It’s high time for President Donald Trump and western leaders to exert forceful pressure onto Israel to stop the bombings and blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The entire population of Gaza is experiencing prolonged shortages of food, and half a million Gazans are in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation and illness according to the World Health Organization.
Death count of Gazans
There are several reports showing different totals of Gazan deaths. The highest estimate was recently published by the Harvard Dataverse revealing Israel has “disappeared” at least 377,000 Palestinians since the war started in October 2023. Half of this number is believed to be Palestinian children.
Last year, the Lancet medical journal released a study showing that Israel likely undercounted the first nine months of the war by 41%, estimating that Israel’s assault on Gaza could lead to between 149,000 and 598,000 deaths. The most recent official war casualty count by the Gaza Health Ministry is at 50,609.
Pick up where they left off
Prior to the outbreak of the Israel-Iran war, more than a year and a half later, finally western leaders broke their silence and demanded an end to the suffering of Palestinians. This even as millions around the globe have been protesting in the streets many months ago.
Democratic senators like Bernie Sanders and Chris van Hollen, for example, called Israel’s actions in Gaza “ethnic cleansing.” Scores of MPs in the British Parliament came out condemning Israel and calling on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to immediately recognize a Palestinian state. France’s President Emmanuel Macron called Israel’s complete blockade on aid into Gaza “shameful and unacceptable.” He added, “My job is to do everything I can to make it stop.” Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, denounced the blockade, calling it “unjustifiable.” She added, “I have always recalled the urgency of finding a way to end the hostilities and respect international law and international humanitarian law.”
There was an avalanche of momentum building and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be cornered to act on Palestine – but then attention was diverted as Bibi launched a surprise attack on Iran.
Purposeful diversion or not, world leaders must return to where they left off in calling for an end to the carnage in Gaza.
Illegal starvation
Since March this year, coinciding with the end of the ceasefire, Israel has reinstated an even harsher blockade of food, water, medical supplies on Gaza in what is a violation of international law showcasing a clear intent to wield starvation as a weapon of war.
In a joint statement, 15 UN agencies and more than 200 charities and humanitarian groups denounced Israel’s “aid” plan. Israel cut off all independent humanitarian aid and instead it controls where and how much food and aid is distributed in Gaza. The images of children lined up holding tin pots for soup and reported killings of Gazans by IDF soldiers standing in line to get food show that distribution operations are failing.
Shared humanity, end the violence
As a matter of shared humanity there must be an end to the violence and the relentless destruction of life and dignity in Gaza. Already vast desolation haunts Gazans as the landscape practically everywhere is rubble. Gazans have been forced to relocate to so-called safe zones multiple times but have been bombed at these locations. Think about the fact that some two million people are essentially homeless with nowhere safe to go. It’s apocalyptic. The entire health infrastructure collapsed, there’s no formal education, no adequate sources of food, water or electricity.
No one is safe: doctors, medics, journalists, international aid workers, children – all noncombatants. Those who do survive have lost family members, neighbors, body parts and are forever traumatized. Their calls for help on social media are heard. A majority of Americans favor that this war or genocide ends, but our politicians are neither listening to Palestinians’ cries for help nor Americans’ demands for the bombings to stop.
Israeli authorities justify the continued bombing and blockade because they say Israel is at war and Israeli hostages haven’t been released. But international legal scholars and human rights organizations have increasingly classified the carnage as a form of collective punishment, which practice, is prohibited under the Geneva Conventions.
Reports from the United Nations Special Rapporteur indicate that the prolonged nature of the blockade, combined with the systematic deprivation of basic necessities, may meet the criteria of genocide under international law (UNHRC, 2024).
The lack of accountability in Israel has emboldened the continuation of such breaches of international law. The U.S. has been providing diplomatic cover for Israel at the UN despite a majority of Americans finding the suffering in Gaza painfully intolerable.
If Trump is as he claims to be, a leader of peace, he must swiftly bring an end to this genocide and work to broker a final peaceful solution so that both Israelis and Palestinians can coexist in peace and freedom.
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