For Gaza, let’s hope for a miracle

The Living Stream

‘Israel to take control of all of Gaza, says Netanyahu’ and ‘Israel set for full Gaza city control’ – the headlines over the last two days should make anyone ask: How dare he say that? What gives Israel the right to do this? But, no, the dominant moral milieu in the world has minimised the scope for raising these questions. The militarily and economically mighty Western countries, which have not shown a resolve to stop Israel’s barbaric violence on Palestinian civilians for almost two years now, have played a large role in bringing about this state of affairs.

These countries that swear by liberal democratic ideals have remained either passive onlookers or active abettors when Israel has killed over 60,000 Palestinians and injured more than twice that number. The abdication of civilised conduct by countries in the international arena cannot but hurt the democratic ethos inside their own societies.

From Germany’s decision to stop giving arms that Israel could use for its military invasion of Gaza to the USA’s decision not to intervene, the responses of various countries and international agencies to Israel’s decision to invade Gaza City represent degrees of insufficient seriousness about saving lives in Palestine. What is to stop these countries from forming a G7 or a G20 for the immediate halting of army violence? India has been a supporter of the Palestinian cause for decades, but has yet to issue an official response.

Mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt, the three-phase ceasefire agreement accepted by Israel and Hamas in mid-January following 15 months of military retaliation by Israel to the Hamas attacks in October 2023, came undone two months later with Israel’s deadly night air raids on Gaza City that killed 400 Palestinians.

The ceasefire agreement had created some hope about the cessation of violence in Gaza. In the six-week-long first phase, the ceasefire agreement was to see the Israeli captives in Gaza exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and an increase in humanitarian aid to the affected Palestinians. In the second phase, the younger captives and prisoners were to be exchanged with Israel ending the war. In the final phase, the bodies of the captives and prisoners were to be exchanged, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the reconstruction of Gaza were to begin.

After abandoning the ceasefire agreement, Israel has continued to attack and kill Palestinians. It has also blocked international humanitarian aid, including food, clothing, and hospital supplies, to Gaza.

Israel’s recent decision to take over Gaza City has evoked domestic resistance from the families of the hostages still held by Hamas. It is not clear whether this will make Israel halt its planned military offensive.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled from Gaza during the initial months of Israeli military attacks. When they returned following the ceasefire agreement, after having lived in desperate conditions in different areas, most of them found their homes and neighbourhoods destroyed. If Israel forces out the one million Palestinians living in Gaza in the coming weeks, it is possible that there won’t be a city to come back to later on. Gaza City might share the fate of the city of Rafah, whose one million-strong civilian population Israel had evacuated last May to capture Hamas forces, and is now destroyed and uninhabitable.

One can imagine the terrifying predicament facing Palestinians in Gaza. Our hearts must go out to them at this time of existential threat. Might the powerful countries realise their responsibility to stop the Israelis from carrying out their genocidal plans? Let us hope so. That may even help start rebuilding trust in the international order and move away from the ad hocism that rules freely today.