Two Step Authentication

Gaza: the latest horrific chapter in an ongoing tragedy. Just last week, a string of Israeli airstrikes struck a tent camp in the Gaza Strip, resulting in 21 deaths, most of them civilians, among them children and women. Such an attack has caused not only a huge loss of lives but also the basis of worry throughout the globe regarding the operational side of the Israeli military within the territory. In October 2023, Amnesty International called on Israeli leaders to stop what they called the genocidal acts they were carrying out against the Palestinian people.

Brutal Attack on the Tent Camp of Gaza

The air raids targeted an area of Gaza where many Palestinians have run away to tents after emerging from earlier rounds of violence. Some of the most vulnerable residents of Gaza have lived in these tent camps, including families who have lost everything as a result of the ongoing war. This level and scale of precision attacks directed against such a target, has raised deep questions regarding the military tactics which Israel continues to use in its air & ground operations since the assault began.

The total confirmed dead stands at 21, including youngsters who had been staying in tents. This tragic figure also abstracts the stark brutal reality of this war, which has not only killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza but also destroyed the properties, infrastructure, and the supply of basic needs such as food, drinking water, and healthcare for an entire generation of the Strip's population as they become at risk of being alone.

Amnesty International's Accusation of Genocide

One of the most powerful human rights organizations in the world, Amnesty International has hit the headlines recently for not chopping its words about what Israel is doing in Gaza. In its reports, the most recent airstrikes which carry on with the military operations are part of "a wider range of this type of crimes, which in estimating them could be genocide.

Such acts are not only excessive force, Amnesty maintains, because they target not specific militants but rather whole communities, constituting systematic violence and displacement. According to the organization, these actions form part of the decades-long strategy of removing the Palestinian presence in Gaza, where they assert that the in-coming Israeli Narrative packaging this removal as 'self-defense' and 'counter-terrorism' operations.

The word "genocide" is loaded, and its application has triggered furious controversy in international diplomatic circles. Critical thinkers, however, immediately jump to the defense of Israel, mentioning the importance of national security, while others, Amnesty for instance, see bombarding civilian infrastructure, killing civilians, and putting entire communities on the run as war crimes.

The scale of harm to civilians caused by these persistent assaults is tremendous. The UN called for immediate ceasefires and humanitarian assistance to reach the victims in Gaza. Remember all of those calls for restraint from the international community? None of that violence seems to be going anywhere. Hospitals in Gaza are overwhelmed with people injured and no medical equipment. Over 30,000 Palestinian people are crowded into rain-soaked tents sharing small spaces with other families while there is a persistent shortage of food, clean and basic sanitation.

The world has been split over how to respond. Western powers, particularly those aligned with the US, have generally backed Israel's right to self-defense. Nonetheless, this narrative is being increasingly challenged by human rights organizations, regional powers, and a large part of the global South that see these actions as not merely self-defensive, but a form of collective punishment against the Palestinian people.

In contrast to such views, several Arab nations have decried the strikes and called for international action to prevent Israeli strikes. The civilian casualties and the destruction of essential infrastructure - like schools, hospitals, and water - have prompted concerns from international organizations, including the Red Cross and UN agencies.

A Path to Peace: Will There Be a Solution?

With the death toll climbing higher every day, peace feels like a faraway dream.

For Palestinians, the future in Gaza is gloomy, almost ruined, staring at waves of violence and displacement from far away. In Israel, security considerations will remain the guiding principle in military doctrines. But as the events in Gaza demonstrate, this war and its consequences reflect how the ritual slaughter of innocents, who desire no more than a quiet life and a roof over their heads, has become the high price for a victory, even if necessary.

No more statements, no more humanitarian aid from the international community. A true, lasting peace requires addressing the sources of the conflict, respecting the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people as well as Israelis, and finding a way to prevent the violence from escalating — potentially to an unmanageable level — even further.

In the face of global investigation, the demands for accountability intensify. The 21 innocents killed in the tent camp in Gaza, whose lives are as meaningful as the hundreds of thousands of innocents murdered in Gaza and the West Bank, were just a few of many. We owe it to them that their deaths are not in vain, and the world must work to put an end to such tragedies in the future.