Gaza: From open-air prison to a colossal graveyard

The Hamas-Israel ceasefire announced on 16 February has undoubtedly brought some relief for the Palestinians and for the dwindling sea of humanity (including some enlightened Jews) who had the moral fortitude to speak out against the merciless Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

Although Hamas reprehensibly triggered the skirmish on 7 October 2023 and deserves condemnation, the 15-month asymmetrical war waged by Israel has brought horrific destruction, misery and death:

Over 46,707 killed (including 18,000 children); 110,265 injured; 2.2 million people subjected to food insecurity; 1.9 million people (95% of the population) displaced; the living habitat seriously degraded by an estimated 85,000 tonnes of explosives dropped on Gaza; more than 85% of health care facilities and 12 universities have been turned to rubble as has much of civilian infrastructure.

Two photos show how a once bustling neighbourhood in Jabalia was transformed into hell on earth!
{Insert Image 1 – Jabalia Neighbourhood}

A neighbourhood in Jabalia before the conflict and January 2025. Source BBC Verify

The great majority of UN members, while acknowledging the right of self-defence, have condemned Israel for excessive use of force, and violation on international humanitarian law.

However, the US veto in the Security Council has protected Israel from any sanctions for the genocidal war. In defiance of the moral scorn heaped on this pariah state at the UN General Assembly, USA and Germany have continued to provide funds and weapons enabling Israel to persevere with the carnage.

Australia, another ally of Israel, has nonchalantly made muted comments on civilian casualties in addition to providing diplomatic support and humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The Australian government’s stance on the Middle East conflict is refreshingly robust compared to previous governments, much to the chagrin of right-leaning political establishment and the powerful Israeli lobby.

Israel has the right to defend itself is not disputed but how it goes about doing it matters. Starving Gazans and indiscriminately bombing civilians are just two of the myriad violations perpetrated by Israel which are tantamount to genocide.

Being a champion of rules based international order and a party to various international treaties, Australia is obliged to act if Israeli responses are not within the ambit of international law and conventions.

We will have an opportunity to test Australia’s resolve if individuals against whom the International Criminal Court have issued arrest warrants ever enter our shores. This includes Benjamin Netanyahu.

By keeping silent or mildly rebuking Israel, its allies have arguably been complicit in many war crimes and infringement of international humanitarian law over the past 76 years.

The hypocrisy displayed by the West is mind boggling: any Palestinian violence against Israeli occupation justifies cruel and even unlawful response, but no amount of Israeli violence justifies any Palestinian response.

The Australian Prime Minister was quick to welcome the ceasefire. He noted that Hamas should have no further role in governance of Gaza.

This is not an unreasonable proposition but the counter factual is distressing: Israel continued with relentless oppression and occupation of Palestine (including Gaza) for 58 years to 2007, when Hamas was not in power.

The Australian PM went on to say in the press release that “Any future Palestinian state must not be in a position to threaten Israel’s security”.

Linking Palestinian nationhood to threats to Israel’s security is troubling. Israel could disingenuously claim that Palestinian school children carrying relatively innocuous weapons such as a sling or pepper spray to protect themselves against illegal-settler violence is a threat to its security.

Taking the PM’s statement to its logical conclusion, Israel has the right to demand total subservience of the Palestinian State, denying it a modicum of dignity and self-respect.

Threats to Israeli security can be mitigated by upgrading its defences rather than perpetually subjugating the Palestinians.

Israel’s past actions and behaviours of its backers point to a still birth of the Two States! To avoid this, additional pressure must be brought to bear on Israel by its allies such as recognising Palestine as a sovereign nation even before negotiations on Two States have commenced.

After all, 146 countries out of 193 UN member states have already done so, Australia should do the same.

Australian sympathisers of Palestine are in a conundrum regarding the message they want to send to the politicians in the coming federal election: Which political party or politician is best placed to advance Palestinian interest by ending colonisation and occupation?

There is also much that individuals can do through grass root activism, outside the political system, to end occupation. Australians can constructively channel their anger and dismay by supporting the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

BDS targets Israel’s regime of oppression; it does not target an identity as such but detractors of the Palestinian cause have mischievously labelled it as antisemitic.

“…there is nothing Jewish about Israel’s occupation, settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, apartheid or genocide, and therefore, there’s nothing anti-Jewish in supporting BDS to dismantle those systems, those structures of oppression and those crimes,” says the cofounder of the BDS movement Mr Barghouti.

Norway divested its $500 million worth of Israeli bonds under pressure from the largest trade union. Intel cancelled a project of investing $25 billion near Tel Aviv, 15 miles from Gaza.

PUMA, another international company, ended it sponsorship with the Israel Football Association in Dec last year after it was named in the global boycott campaign in 2018. Palestinian supporters may find a conversation with their superannuation fund managers quite worthwhile about BDS.

Gaza ceasefire coincided with the passing away of one of the great champions of Palestine, Jimmy Carter the 39th American President. In his book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid (2006), he observed that Israel was practicing apartheid and reasoned that “Israel’s continued control and colonisation of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land.”

Despite mounting evidence of violations of Palestinians’ rights and other egregious crimes that accompany colonisation, Australian politicians are too timid to call Israel for what it is , like Jimmy Carter, except the Greens and Senator Paymen.

Internally displaced children who fled Israeli bombardment in north Gaza now live in makeshift tents in Khan Younis, seen here boiling a kettle

Gaza, once the largest open-air prison in the world, now resembles a massive graveyard in which are buried not only scores of innocent women and children but also the ideals and the moral compass of a civilised society.

Among those who survived, the UN estimates that 17,000 are battered and traumatised children who are separated from their parents – either killed, taken away by IDF or buried alive under the rubble.

To Israel’s allies they are merely collateral damage, like many others killed or injured. The UN has estimated that Gaza will need $US40 billion to rebuild, this is a huge impost that the state of Israel has placed on the rest of the World.

The reconstruction funds will likely flow through the international banking system.

Who will profit from this?