The “serious risk to the maintenance of international peace and security” posed by the Gaza crisis has been discussed by UN Secretary General António Guterres, who cited the conflicts that have spilled over into “the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.”
Because he feels that this is a very important issue that needs to be brought to the council’s notice, he activated Article 99, which led to a vote on Friday in the UN Security Council.
The Israeli government harbours strong animosity against both the UN and its secretary general.
His description was challenged by the Israelis, who said that Mr. Guterres is actually a menace to global peace because he is caving in to Hamas’ demands to halt the conflict before their goal of destroying the organisation has been fully achieved.
The secretary general’s comment that one of the risks is that things in Gaza may grow so terrible that there would be a mass migration of Palestinians across the border into Egypt—a prospect that the Egyptian government is quite concerned about—won’t have helped ease the resentment.
A “total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza” was a real possibility, according to Mr. Guterres. According to the Palestinians, Israel want for all Palestinians to leave Gaza, so that is precisely what it wants.
I am unable to report from Gaza personally since Israel forbids journalists from entering the area, but based on the images and footage we can view, as well as the individuals we interact with, the secretary general’s statements appear to be true.
Civilians there are facing an unremorseful military campaign, and by every metric imaginable, their position is disastrous. Israel maintains that Hamas must take responsibility for employing civilians as human shields, even when they are doing everything in their power to rescue civilian lives.
The United States dutifully vetoed this cease-fire resolution at the UN. That does sound a little vacuous to people who are worried about the large number of casualties—the Americans assert that Israel is pledging to uphold the laws of war and prevent needless civilian casualties. However, they assert that there is a discrepancy between Israel’s actions and its words.
The secretary general’s plan, in my opinion, to push through a vote even though he knew it would be vetoed was to hasten the eventual moment when the United States will tell Israel that “enough is enough, you’ve had enough time and killed enough people and it’s time for a ceasefire.”
I believe Mr. Guterres’s strategy is to try and shorten that, in part by increasing international pressure and in part by embarrassing the Americans into thinking that they cannot continue to hold this position as it becomes less and less tenable. Some diplomats I have spoken to have suggested that they might give the Israelis another month.
The release of video showing Israel Defence Forces (IDF) captives in Gaza being taken away on trucks while just wearing their underpants has added to the strain. Seeing these individuals, who according to local accounts on social media may number up to 700, is a horrific picture of war.
The guys were removed from a UN school where they were seeking refuge and where others attempted to flee but were slain, according to those same sources, which also include the relatives of several of the individuals.
Yesterday, a horrifying video went viral showing six dead persons in the street, all of them were allegedly from the same neighbourhood and close to the same school. Among them was a bloodied corpse that was positioned atop a white flag that the man had clearly been carrying.
The IDF claims that while they are investigating potential suspects and attempting to identify the perpetrator of the horrific acts on October 7, they are also abiding by international law regarding conflicts.
However, some people feel that this is just another example of Israeli disdain to the health and dignity of Palestinians, and they have little compassion for what Israel is doing, or have lost sympathy due to the extent of death that has occurred in Gaza.
Given the current cold weather, it must be uncomfortable to be made to wander the streets in only their pants, with some people—as shown in the video—having their wrists tied behind their back and others blindfolded.
Some claim it’s really brutal, but the Israelis claim they can’t avoid it.
BBC
