Gaza: Diplomatic pressure must continue
The diplomatic pressure against Israel in recent days, fueled by the horrific images of malnourished children in Gaza, has begun to have an effect. Benjamin Netanyahu's government has announced a "tactical pause" to allow humanitarian aid into the Strip. The decision comes shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris would recognize Palestine as a state in September and other European leaders, such as Britain's Starmer and even Germany's Merz, have raised their tone against Tel Aviv. Therefore, the first conclusion from Netanyahu's move is that, despite having Donald Trump's full complicity, he is also sensitive to diplomatic pressure.
And what is not entirely clear is why images that have shocked the world, and which inevitably recall the starved bodies that Allied troops encountered when they liberated the Nazi death camps, have not provoked a wave of protests and indignation within the country. This ignominy threatens to drain all the sympathy that the State of Israel, a home for a persecuted people and victims of the Holocaust, had generated in the West. The state that was supposed to be a beacon of prosperity and democracy is today an oppressive state that is causing genocide in Gaza before the eyes of the entire world.
From the first moment of the invasion, it was clear that, faced with the impossibility of surgically eliminating Hamas, Israel would mercilessly punish the civilian population. And it is in this context that hunger has become a weapon of war, in the style of medieval sieges. The decision to entrust aid distribution to an American company instead of the international NGOs that have always handled it, and the trickle of deaths in the hunger lines caused by Israeli army gunfire, is intended to turn Gaza into a hell, a place unfit for human life. Blocking humanitarian aid and leaving nearly two million people without basic supplies was the latest step in a strategy to drive Palestinians from their homes.
The difference is that in Gaza there are still local journalists, because outsiders can't get in, to bring the world hair-raising images. And there are still communications so people inside can tell the truth. his witnesses. In this context, it was predictable that European chancelleries could not remain imperturbable in the face of what is a global disgrace without becoming, in some way, complicit.
However, diplomatic and other types of pressure must continue because this is not the first time that Netanyahu has played cat and rat with the international community, opening border crossings at will based on his political and image needs. Now, it is no longer enough to trickle in aid and avoid a child mortality crisis. Netanyahu must allow international NGOs, including UN agencies, to enter and not put any obstacles in the way of aid. And he must stop shooting at the starving civilian population. And ultimately, he must negotiate a coexistence agreement with the Palestinians.
