The actions of world leaders are too weak, too slow, as a non-binding UN resolution for a ceasefire has done nothing to reign in the indiscriminate violence unleashed on a helpless people of Gaza, says humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
MSF has decried the global response in its latest call for an immediate ceasefire to prevent more deaths in Gaza and allow desperately needed humanitarian supplies into the territory.
“Since Friday October 27, the bombing by the Israeli forces has intensified to a degree not seen until now: northern Gaza is being razed to the ground, while the whole Strip is being hit and civilians have no place to take shelter.
The international community must take stronger action to urge Israel to stop the bloodshed. People are being killed and forcibly displaced from their homes, and water and fuel are running low.
“The atrocity is on a scale never seen before in Gaza,” said the organisation.
Israeli forces were expanding ground operations in Gaza while their fighter jets have struck hundreds more Hamas targets and civilians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has referred to the intensified attacks as the second phase of a three-week-old war.
Netanyahu warned Israelis on Saturday to expect a “long and hard” campaign.
However, he stopped short of calling the current incursions into Gaza an invasion.
Israel has tightened its blockade and bombarded Gaza since Hamas militants staged a devastating October 7 cross-border attack, killing at least 1400 people and taking more than 200 people hostage.
On Friday evening, the death toll already stood at more than 7 300 according to the local health authorities, with approximately 19000 injured, and it may have become a lot worse after the most intense night of bombing since the start of the war.
MSF surgeon in Gaza, Dr Mohammed Obeid, recently detailed the plight of civilians.
“Hospitals are flooded with patients; amputations and surgeries are being carried out without proper anaesthesia, and morgues are flooded with dead bodies”.
The MSF has warned that without proper burials and clearance of dead bodies from the rubble, outbreaks of disease will pose an additional threat to the people of the Gaza Strip.
The total communications blackout on October 27 further limits the ability to coordinate, and provide humanitarian and medical assistance.
People under the rubble, pregnant women who are about to deliver, and the elderly are not able to seek help when they need it the most. Because of the blackout, MSF had lost contact with most of its Palestinian staff, said the organisation.
“Helpless people are being subjected to horrific bombing. Families have nowhere to run or to hide, as hell is unleashed on them. We need a ceasefire now.
“Water, food, fuel, medical supplies and humanitarian aid in Gaza need to be urgently restored,” said Dr Christos Christou, MSF International President.
Meanwhile, the South African government said that those responsible for the deaths of more than 3257 children must be held accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and in the case of the scale of deaths in Gaza and increasingly in the West Bank, the crime of genocide must also be investigated.
In a statement on Monday, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), said: “Save the Children has reported that the number of children killed in Gaza over the last three weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed across all the world’s conflict zones since 2019.
“Since October 7, more than 3257 children are reported to have been killed.
“This includes at least 3195 in Gaza, 33 in the West Bank and 29 in Israel.
“Children make up more than 40% of the 7 703 people killed in Gaza.
“Save the Children estimates that these numbers are likely to go up given that over 1000 children are missing with many trapped under the ruins and rubble as a result of Israel’s indiscriminate airstrikes on Gaza.
The scale of deaths in Gaza are a direct result of the “unlawful actions by Israel on the peoples of Gaza.”
“As South Africa and the majority of countries stated at the United Nations General Assembly on 27 October 2023, as part of the debate on a resolution where more than two-thirds of the General Assembly responded positively to a call for an immediate ceasefire, under the laws of occupation which forms part of the law of armed conflict, Israel does not have the ‘right to defend itself’ using military means as Israel is an occupying power.
“This is a fact, not an allegation.” The department said the notion of Israel’s right to defend itself through military means has been used erroneously by some, and deliberately by others, to justify the unlawful use of force by Israel on the people of Palestine in Gaza and the West Bank.
“The numbers of non-combatants killed, especially the numbers of children killed, requires the world to show that it is serious about global accountability.
“The ICC has charged Russian President Vladimir Putin with unlawfully taking children out of Ukraine to Russia. Consequently, the wilful killing of children in Gaza surely requires the ICC prosecutor to use his independent powers to initiate prosecutions urgently.
“Failure to do so will serve to exacerbate the growing cynicism that international criminal law is applied selectively for political purposes.”
Cape Times