An Israeli strike on a Gaza ambulance convoy killed 15 people on Saturday, Palestinian medics said [photo credit: Twitter / X]
The attacks came after Benjamin Netanyahu had rejected a plea from US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken who was on on a three day visit
ostensibly designed to pull the Israelis and the region back from the
threat of all-out war. Blinken had reiterated the US position
that: “It is very important that when it comes to the protection of
civilians who are caught in the crossfire of Hamas’ making, that
everything be done to protect them.” The Israeli response was brutally
clear.
On Saturday Blinken was in Jordan to be told by the kingdom’s foreign minister that the US must pressure Israel to halt the war. On Sunday he met with the PA’s Mahmoud Abbas
who made the same demand. Other Arab states have been emphatic in
calling for a ceasefire. Blinken has demurred and equivocated claiming a
ceasefire would be used by Hamas.
In response to whatever US pressure had exerted Netanyahu had already said there would be no pause to the campaign unless and until all hostages are released. As Sami Hamdi noted in our 30 October podcast
it is very much in Netanyahu’s interest to continue the war as it
diverts attention from his efforts to effect changes in the country’s
judicial system that are aimed at ending any threat of him being
convicted and jailed on fraud and corruption charges.
Also on Saturday the UNRWA Commissioner-General Phillippe Lazzarini, having just returned from Gaza, addressed
a committee of the General Assembly. He noted that 72 UNRWA staff have
been killed in Gaza “the highest number of aid workers killed in a
conflict in such a short time in the history of the UN.”
He spoke of UN buildings hit by the Israelis since 7 October, “nearly
fifty” and of four schools sheltering refugees bombed on Friday killing
“at least 23 and injuring at least 35, ” adding “entire families moved
to our shelters with the hope that they would be safe, in a UN building,
under the UN flag.”
The relentless bombing of Gaza has created an ongoing disaster for
the civilians that Blinken had asked Netanyahu to “do everything to
protect.” Lazzarini’s chilling description of the reality on the ground
shows the contempt with which Israel treats such requests:
In my discussions with my staff in Gaza, they reported that basic
services, including health care, are collapsing. Fuel, medicine, food
and water are all running out.
Depriving a whole population of items essential for survival is
collective punishment. It is a violation of international humanitarian
law.
….
My UNRWA colleagues are a glimmer of hope for the entire Gaza Strip, a ray of light as humanity sinks into darkness.
But they will soon be unable to operate if we do not act decisively now.
Let me be clear -- a handful of convoys being allowed through
Rafah does not make for a meaningful humanitarian operation, nor is it
commensurate with the intense political and diplomatic shuttling that
has been taking place.
How is it that a near full siege is imposed for two weeks, then
lifted ever so slightly to allow a trickle of aid, and no fuel in?
The UNRWA chief also drew attention to the situation in the West Bank
where settler vigilantes, urged on by key ministers in the Netanyahu
government are attacking and killing Palestinians while driving them
from their homes and off their land:
The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is simmering with tension, as violence has reached unprecedented levels not seen in the last 15 years.
Rising settler attacks and movement restrictions have displaced over 800 people in the West Bank since October 7th.
The Israeli military is conducting daily incursions into refugee camps.
According to OCHA, the total number of Palestinians killed by
Israeli forces or settlers since October 7th is 123, including 34
children.
In the midst of all this carnage, the UK government remains largely
silent and, as is the opposition Labour Party, stout in support of
Israel. The prime minister Rishi Sunak though he found no time to
comment on, let alone call for a temporary cease-fire, did find time to
discuss with Elon Musk the future of AI.
The BBC described
the PM as “seemingly happy to play host to his famous guest.” In a
bizarre conversation from which most journalists were excluded Sunak
looked “perhaps even slightly bowled over by the controversial
billionaire, who he called a ‘brilliant innovator and technologist.’"
The owner of Tesla and X, formerly known as Twitter, mused at length
about the power of AI, “the most disruptive force in history.” He
opined: "There will come a point where no job is needed - you can have a
job if you want one for personal satisfaction but AI will do
everything. It's both good and bad - one of the challenges in the future
will be how do we find meaning in life."
For Palestinians - and for hundreds of millions in the Global South -
the acquiescence of Western governments to the destruction of Gaza and
its 2.3 million people, and the ongoing attacks in the West Bank and
East Jerusalem by settler thugs, meaning and message are clear.
Palestinian lives have little or no value, their deaths are unfortunate
statistics, acceptable collateral damage as Israel vengefully and
ruthlessly exerts its ‘right to self-defence.’