Never in this century has so much destruction been wrought on so many by so few. The death toll in Israel’s carnage in Gaza has crossed 32,000, satellite data shows that at least half the enclave’s buildings have been razed, and relief agencies have warned that at least half the population is facing an imminent famine. Meanwhile, food prices have skyrocketed, some of it “25 times more expensive than before the war”, a UN agency has reported. This distraught picture is from before Monday when the UN Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire; the resolution—the first to pass after several attempts—also demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages captured by Hamas.
Pious utterings by world leaders—like the civilian toll is “far too high” and the humanitarian aid reaching Gazans “far too low”—have fallen on deaf ears in the Israeli government, which firmly controls the spigot on aid flow. After the UN resolution, the Benjamin Netanyahu government ditched a delegation’s visit to Washington sought by US President Joe Biden to offer alternatives to a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the southern area sheltering most Gazans.
Jewish American writer Phyllis Bennis put a frame on the political quagmire when she said this Israeli government comprises “the right, the far right, the extreme right, and what I would carefully call the fascist right”. So Netanyahu, who is fighting for his political survival, fears attacks from his right rather than from leaders of any other stripe. But by targeting women and children, the majority of those killed, Israel has ensured it will be more unsafe in the future than it was before October.
What can the world do? All eyes are on Israel’s biggest benefactor, the US, whose abstention from voting allowed the Security Council resolution to pass. Sharp rebukes from the US and other Western administrations have increased, with the indication that much harsher words are being used behind doors. The UN resolution should give the global community the legal—and, for some, moral—cover it needs to intervene. The West is still reeling from the guilt of intervening too late in World War II, which led to the formation of Israel. It would be a supreme irony and a colossal failure of humanity if we delay a second time within a century.