TW: Mentions of starvation, sexual violence and death.
The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian aid” on the 26th of January, 2024. The legally binding order also demanded that Israel report back to the court after no more than a month, proving its compliance. However, one month in, the situation in Palestine has changed for the worse, with Israel still blocking lifesaving humanitarian aid and relentlessly bombing hospitals and areas of refuge. Their government has continued evading accountability with arguments devoid of remorse and humanity. Clearly, nothing seems to be phasing the Israeli government yet. Therefore, there is an urgent need to shift the focus for the next few minutes to understand what exactly is happening on the ground, how world leaders are responding to the genocide and why we need to be better activists.
Four Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1949 after the Second World War. These are still effective to this day. These conventions deal with people “who are not, or are no longer, taking part in hostilities.” The conventions have been summarised below by the International Committee of the Red Cross:
First Convention: On the care for the wounded and sick members of armed forces in the field. Second Convention: On the care of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked armed forces members at sea. Third Convention: On the treatment of prisoners of war. Fourth Convention: On the protection of civilian persons in times of war.
Naturally, one would expect that internationally agreed-upon conventions like these would always be upheld.
Doctors Without Borders’ medical coordinator for Palestine, Guillemette Thomas, said “[t]he situation in Nasser Hospital is yet another example of the way health care facilities are being dismantled one by one in this war. Even though they were initially told they could stay inside the facility, medical staff and patients were put in danger in a place where they should have been protected. We are outraged that, once again, they have had to pay a heavy price.” The organisation has also reported that young children, of say, the tender age of five, have told the medical staff that they want to die. This is a direct consequence of the traumatic experiences these children, most of them with no surviving families, have had to endure. Relief Web, a United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs service, put out a report on the 29th of February, 2024, stating that “[a]round 2.2 million people – the entire population of Gaza – is at imminent threat of starvation. Over 80% of the population is internally displaced, seeking safety from constant attacks in schools, hospitals, and increasingly in makeshift shelters in open areas and streets.”
Moreover, the Israeli forces have stripped Palestinian detainees of any remaining morsel of their dignity and, more particularly, women and girls. The UN has reported that women have faced various forms of sexual violence and degrading, inhumane treatment by the Israeli forces. Women have been denied the use of menstrual pads. “On at least one occasion, Palestinian women detained in Gaza were allegedly kept in a cage in the rain and cold, without food.” This is the situation on the ground. It is happening. It is real. It needs to stop.
What are world leaders doing while Israel intensifies its barbaric acts against the Palestinians? On the 14th of February, Australia, New Zealand and Canada’s Prime Ministers released a joint statement demanding an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, release of hostages and movement of humanitarian aid when they got to know of Israel's plans to launch a ground offensive in Rafah which is where most Palestinians had relocated to escape deadly attacks in the rest of the Gaza strip. Leaders of the highest rank from Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Russia and even the Foreign Policy Chief of the European Union and Arab League’s Secretary General have publicly condemned Israel.
However, big figures like Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak’s deplorable diplomatic prowess has adversely affected the situation. Take, for example, Biden casually discussing a ceasefire in Gaza while enjoying his oh-so-well-deserved ice cream, publicly declaring his support for Netanyahu and then, reportedly, expressing his frustration with him behind closed doors. Think of it as lauding your child in public and reprimanding them privately. As of 2nd March, as reported by Reuters, he “hope[d]” that there would be a ceasefire before the holy month of Ramadan but said “we’re not there yet”. After airdropping 35,000 meals on the same day, the White House has said that they would keep this a constant effort. Britain, on the other hand, is having to put up with a Prime Minister (PM) who is so profoundly unapologetic and apathetic towards the children in Gaza yet so sympathetic towards Netanyahu, who is mostly likely to be held guilty for committing war crimes. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron’s advice to Israel before they began their ground offence in Rafah was to “stop and think seriously”. At this stage of the conflict, to even think that an advisory like this, coming from the nation whose PM promised Israel that they would stand together in their darkest hour, would help in any way was a gross miscalculation. On the 16th of February, the USA vetoed yet another ceasefire resolution at the UNSC while the UK abstained from voting. Hence, both nations' calls for a ceasefire and hopes for peace were a sham.
While it is agreed that our leaders should be our representatives, sometimes they fall short of meeting our expectations. In such a situation, as global citizens, we must also introspect and ask ourselves what we can do to help. People need to become critical actors and take to the streets, help with fundraisers, write and talk about the ground realities, create pressure on their government, and ensure that their activism reaches the world beyond social media. We must not be silent spectators. The extraordinary documentation of the genocide is not just content to consume. The overwhelming presence of it on social media should not make us numb to the suffering of the Palestinian people. It needs to provoke empathy and a sense of responsibility. Dina Nayeri writes in her book “The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You” (2019) that instead of treating the story of such lives at risk as education or entertainment, “read as you would from a box of letters from a ruin, dispatches from another time that we dust off and readily believe, because the dead want nothing from us”. Hence, it is now more than ever that we need to express solidarity with those in grave suffering and fight to put a stop to a historic act of cruelty and discrimination against fellow members of the human race. Photo Credit: Motaz Azaiza
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