The Israeli war on Gaza continues unabated despite global calls for a ceasefire with pro Palestinian event on the rise in the UK, EU and US with Democrats coming out in support of Palestinians and questioning US military assistance to Tel Aviv.
Our people in the Gaza Strip are facing a war of genocide and massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces in full view of the entire world.
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority President
Throughout the world people are condemning Israel and the inability to stop this war.
I say frankly to the American statesmen, who are now managing the genocide in Palestine.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iranian Foreign Minister
I am raising alarm about the possibly catastrophic consequences of large scale ground operations in Gaza, and the potential for 1000s more civilians to die.
Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
The streets have spoken. Some have asked what good protest will do for Palestinians. For starters, it has changed the mind of many politicians on Israel.
For example in the UK which has held large pro Palestine protests for three consecutive weeks.
A string of resignations have rocked the British opposition Labour Party ever since party leader Keir Starmer said Israel had the right to cut power and water supplies to Palestinians living in Gaza.
And Israel has every right to defend herself.
Sir Keir Starmer, Labor Party, Leader
In the US, pro Palestinian events have been held across the country. Many Democrats have come out in support of Palestinians. over Israel, questioning the US military assistance
Israel has dropped more bombs in the last 10 days than we dropped in a whole year in Afghanistan.
Ilhan Omar, US Member of Congress
One should not forget the Leahy Law, the US human rights law that prohibits the US from providing equipments and training to a foreign entity suspected of committing gross human rights violations.
Even some UN members are changing their tone as evinced
Condemnations of Israel have come from many European officials including officials in Spain, the EU’s Josep Borrell, and, Scotland’s First Minister, Hamza Yusuf, who condemned Israel’s collective punishment.
However, the South African foreign minister’s remarks topped the list.
… countries like South Africa have been consistent in their support for Palestine and have never deviated from the belief President Mandela held that until the people of Palestine are free, South Africa will not be fully free.
Naledi Pandor, South African Foreign Minister
Israel has finally begun ground incursions into the Gaza Strip, where, apparently, it wants to execute block by block urban warfare, intent on destroying Hamas no matter what the human cost may be.
The battle will be an extensive one …, but there will be a price for that, and we will have a price to pay, but we will go on until we complete this operation to the fullest.
Yoav Gallant, Israeli Minister for Military Affairs
This so called new phase is the second of the three phases that the Israeli Minister of Military Affairs announced a few weeks ago.
The first phase, a military bombing campaign; the second, a ground maneuver; and the third, the creation of a new security regime in the Gaza Strip, relieving Israel from the responsibility of day to day life in the enclave.
This third phase raises a lot of questions as to what Gallant meant by a new security regime and the removal of Israel’s responsibility for day to day life in the Gaza Strip.
On the ground operation, Frank McKenzie, a retired US Marine four star general has said that Hamas fighters will seek to draw Israeli forces into a city street fight.
General McKenzie believes Hamas will use their tunnel network to get in behind the attack or to attack from all sides to make it very difficult for Israel to effectively employ any technological advantage it possesses.
The tunnels are rather extensive, a complex web which is multifunctional in scope and extremely well hidden.
It is feared that Israel, supposedly having one of the most advanced militaries in the world, with a stockpile of American precision guided munitions, will get drawn into an urban war, which it may not be equipped to handle.
Hamas have a much, much stronger hand given that they’ve been building these tunnels over 16 years. They (Hamas) have been ruling Gaza, and it’s a town, they have a town under ground that they are in control of, not the Israeli army.
Nomi Bar-Yaacov, Associate Fellow, Chatham House
Does Israel have a long term strategy?
They don’t have an end game; they don’t have an answer to the crucial question: what will be the day after?
Gideon Levy, Israeli Journalist and Author
The US does actually have an end game in mind, to uproot Palestinians, commit another Nakba and send Palestinians to other countries such as Egypt, or to the Sinai desert.
