Human catastrophe in Gaza

That Hamas is not Palestine and does not represent all Palestinians is a premise assumed by the international community and by a part of Israeli society, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acts as if they are exactly the same. The unjustifiable collective punishment to which it is subjecting the 2.2 million Palestinians living in Gaza goes beyond the right to self-defence. Their response to the savage attacks of 7 October is utterly disproportionate.

Crammed into a territory with one of the highest population densities in the world, Gazans are caught between two lethal threats. On the one hand, the total confinement to which Israel has subjected them, disregarding its responsibility as an occupying power since 1967, even though it has not been on the ground since 2005. On the other hand, the incessant bombings, which are causing a growing number of deaths, especially children. Since the beginning of the Israeli offensive, 6,500 people have lost their lives in the Gaza Strip; Of these, 2,700 were minors. These are figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by the Islamist organization, but they are also those handled by United Nations entities. To these should be added more than 17,000 wounded. Tuesday, according to the same source, was the most tragic day so far: 750 dead (344 children).

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In the past two weeks, Palestinians have received no water, electricity, food or medicine. A siege measure that does not distinguish between the guilty and the innocent. The very few trucks with humanitarian aid that have managed to enter Gaza from Egypt are barely a drop in the ocean of dire need. Medical centres, overwhelmed by the continuous arrival of wounded, are unable to operate the equipment essential to keep them alive, including neonates. They also don't have fuel to run the electric generators: Israel has banned them from entering the meager aid allowed to cross the Rafah border crossing. Following threats from the Israeli government, hundreds of thousands of Gazans have moved to the south of the Strip, sometimes harassed by shelling ordered by the same army that forced them onto the road. Images coming out of Gaza show a trail of destroyed infrastructure, UN schools turned into massive refugee camps and many people have started drinking from salt water wells, putting their health at risk. We are witnessing an unmitigated human catastrophe.

What is happening to Palestinian civilians in Gaza is not part of Israel's right to defend itself in the aftermath of Hamas' barbaric attack. The condemnation of the terrorist acts that brutally wiped out so many Israeli civilians and the solidarity with their families and neighbours, in an understandable state of shock, does not oblige us to close our eyes to what has been happening since that day in the Strip. It is in the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu to put an end to this situation. Countries with influence in Israel, especially the United States, cannot simply express concern about the humanitarian situation as the Israeli prime minister continues with his strategy, challenging even UN Secretary-General António Guterres for merely offering the context of a conflict that is more than 70 years old. The Palestinians are not Hamas. They should not pay for the crimes of an organization that commits terrorist acts.