursuit of strategic autonomy truly aligns with the ethical principles it frequently projects on the international stage. Ultimately, India’s international standing is built on more than just its market size. It is widely applauded as a vibrant, multicultural nation where democracy has successfully endured, even when it faltered in other developing countries facing similar socio-economic conditions.

In conclusion, it is a mistake to interpret International Relations merely as the study of the redistribution of power; it is equally crucial to understand how that power is evaluated. In a world defined by Artificial Intelligence, digital media, transnational activism, and instantaneous communication, wars are no longer judged solely by governments or strategic analysts. Instead, real-time images of civilian suffering, humanitarian crises, and political violence actively shape international narratives as they unfold. While Realism remains highly relevant for explaining why states pursue power and security, achieving a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of world politics requires us to examine how societies accept, reject, or morally evaluate that power.

(Dhananjay Tripathi teaches International Relations at the South Asian University, New Delhi.)

Published – July 29, 2026 08:00 am IST

The Israeli military shot and killed four Palestinians in the village of Tell in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Friday (July 24, 2026), raising tensions in the occupied territory after an Israeli settler was killed in a confrontation with local residents.

Two other Israelis and four more Palestinians were wounded, health officials said, and the Israeli military announced it was preparing for an “extensive” counterterror operation in the West Bank, with troops surrounding the town of Nablus.

“The security forces must be allowed to act freely and with full force against terrorism,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a joint statement with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz. They called Friday for more troops to the West Bank and the razing of the homes of the accused in Tell as well as collecting weapons and revoking work permits in the village.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went farther, saying that the villages of Tell, Iraq Burin and Beit Furik “need to look exactly like the refugee camps in Nablus and Tulkarm,” referring to the mass demolition campaign that displaced tens of thousands in the West Bank towns last year.

“It is necessary to evacuate the population there for their protection and to clear these villages of terrorist infrastructure,” Smotrich said. “A sharp, determined, and unequivocal military action is required here and now.”

Villages long-targeted by settlers in the northern West Bank

Five Palestinian villages surrounding Nablus were attacked by Israeli settlers on Friday, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The towns and villages surrounding Nablus sit in one of the most violent parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In addition to newly approved settlements, at least nine farming outposts dot the area, and attacks by Israeli settlers, army incursions and confrontations have become frequent.

Palestinians and human rights groups have increasingly documented armed settlers entering villages in the area. Livestock theft, arson and the defacement of mosques are routinely reported.

Israeli deaths have repeatedly been followed by revenge against nearby Palestinian communities called “price tag” attacks. That pattern followed the March 21 death of 18-year-old Yehuda Sherman, who was killed when a Palestinian vehicle struck his ATV near Beit Imrin. Senior politicians, including Smotrich, attended Sherman’s funeral and called for vengeance.

Over the next two days, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented 32 settler attacks affecting 30 Palestinian villages and communities across the West Bank, about a third near Nablus governorate. Settlers torched homes and vehicles, vandalised property and assaulted residents, injuring at least 32 Palestinians, according to OCHA.

An unclear confrontation at the centre of the tension

The exact circumstances of Friday’s incident remained unclear, but Israeli media reports and interviews with local Palestinian officials suggested a group of settlers entered Tell and were confronted by residents who were fearful of an attack.

According to the Israeli military, one of the residents took one of the settlers’ weapons and fired on the group, killing Benayahu Mellet, 32, a security guard in a settlement nearby.

In a video of the incident, confirmed by the Israeli military and circulated online by the military correspondent for Israel’s Army Radio, two armed men in civilian clothing, as well as at least one Israeli soldier, are shown pointing their weapons at a group of Palestinians who had gathered in a field.

At one point, the two armed men rush toward several Palestinian residents with their guns drawn. In the footage, the residents try to push them back and appear to disarm one of the men before opening fire.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it killed the man who took the settler’s weapon and that he was armed when soldiers shot him. But a separate video, published by Israeli media outlets and confirmed by the military, showed Israeli forces firing on a group of Palestinians in the same field who were already on the ground.

More than a dozen gunshots can be heard in the footage, which is less than a minute long. The military said the suspect was one of the people killed in the field. It did not respond to questions about why soldiers killed the other men — all of whom were related — or how long after the original altercation the killings took place.

Later, army chief Eyal Zamir said he was sending more troops to the occupied West Bank.

Published – July 24, 2026 09:18 pm IST

The Israeli military is quietly but quickly building a giant earthen barrier separating the over 50% of the Gaza Strip it controls from the rest of the territory, according to satellite imagery, further entrenching the division of the tiny Palestinian enclave.

More than 23 Km (14 miles) have been constructed in recent months, running through Palestinian communities demolished by the military. That is equivalent to more than half the length of the coastal strip, which is some 40 Km (25 miles) long and 11 Km (7 miles) wide, and home to over 2 million Palestinians.

When presented with the satellite images, Israel’s military confirmed to The Associated Press it has built a physical barrier in the area of the so-called yellow line, the boundary to which Israeli troops withdrew under the October ceasefire deal with Hamas. The line was envisioned in the U.S.-backed agreement as a temporary division of the territory pending a fuller Israeli withdrawal.

But as the truce stagnates, it appears Israel is digging in, heightening Palestinian fears that the line is morphing into a border. Neither U.S. Central Command, which is tasked with monitoring the ceasefire, nor the Board of Peace, the body led by U.S. President Donald Trump meant to eventually oversee Gaza, would comment on the barrier.

Along with the barrier, the military told AP it has developed a “security zone” around the line, equipped with intelligence and technological assets. It declined to give details on the route of the barrier when asked how far it would be extended. It said the barrier aimed to prevent infiltration and protect Israeli troops and Israeli communities near Gaza.

Construction of the barrier is proceeding rapidly

Since the ceasefire deal took hold, Palestinians in Gaza have feared Israel would not return the area of Gaza it controls. But few appear to be aware of the berms now being built around them — because of the danger of even approaching that area.

A portion of the berm network in southern Gaza was extended by more than 2 km (1.2 miles) in two weeks this month, according to the satellite images provided by Planet Labs PBC. The berm was about 500 metres (0.3 miles) long on July 1. By July 15, it was about 2.4 km (1.5 miles), splicing the Israel-controlled ruins of the city of Rafah from Muwasi, site of some of the largest Palestinian tent camps.

If construction continues in its current direction, it will join up with the longest stretch of the barrier, which runs nearly unbroken for around 17 km (10 miles) from the southern city of Khan Younis to near Gaza City, in the north.

Construction began on that stretch in February, and it appears work to extend it further south is continuing, according to the satellite images. More than a kilometre (0.6 miles) was added between June 21 and July 7, running close to an Israeli military base built on the ruins of the town of Bani Suheila, near Khan Younis.

In the far north of Gaza, several unconnected stretches of berms run just outside the largely leveled town of Beit Lahia. The height of the berms in each place remains unclear. In some places, the barriers appear to run outside the yellow line.

Israel has mostly destroyed and depopulated the half of Gaza it controls

Gaza’s population has been crowded into the coastal area west of the yellow line, most living in squalid tent camps and dependent on aid.

On the other side of the line, satellite imagery shows that Israeli forces have leveled the vast majority of buildings using bulldozers and explosives, virtually erasing several towns and Rafah, once home to more than a quarter million people. They have carved new road networks and erected new bases on the ruins of Palestinian towns. Agricultural land has also been destroyed. The Israeli military says it is demolishing infrastructure used by Hamas.

The yellow line was never precisely defined, whether in the ceasefire deal or by Israeli or U.S. officials, and it has been inconsistently marked on the ground. The military told AP it is working to clearly mark the route of the yellow line to “reduce friction and prevent harm to uninvolved individuals”. Israeli forces have killed Palestinians who came close to the line or crossed it. The Israeli military says it fires on those believed to be militants threatening its troops.

But those killed have included children and other civilians seemingly unaware of the line. Some soldiers have said they don’t always know who they are firing on and have orders to kill anyone crossing the boundary.

Israeli strikes have killed hundreds of Palestinians since the ceasefire

Israeli forces have killed more than 1,100 Palestinians since the ceasefire began, most in airstrikes and drone strikes around Gaza. The Israeli military says it is targeting militants. Militant attacks have killed five Israeli soldiers in the same period.

Under the ceasefire deal, Israel is eventually supposed to withdraw its troops further to the very edges of Gaza, to be replaced by an international security force. But implementation of the deal has been stalled for months. A former UN diplomat now in charge of coordinating the ceasefire has blamed Hamas’ failure to disarm. Sporadic talks to reach a formula for decommissioning its weapons appear to have made little progress, and Hamas accuses Israel in turn of violating the ceasefire.

The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 others hostage. Israel responded with a punishing military offensive that has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The Ministry, which was part of the recently dissolved Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by UN agencies and international organizations. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

Published – July 21, 2026 01:10 pm IST

Palestinian women mourn over the body of Awda Farakhneh, 53, who, according to the health authorities, was killed by Israeli army fire following a settler attack, during his funeral in the West Bank town of Deir Jarir, northeast Ramallah, Monday, July 20, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli military machinery demolishes a Palestinian building in Kafr Aqab in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem, on June 22, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Abdullah M. Abu Shawesh. File.