Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffs US President Joe Biden’s call to ceasefire, saying that he would go to the end. Meanwhile on a greater level, the US is attempting to kill the international effort aimed to end the conflict.
The fighting continues in the Gaza Strip just as Israeli jet fighters launch a new offensive against Palestinians in the early hours of today. Their latest raid left a building in crumbles with four people buried under it, one of them happening to have been a reporter covering the news in the area. Though there was no reason for Israel to continue increasing its attacks against Gaza Strip in light of its military advantage over the enemy, experts speculate that this recent string of attacks does have something to do with yesterday’s protest and the unprecedented general strike in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They have argued that the Israeli government fears that conceding Gaza to Hamas at this moment and time would only embolden Palestinians in the occupied areas to rebel against the ruling government in the future.
In response to Israel’s continuing attacks against the Gaza Strip, Hamas and its allies have also ramped up their attack against Israel. Ever since May 10 Hamas barrage of missiles on Israel hasn’t subsided one bit. According to Israel’s military command, around 3500 rockets have been fired toward Israel, more so than any other previous conflict between the two combined. Though the majority of missiles have been intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome, even the fraction that managed to evade the interceptors have nonetheless left ruins in their wake. Worse than that however is the fear of living under constant threat of bombardment which has prompted anger and resentment against the government and Netanyahu most notably within the Israeli community itself.
Meanwhile, just as the public support for the Palestinian cause continues to grow, more and more organisations continue to rally behind it. Just so it goes, the Black Lives Matter movement announced that it stands with the Palestinians in their darkest hours, tweeting that they are “a movement committed to ending settler colonialism in all forms and will continue to advocate for Palestinian liberation”. The announcement received overwhelming support from the American-based Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement which has been championing the Americans’ support for the Palestinians for quite some time.
Aside from the support of different American factions, it appears that the recent unrelenting wave of solidarity has managed to wash over the Biden’s administration as well. Biden, who until this very day had decided to sit out this conflict, was reported to have had a long talk with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to convince him into ending this conflict as soon as possible. That being said, The United States still continues to block the UN Security Council from issuing a joint statement, an attempt spearheaded by France, arguing that it wouldn’t do much good while those knowing better argue that this is yet another attempt to buy more time for Benjamin Netanyahu to accomplish whatever he plans to get out of the conflict under the guise of benevolence.
Today marks the tenth day of conflict between Israel and Palestine. Despite the growing international demand for a quick ceasefire, both warring sides have declined and rebuffed such attempts. During the phone call mentioned above, Netanyahu apparently made it very clear to Biden that he was determined to get the job done. The diplomatic effort to prompt Hamas into backing down hasn’t worked either, since the organisation is listed as a terrorist one thanks to the Israeli lobbyists in the US and any official contact with the group would have serious repercussions for the intermediators. With the US blocking the international effort to end this calamity, only God knows how this conflict would be resolved. Nevertheless, prolonging this conflict does have one guaranteed result: The death of hundreds of innocent civilians whose blood will be on the hands of politicians valuing power over human lives.
