By : Najla M. Shahwan
Jordan Daily – Amid international silence, mass killings , horrific massacres , use of multiple highly destructive bombs on densely civilian populated areas full of displaced people.
Ongoing brutal onslaught of violence by land, air and sea against the Gaza Strip with mass destruction, displacement and mounting loss of civilian life.
Silence and indifference surrounding these unprecedented massacres, which blatantly and repeatedly target civilians, serves as a green light for Israel to continue committing such atrocities.
The bombing continues throughout the entire Strip, with Israel targeting places designated as humanitarian areas, mainly shelter centers, including those set up in UNRWA-run schools.
Israel hindering the efforts of humanitarian organizations and refusing to take into consideration requests by international organizations to deliver aid.
The ground invasion continues to intensify and while civilians flee their homes for safety, Israeli forces aim and shoot.
Infants, children, women, people with disability, older people and other civilians have largely been the targets.
Israel’s continuous war on Gaza turns out to be one of the deadliest genocides in modern world history.
Despite the apparent evidence of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, the international community failed to take the necessary steps that would stop Israel from committing crimes against humanity.
The war in Gaza began in October 2023 , and it remains impossible to stop it despite all ceasefire calls from international communities.
At least 41,252 Palestinians have been killed and 95,497 wounded in Gaza while in Israel, the number of those killed in the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 was at least 1,139, while more than 200 people were taken captive.
It is quite obvious that Israel does not want to stop the war, to stop killing, or to stop its destruction in its war of annihilation against the Palestinian people in the face of the international community’s obvious and shameful weakness.
It is clear that the international community cannot protect civilians or deliver sufficient aid to the besieged and deprived people in Gaza.
At this point, the plight of Gaza people deserves to be recognized as beyond catastrophic .
The world has responded to Israel’s crimes by failing to stop the genocide, by keeping silent, or by supporting it.
Even though the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop killing and causing physical or mental harm to Palestinian civilians, to stop preventing childbirths and to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid as a precautionary measure, Israel disregarded the order and continues to kill, destroy, damage, torture, and engage in ethnic cleansing.
For its part, instead of living up to its responsibility of promoting international peace and security by passing a binding resolution to stop Israel’s aggression and violence, the Security Council could not play its proper role due to the use of several unjustified vetoes within a short period of time.
In addition , both Israeli military raids and settler attacks have increased in their number and in the violence used since October 7, and the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israelis living in illegal settlements regularly attack Palestinians, particularly those living in villages and rural communities, harassing them, as well as violently attacking them, and sometimes forcing them to leave their land.
Big military operations, with Israel rolling hundreds of soldiers, as well as fighter aircraft, drones and bulldozers, into action in West Bank governorates.
Israel itself has been describing the assaults as the biggest of its kind in the West Bank since 2002, when the Palestinian territory was in the middle of the second intifada, or uprising.
Between 7 October 2023 and 9 September 2024, Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced the demolition of 1,598 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, displacing more than 4,023 Palestinians, including about 1,689 children, which is more than double compared with the same period before 7 October, where about 1,370 Palestinians were displaced, including 640 children.
The demolitions after 7 October include over 500 inhabited structures, more than 300 agricultural structures, more than 100 water, sanitation and hygiene structures, and 200 livelihood structures.
Moreover, violations by the Israeli occupation authority and its settlers in Jerusalem and at the Sacred Mosque have been rising heavily.
Israel has been tightening its grip on the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa and most of the time preventing access to Muslim worshippers, while providing full cover for illegal Jewish settlers to perform Talmudic rituals at the Islamic site.
These practices, the Palestinian Jerusalem governorate, warned are a prelude to imposing a new reality on the ground, paving the way for the spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Compound.
Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Est Jerusalem and the West Bank includes killings , arrests, demolitions , destructions , displacement, house arrest and racist persecution explained the governorate.
“None of this will succeed in silencing the Palestinians or preventing them from defending their sacred sites and protecting Al-Aqsa.”
Pointing out the grave situation at Al-Aqsa and calling upon the international community to assume its responsibility for protecting Al-Aqsa and to end all assaults and crimes committed by the extremist Israeli government there, the governorate said and that it holds the occupation government accountable for any and all repercussions in Jerusalem.
The failures of the international community to ensure the protection of civilians and accountability in the past have led to this dark day.
The international community, which should be principally led by the United Nations, till date has failed to take effective action against the Israeli policy of targeting civilians, thereby allowing it to intensify egregiously criminal activities.
The conflict continues because of an “unfair occupation and flagrant injustice”.
The international community’s silence in the face of these atrocities serves as a green light for Israel to further trample on Palestinian blood and indulge in the genocide of Palestinians without facing any consequences or being held to account.
As part of their international obligations, all nations must put an end to Israel’s crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip the West Bank and East Jerusalem , safeguard civilians there, ensure that Israel abides by international law and the rulings of the International Court of Justice and impose effective sanctions on Israel by halting all forms of military, financial and political cooperation and support.
Najla M. Shahwan is Palestinian author, researcher and freelance journalist.She is also Chairwoman of the Palestinian Center for Children’s Literature ( PCCL ) , founder of Jana Woman Cultural Magazine and recipient of two prizes from the Palestinian Union of Writers.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Jordan Daily.
