With horrific clarity, the available evidence tells us a truly shocking immorality tale.
Israeli sources tell us that the numbers of the dead as a result of the Hamas attacks of October 7th is an estimated 1,200 (final figures remain unclear). As of early March, international sources tell us the number of Palestinian dead is now over 30,000. In that context, talk of the ‘right to freedom’ or ‘self-defence’ or discussions around ‘proportionality’ or the accuracy of figures simply mocks the dead.
According to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, overall more than 100,000 people have been killed or wounded since early October, equivalent to approximately one in every 20 children, women, and men. Tens of thousands remain ‘missing’. Dismissing such figures with talk of blaming the ‘other side’ is grotesquely obscene.
Upwards of 17,000 children have been made orphans or have been separated from their families and, most viciously of all, they will carry the ‘scars of physical and emotional trauma for life.
The Commissioner referred to the killing of civilians, the reports of torture and the sexual violence inflicted by Hamas and others as well as the taking and holding of hostages as ‘appalling and entirely wrong.’ So too, the ‘brutality of the Israeli response’.
The current situation in Gaza amounts to ‘carnage’ with ‘war crimes being committed by all parties in the conflict’.
And now, to top all that, a totally manufactured humanitarian disaster in all its dimensions is before us. Malnutrition, physical and mental health trauma is rampant. Medical and aid workers maimed and killed, hospitals, ambulances, and aid convoys attacked, schools demolished and three-quarters of the Gazan population forcefully and menacingly displaced, often many times.
All the signs are that, in this deadliest of wars (for Palestinians), Gaza now has the highest proportion of people living with food deprivation of anywhere in the world. A situation unknown before October 7th. Since that date, UNICEF and others estimate that this deprivation among children in northern Gaza has increased to 15%. Additionally, an estimated 90% of children under 5 are now affected by an infectious disease, including 70% with diarrhoea.
Gaza deliberately and brutally being made ‘unliveable’ for its people.
The warning now being widely issued is for impending famine. Given the continuing war with its inevitable humanitarian crisis and with very limited food supplies entering the country, famine looks inevitable without urgent and large-scale international intervention.
This manufactured reality is taking place in a situation where the world’s most sophisticated information, logistics and hardware are in play daily but shockingly used almost exclusively for war.
The war is disastrous for Gaza and for Palestine, increasingly damaging for Israel and Israelis as well as for the so-called international ‘community’ (what a debased concept that has become). The war is a disaster for the region, for its inhabitants and for their future. The war is relentlessly stoking the fires of future enmity, hatred, and fury.
The concept of human rights, its vital institutions, and processes as well as the UN are now under direct attack. Militarism and hypocrisy are enjoying a field day, something that will have entirely negative consequences for all of us.
But Wall St and the military-industrial complex is booming with most of the prominent arms manufacturers rubbing their hands (and their bloated accounts) in glee, debating where next to recommend investment. Artillery is apparently the current ‘hot ticket’.
Their previous and much vaunted and over-hyped commitment to respecting human rights in the delivery of their ‘trade’ is now in absolute tatters.
Once again, peace-making and peacemakers are ridiculed and attacked by those who prefer militarism and warmongering as a way of life. Early in this war, those daring to urge a ceasefire were characterised as Hamas appeasers or supporters until the body count reached the necessary threshold where ceasefire talk was suddenly transformed into international ‘diplomacy’.
In marking the 75th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights 150+ states (including Malta) made solemn pledges describing how they would make rights more robust and real, especially those related to women and children. The list of pledges included those from the United States, the UK, (see their pledges on militarism and human rights), Israel (see especially pledge 1) and Iran plus many others.
Most of those supplying arms to Israel or support to Hamas are included in that list of pledge-makers. Their supplies have had devastating consequences for human rights to date.
Talk of ceasefires, international intervention in the name of humanitarianism, daring to mention the need to halt the killing, to respect international law and human rights is simply an initial first step. Challenging the war mongers and their warmongering another vital first step.
Without this, beginning again the tortuous road to talking peace and security (or indeed even a stable future) for anyone in the region simply a shibboleth.