“Could Lead To Third World War If…”: Israeli Author’s Caution On Gaza War

The Israel-Gaza war could possibly spread to become a wider regional conflict and drag in more countries amid the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical tensions, leading to World War 3, Israeli writer and historian Yuval Noah Harari told NDTV in an exclusive interview today.

Global instability is high after the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and now the Israel-Gaza war that risks pulling in more nations into it, eventually leading to conditions that could spark a global war, Mr Harari said.

“Generally, order is collapsing and is being replaced by chaos. This has been happening for the past five to 10 years. We see it in more and more places now. The (Covid) pandemic was a part of it. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is also a part of it,” said the historian, philosopher and the bestselling author of ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’, among other books.

“What’s happening now in Israel and Palestine is a part of it. If we don’t rebuild order, it will only become worse. It will spread all over the world. It could lead to Third World War. And with the type of weapons and technology now available, it could lead to the annihilation of humankind itself,” said Mr Harari, who is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today.

Israel today said there was no temporary truce to allow aid in or foreigners out of the Gaza Strip, as fears grew over the dire humanitarian situation faced by millions of Palestinians trapped in the heavily bombarded enclave.

Israel declared war on the Hamas Group a day after waves of its members broke through the heavily fortified border on October 7, shooting, stabbing and burning to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Reeling from the deadliest attack in its history, Israel unleashed a bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip that flattened neighbourhoods and killed 2,750 people.

“We shouldn’t lose hope. This is a time for responsibility, not a time for despair. Again, anybody who has any ability, this is the time to rebuild order, to try and rebuild hope. The very first step that I would focus now, again, going from the kind of very broad perspective of the global order to the immediate crisis in my home country, the first step is to immediately release without condition all the hostages,” Mr Harari said, referring to people held captive by the Hamas group.

“This is important not only in itself as liberating these people from terrible suffering, but because this will give hope, this will give breathing space and will be a first step, perhaps, to de-escalating the conflict and going back to the path of peace,” Mr Harari said.