Who will hear Gaza's cry?

More than the war in Gaza, the humanitarian disaster is the biggest concern of the world today. Never before in recent history has a man-made disaster involved so much loss of life, destruction of property, and starvation. 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in almost six months of Israeli attacks since the Hamas attack on October 7 last year. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the risk of famine among the 2.3 million people in the tiny enclave of Gaza is imminent. In addition to the loss of life, 74,000 Palestinians in Gaza are in a dire state, crowded and scrambling in front of scarcely arriving food trucks, if not already starving. Most of the hospitals that were supposed to treat them have been demolished or closed. Even the surviving ones do not have enough doctors, paramedics, medicines, or even clean water. The World Health Organization testifies that hunger and consequent diseases are common to post-surgery patients, amputees, cancer and diabetes sufferers, mothers who have given birth, and newborn babies. Israel has demolished most of Gaza's buildings and razed them to rubble, along with creating a humanitarian disaster. About 2 million people have fled to southern Gaza and are living in make-shift camps. Hundreds of people are sharing every single toilet and showers in schools that have been turned into shelters. Diseases like diarrhea and hepatitis A are common in unsanitary environments.

Also read: UN chief urges Israel to facilitate aid delivery to Gaza

This is just an example of the Israeli-made disaster in Gaza. These are not accidental offshoots of a war, but result of a concerted rampage on a people.  Immediately after the Hamas attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that humanitarian considerations would not be an obstacle to attacking Gaza.  He had also vowed that the response to the Hamas attack would be one that Hamas would never forget and would destroy Gaza and make it difficult for the Palestinians to live in peace.  But that said, after nearly six months of brutal operations, the Zionist forces have not been able to significantly damage the existence or the machinery of Hamas. Gaza is not a picture of a battlefield. It is revenge against a community by a ruthless ruler. Today, there is outrage around the world against Netanyahu's actions. Not only the people, but even governments have been sharing this anger. Even those who generally support Israel are today calling for an end to Israel's sanctions and killings. However, no one has been able to push back the Zionist state by taking decisive decisions against its anti-humanitarian stance. Israel is also turning hunger and starvation into a weapon.  It may be recalled that at the end of February, Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd that rushed at an aid convoy and 100 Palestinians died in the stampede.

Also read: Israel destroys health infrastructure to oust Palestinians from Gaza:

The humanitarian situation will improve only when there is a ceasefire and only that can force Israel to lift the restrictions it imposed on the passage of goods.  Israel is interested in implementing a temporary peace deal and somehow freeing its citizens held by Hamas. If not, the government will slip out of Netanyahu's hands. Hamas, while seeking long-term peace, is pushing for the release of key Palestinian leadership hostages.  Among them is Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who has been in Israeli prison for the last 20 years. The immediate needs of the lakhs of refugees in Gaza are food and medical care. Lakhs of refugees need food and medical care immediately today. The United Nations can only pass resolutions. It lacks the force or the machinery to implement it, nor does it have the leadership to bring parties together and make them take decisions.  America, which knows all this,  will always stop short of decisively influencing Israel to solve the problem.  It is not that the US has no way to stop this attack. Israel's current bravado will change if the US stops providing weapons,  but it will not do that.  In fact the only problem for the US will be that the United States will no longer have a handy tool to flex its muscle among the oil-rich countries in the region.

sAlso read: Israeli strikes kill 29 Gazans awaiting aid, says Palestinian official