Israel’s response to the Oct 7 attacks has been disproportionate, totally destroying the infrastructure of a functioning society in the name of self-defense, leaving Palestinians without food, water, medicine, and fuel.
Weeks of widespread shelling and airstrikes are killing civilians as they hit refugee camps, schools where internally displaced people from Gaza are sheltering, hospitals, houses and apartment buildings. Around 60% of housing units in Gaza have been destroyed since the start of the conflict. By Dec 4, more than 15,800 people have been killed in Gaza, including about 6,000 children and 4,000 women. Gaza has become a “graveyard for children”. This is happening amid Israel’s tightening of its 16-year unlawful blockade of Gaza.
What Israel is actually doing is a form of collective punishment. What is sad is the lack of meaningful engagement from influential states on the Israeli violations of international humanitarian law. Instead, many of these states are offering Israel political, financial – and, in some cases, military – assistance in its assault on Gaza. These states that defend Israel’s occupation and right to self-defense are tacitly accept the unconscionable killing and maiming of thousands of women and children.
Since 2008, Gaza has endured five wars, two major escalations, and other attacks from air, land, and sea – on top of the suffocating blockade. Yet, the International Criminal Court investigation into the war crimes opened in 2021 has made slow progress. This silence is unsettling and inaction stand in stark contrast with Ukraine, where an unprecedented number of mostly European ICC member countries asked to open an investigation soon after the Russian invasion.
The world must realize that without justice for past events, there will not be lasting peace, even if the violence stops. This is relevant now in Gaza and the West Bank, but also well beyond.
A permanent ceasefire in Gaza must be the first step for addressing the end of Israel military occupation, and the fulfillment of the Palestinian right to self-determination.
On 26 October, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an “immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce” in Gaza. However, EU members such as Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany abstained. The United States voted against it, and had previously vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council. This status quo requires a rethinking of the current global representation and governance.
In relation to Gaza, the manner in which Israel responded to the Hamas Oct 7 attacks is subject to clear legal parameters that govern armed conflict. Conflict in densely populated areas where fighters are alleged to be unlawfully embedded in the civilian population is inherently complex, but international humanitarian must still apply.
Credible allegations of crimes during the current conflict should be the subject of timely, independent examination and investigation. The clear legal principles of distinction, precaution and proportionality must be complied with so that the protection of the law is rendered meaningful for those who need it.
The United Nations, the World Health Organization and the International Committee for the Red Cross and Red Crescent have continued to underline the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The civilians must have access to basic food, water and desperately needed medical supplies, without further delay.
Also, there is a significant increase in incidents of attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. No Israeli armed with an extreme ideology and a gun should feel they can act with impunity against Palestinian civilians. A rocket most likely fired by Hamas militants during their Oct. 7 attack on Israel struck an Israeli military base where many of the country’s nuclear-capable missiles are based.