AS ISRAELI forces resume and expand their military offensive by air, ground and sea on the Gaza Strip, forcibly displacing people and deliberately blocking essential aid, the World Food Programme on April 25 reported that all its food stocks for families in Gaza were exhausted and it had served its last hot meals. At least 25 bakeries distributing bread also closed on March 31 as no humanitarian or commercial supplies have entered Gaza for more than seven weeks, with all major border crossing points having been closed. On April 17, a survey of 47 international and Palestinian NGOs reported that 95 per cent of agencies had suspended or reduced services in Gaza since March 18, when Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire. The United Nations鈥� special rapporteur on the right to food said that Israel had deliberately starved Palestinians in Gaza as a leverage in political negotiations. The European Union and Canada condemned the use of starvation as a weapon but continued the military support for the mission of Israel. The west should abandon its moral duplicity, stop arming Israel and support the UN call for an immediate ceasefire on humanitarian grounds.
On January 19, Israel agreed to a ceasefire deal with Hamas after 15 months of relentless bombardment that has killed about 50,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023. Eighty per cent of civilian infrastructure has, meanwhile, been damaged and destroyed. All hospitals in Gaza have been hit and none is fully functional. Educational infrastructure, including all the 13 universities in Gaza, are destroyed. The United Nations, as well as other major humanitarian organisations, has urged the global leadership to end the war and an immediate ceasefire. Citizens across the world have marched, supported the Palestinian cause and demanded major weapon-producing countries to stop arming Israel. Sadly, the west鈥檚 role, especially that of the United States, remains morally reprehensible. Instead of withdrawing the military support for Israeli war crimes, the United States persecutes its own citizens for participating in Palestine solidarity protests. Pro-Israeli foreign and military policy, however, has a long history. The United States, the first country to grant Israel recognition on May 14, 1948, engineered the Oslo and the Abraham accord to further consolidate Israel as the colonial settler state in occupied Palestine with support from major Arab states. The Arab world and the United States are equally responsible for the crimes in Gaza.
World leaders and Arab nations should, therefore, abandon their duplicitous position, facilitate an immediate ceasefire and end the impunity that the Israeli forces have historically enjoyed.
