Humanitarian teams in conflict zone fall victim to air strikes as Tel Aviv ignores UN resolutions
Aseries of international condemnations and resolutions largely aimed at stopping Israel’s military strikes on the Gaza Strip have done little to change the precarious situation of aid-worker Nebal Farsakh and her colleagues, as well as the two million Palestinians struggling for survival in their homeland.
“(Despite the existence of) international humanitarian laws … our teams have been strategically and repeatedly targeted, which has resulted in the killing of 19 PRCS members (as of now),” Farsakh, the West Bank-based spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), told China Daily on Aug 5 via WhatsApp.
Farsakh noted that while several United Nations resolutions have been passed to restrain Israel since the war in Gaza started, they have had no impact in terms of ensuring the aid workers’ safety.
She said the PRCS’s objective is to ensure “the protection of our staff, the humanitarians, medical personnel and medical facilities” so that they can continue the life-saving work.
On Aug 3, the International Federation of Red Cross confirmed the latest death of one of their own — Tamer Jalal Muhammad Saqr — who died after he was shot during an Israeli raid on the Balata camp east of Nablus in the West Bank on July 27. He was helping wounded civilians after a blast killed two people and injured more than 20 others.
On Aug 4, at least 25 Palestinians were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit the schools of Al-Nasr and Hassan Salama in Gaza City.
Israeli Army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the attack was aimed at militants operating inside Palestinian group Hamas’ command and control complexes — a justification Israeli officials similarly used in previous strikes on medical facilities, refugee camps and UN-affiliated schools.
But as both the death toll and humanitarian situation rapidly worsened in Gaza after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct 7 last year, the international community made several attempts to alleviate the conflict, with the UN Security Council adopting at least four resolutions.
These called for an immediate cease-fire, the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and the need to expand the flow of humanitarian goods into the Gaza Strip, as well as reinforce the protection of civilians in the conflict zone.
However till today, there have been no signs of a let-up in the conflict despite the diplomatic efforts.
The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip rose to more than 39,500 on Aug 5.
Recent relocation orders have also reduced the size of Israel’s unilaterally designated “humanitarian zones” in Gaza from 20 percent to 14.5 percent, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said in its latest report on the Gaza situation on Aug 6.
Farsakh, from the PRCS, said they continued to see repeated attacks on civilians and schools, even UN ones.
“Honestly, many families have been forced to flee six, seven or even 10 times. They are seeking shelter, searching for safety assuming they will be safe. But it turns out, (they are) not because of dozens, or several attacks at all of the schools,” Farsakh told China Daily.
“There are no safe places for civilians in Gaza.”
She added: “Because of the displacement … there is a new need to provide relief assistance for two million people. We need to get tents to accommodate these families … mattresses, blankets … even hygiene kits. Unfortunately, because of the restrictions, not enough is getting into Gaza.”.
Hassan Morajea, the NRC’s regional access advisor, said in the Palestinian city of Deir al-Balah that humanitarian aid in Gaza is trickling through “nowhere near enough to meet the dire needs of the population here”.
He added that they are faced with “multiple layers of bureaucracy when attempting to bring basic aid items”, pointing to Israeli restrictions and that “a breakdown of law and order” continues to hinder aid access.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, speaking at a conference in Yad Binyamin hosted by the right-wing Israel Hayom newspaper, said that blocking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip is “justified and moral” even if it causes two million civilians to die of hunger, but said the international community will not allow that to happen, the Times of Israel reported on Aug 5.
“These statements and many others, which are issued by the extremist ministers of the Israeli government and other Israeli officials, are very clear evidence that they have intent for committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. And it is strange that the ICC (International Criminal Court) still has no legal reaction on these statements,” Abdalfatah Asqool, an international law lecturer at the University of Palestine, told China Daily.
In May, the ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes, as well as the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and two others.
“Israel is out of control during (Netanyahu’s) era. This is the most radical and most fundamentalist government in Israel. And I think there is a belief now among many decision-makers within this government that only by force can they achieve their own political objectives,” Ayman Yousef, a professor of international relations at the Arab American University in Jenin in the West Bank, said.
“This will certainly delay any political deal, political diplomatic track that can be reached with Hamas and other resistance groups in Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has no option but to simply tell the world that Palestinians have been slaughtered in Gaza,” he added.
Israel and Hamas had been in talks to reach a cease-fire deal through their Qatari, Egyptian and United States mediators for months. But with the recent assassination of Hamas political leader Haniyeh in Teheran, Iran on July 31, the fate of the negotiations remains unclear.
“Political assassinations and continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?” Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani posted on his X account on the day of Haniyeh’s assassination.
Abbas blamed Israel for killing Haniyeh “to prolong its war on Gaza”, calling it a cowardly act and a dangerous development in Israeli politics, Al Jazeera reported.
Israeli officials have not commented on the assassination while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US “was not aware of or involved in” the killing.
Aqsool from the University of Palestine said Haniyeh’s assassination marks “two violations to international law”.
“The first, killing a political personnel, which means committing a crime of political assassination, and the second is violating the Iranian sovereignty,” said Asqool.
Arie Afriansyah, associate professor at the Faculty of Law at Universitas Indonesia, noted that international law enforcement against Israel has proven “ineffective” because of US support for Israel.
“From a legal perspective, Israel should be held accountable for significant and widespread violations of international law and face corresponding international responsibilities,” Afriansyah told China Daily.
“However, this accountability is unlikely to be realized as long as the US continues to support Israel. Nonetheless, given the incontrovertible evidence of destruction and violence against Palestinians and their properties, it will be challenging for Israel to obscure or mitigate its substantial breaches of international law through limited humanitarian efforts in Gaza,” he added.
Asqool said there should be consequences and sanctions for violating international laws and resolutions.
He cited sanctions or the banning of arms sales, which has not been adopted so far because “the US does not want this to happen”.
“Because they are involved in this genocide against civilians in Gaza, which indicate that we live in a world ruled by the powers, not laws,” said Asqool.
He added that US appeals to Israel not to kill civilians and allow humanitarian aid “are not serious”, and are only “lies” in a bid to “wash their hands off the Palestinians’ blood”.
“They (the US) have been calling for it since Oct 7 last year and (yet) nothing has been applied on (the) ground, but more killing and blood,” said Asqool.
Mike Gu contributed to this report.
