Ninety three people were killed in the latest Israeli strike in Gaza in the continuing genocide in the Palestinian territory. The toll is now well past 43000 people, mostly civilians and children. Israel now visits so much death and destruction on Gaza daily that it has become a routine. Appalling enough, the world goes on regardless. The war has now expanded into Lebanon and threatens to drag Iran into it as well. The UN too has sounded a grave warning. On Tuesday, its special coordinator for Middle East peace said that the region was at its “most dangerous juncture” in decades. The war, he said, risks a serious escalation. But the world remains indifferent. Not just the US-led west but also the major powers on this side of the globe. It is a horrific state of affairs.
In March, even the United Nations passed a resolution, overwhelmingly supported by 14 out of 15 members, underlining the urgent need for peace and the cessation of hostilities that have ravaged the region. It was a call for humanity, compassion, and the protection of innocent lives in Gaza. But Israel has refused to listen. After degrading Hamas, Israel has changed its focus to Lebanon, where in the past two weeks, it has wrought havoc, killing not just civilians but also several top leaders of Hezbollah, including Hassan Nasrallah, the biggest of them all. It has also killed two successive chiefs of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
Although US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently visited the region in an umpteenth US-led attempt to ensure a ceasefire, nothing has changed on the ground. Israel has rejected all such efforts, instead seeking a ceasefire on its maximalist terms whereby both Hamas and Hezbollah accept an abject surrender. So, the war is likely to go on.
But if the Israeli provocations continue, the region could very well be heading towards a big conflagration whose outcome would be catastrophic not just for the region but the world too. This is why, world needs to act and put an end to this madness. So far, the major western powers have just been making occasional right noises, calling on Israel to halt its operations but actually funding and arming it to lay waste to the region. It is time that the time world powers make a meaningful effort to stop Israel and pull the region back from the brink. Time is running out.
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