The tide is turning against Israel in the world court of opinion, and the war in Gaza is fuelling outrage beyond anything we have witnessed in decades, if not ever.
It’s fuelled by the coverage of Al Jazeera TV for example, which 24/7 airs harrowing live coverage of the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, with includes orders by Israel to evacuate Al-Quds Hospital.
The hospital has thousands of Palestinians injured, and many more families which have taken shelter in the compound as bombs fall all around the complex, smoke fills hallways jammed with casualties of war, and the panic is profound. As many as 12 thousand people are at the hospital says the Red Crescent Society which denies Hamas gunmen are there, stating no one with weapons are allowed inside.
Israel’s Army spokesman has made a case that hospitals in Gaza are also shelters for Hamas terrorists, and even released graphic models which claim under the hospitals are tunnels and command and control areas used by Hamas.
Scenes of children who are lying in hospital beds, injured by falling bombs from Israeli war planes are harrowing.
The voices of International organizations calling for a cease fire that has killed as many as 8000 Palestinians including 3000 children are a chorus of alarm all stating that the war is claiming innocent lives in intolerable numbers.
“We reiterate - it’s impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives. Under International Humanitarian Law, healthcare must always be protected,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of WHO, posted on X/Twitter.
Government’s in the middle east, and in the west, are all facing demands by their own citizens to back a ceasefire in Gaza, as protesters say it’s a “genocide” that is being carried out in Gaza.
Here in London, more than 300 thousand protesters, some say it was half a million, filled the streets on the weekend supporting Palestinian people and denouncing Israel’s Gaza attacks.
The support for the UK Government’s position that Israel has a right to strike Hamas in Gaza is rapidly dwindling, and the P.M., Rishi Sunak’s position that falls short of calling for a ceasefire.
Protesters have ripped down posters of the missing 222 Israeli’s who are held as hostages in Gaza, many of them also children, said to be injured in Hamas attacks on Oct 7 on Israeli towns and villages which killed 1400 innocent people, many butchered in their own homes.
There were protests in many European cities against the brutality of the Israeli campaign in Gaza, and the outrage is only increasing.
Notable are fake social media posts which claim to quote Turkey’s President Erdogen as threatening direct intervention in the war against Israel.
In the Oct. 17 message, which was written in Turkish, the president did “invite all humanity” to help stop the “unprecedented brutality in Gaza,” as the posts claim. But he did not say or write “if not we will do it”.
The U.S. is in turn said to be pressuring Israel to allow in more aid trucks from Egypt, in calls between Israeli PM Netanyahu and American President Biden.
The UN, says calls by Israel for Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza are impossible in a situation where 2.3 million Palestinians have no where to go.
Inside Israel, families of hostages have demanded P.M. Netanyahu release all Palestinian prisoners, in return for the safe return of their loves ones.
Talks are continuing for the Israeli hostages held in Gaza, although to date efforts brokered by among others including Qatar have had little success, and Israel sees military action in Gaza as a way to pressure Hamas.
Is there another way to remove radical Hamas from Gaza and return a Palestinian authority which can come to some kind of terms with Israel before the entire region risks a broader conflict?
That should be a discussion held at the highest levels of Governments, to stop this violence.
Hamas and it’s Iranian backers won’t work for peace, because they seek to split the middle east to strength their own positions, and that includes causing chaos in the west.
The war in Gaza serves Hamas’ interests in the short term, as they are currently seen by Palestinians as a resistance movement, not as a terrorist organization.
And as Hamas strengthens, the PLO lead Palestinian authority in the west bank is weakened. These are the opposite outcomes of what Israel actually needs right now, a more reasonable Palestinian address to negotiate with and find peace.
I believe the civilian casualties in Gaza are too many, and Israel will have to reassess how to remove Hamas from power, while protecting innocent Palestinians caught in the crossfire.
It sounds impossible to do, but it must be done.
HAMAS started this mess and now sits back and watches innocent people on both sides suffer. They don't care. Since the beginning of the Palestinians moving into Gaza, the world and Israel have given money and man power to build an infrastructure in Gaza. Hamas has confiscated the money and materials to build weapons, not to help the citizens of Gaza.
There must be a metaphor for this mess. HAMAS just sits back and watches innocent people and children suffering with the goal of pushing Israel into the sea. How can there be peace, with groups like Hamas running the ship?