By Janet Ekstract ISTANBUL – On Wednesday, the Turkish Parliament adopted a motion that calls on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for an emergency session to address the Israeli military’s attacks against civilians in the Gaza Strip. The motion formally condemns Israel’s offensive in Rafah amid a call from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for Israel to immediately halt its war on Gaza and to get a ceasefire-hostage deal. The motion reads: “Israel under the Netanyahu administration does not hesitate violating all verdicts by international courts and is known for its occupation and cruelty. It continues targeting civilian settlements.” The motion further states that “Zionist violence” has made Gaza a wasteland. The motion comes in response to Israel’s attack on numerous Palestinians in the displaced people camp which was guaranteed a safe zone by Israel. The motion also states: “It is the duty of every individual, every country respecting human rights, not to remain silent against those massacres, those crimes against humanity.”
Global outrage in the form of ongoing protests at universities in the U.S. and around the world including those of Israelis, who insist Netanyahu must resign, has reached a crescendo. What is especially unconscionable for the plethora of students protesting Israel’s actions and the international community, – is the fact that top Israeli officials have chosen to ignore the ICJ decision and that despite announcing ‘safe zones’ including the displaced people camp by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) – Israel’s top brass continue to ignore the pain, suffering and famine in Gaza. In a statement, the U.S. issued a strong warning to Israel regarding its lack of a post-war strategy for Gaza, about how the region will be governed and stabilized. On Wednesday, at a news conference in Moldova’s capital of Chisinau, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “In the absence of a plan for the day after, there won’t be a day after.” Blinken said that it’s not up to Israel to be directly responsible for control of Gaza.
Blinken made it clear that leaving Hamas in charge of Gaza is “unacceptable” and that if there is no concrete “day after” plan that “we’ll have chaos, lawlessness and a vacuum that eventually will be filled again by Hamas or maybe something – if it’s possible to imagine – even worse.” He added: “If it is, it will simply have an enduring insurgency on its hands for as far as we can see into the future.” Blinken said that Gaza should be ruled by what he termed as a “reformed” Palestinian Authority (PA) after the war. Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has continually rejected Gaza being controlled by the PA, insisting Israel maintain security control of the occupied Palestinian territories, including the West Bank and Gaza. Israel’s far-right coalition is dead set on what it labels as a “total defeat” of Hamas which analysts and political pundits have said is simply “impossible.” On Wednesday, Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told the Israeli press that the war in Gaza will continue. As Hanegbi commented: “The fighting in Gaza will continue for at least another seven months.” Meanwhile, the U.N. estimates at least one million people have already been displaced from Rafah. The voices of major Jewish intellectuals, professors and a plethora of progressive Jewish organizations have expressed their outcry and called Israel’s acts in Gaza, acts of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.” Israeli forces are bulldozing entire neighborhoods in northern and southern Gaza in what analysts have labeled a systemic effort to make all of Gaza uninhabitable. As a result of Israeli military attacks, most hospitals are inoperable while all universities in Gaza have been destroyed along with dozens of schools. Israel has also imposed a strict blockade on Gaza that has led to widespread famine. Rights officials and experts accuse Israel of using hunger as a weapon of war. In addition, Palestinian women have recounted stories of abuse at the hands of Israeli soldiers as have Palestinian men.
