It is approaching a year since the Hamas atrocities of 7 October, in which 1,200 people were killed, and the beginning of the Israeli retaliation. Health authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza say that 41,118 people have now been killed, with 95,125 injured; a quarter of those are believed to have suffered life-changing injuries.
The pace of killing may have slowed, but the deaths and suffering are no less horrifying. On Wednesday, six UN aid workers were among at least 18 people killed by an Israeli strike on a school in Nuseirat, central Gaza, where displaced people were sheltering. The day before, at least 19 people were killed by an Israeli attack in a supposed “safe zone” in Khan Younis to which people had been urged to flee by the Israeli military. On both occasions, Israel claimed it was targeting Hamas command and control centres. The strikes came less than a fortnight after six Israeli hostages were found dead, reportedly shot in the head by their captors as Israeli forces approached.
A US-backed deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages has been on the negotiating table since late May. But what was evident 11 months ago is still more obvious now: there is no exit in sight without a clear strategy, and with a prime minister prolonging the war from his own political considerations. This is the verdict on Benjamin Netanyahu not only from political opponents, but from his own citizens, the former head of their internal security service, and the president of their staunchest ally.
“What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable,” the UN secretary general, António Guterres, wrote following the attack on the Unrwa school. “These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now.” Not only is Mr Netanyahu failing to heed Mr Guterres’s words; he is ignoring him entirely. Mr Guterres told Reuters that the Israeli prime minister has not taken his calls since 7 October. Joe Biden may express his frustration, most recently calling the Israel Defense Force’s fatal shooting of the American-Turkish dual national Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi at a West Bank protest against settlements “totally unacceptable”, but does little more. He has yet to call for an independent inquiry into the killing.
Meanwhile the deaths in Gaza mount. Relief groups say that the flow of aid remains so wholly inadequate that 1 million people, around half the population, will not have adequate food this month – even as loaded trucks sit waiting at checkpoints. Traumatised survivors, many of them injured as well as bereaved, are struggling for basic supplies. With 90% of the strip now covered by evacuation directives, many have been displaced multiple times, and no longer have homes to which they could return.
If the war ended tomorrow, the death toll would continue to rise due to these grim conditions and the diseases they engender. But the end appears no closer. The domestic protests that followed the killing of the six hostages showed no sign of shifting Mr Netanyahu, and he is anticipating Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Kamala Harris has offered a more sympathetic tone than Mr Biden to Palestinians, but no new prescription to alleviate their suffering should she win in November. The inadequacy of current US policy is ever more evident as the situation in the West Bank deteriorates and fears grow that Israel and Hezbollah are drifting towards full-blown war. The nightmare goes on.
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