“We are obviously in the very early days of this conflict”

Washington/Tel Aviv/Geneva/Rafah Crossing:  With over 3,700 people killed in Gaza and 1,000 more presumed under the rubble, as well as 1,300 people killed in Israel, and a further one million Palestinians – half of them children – reportedly displaced since October 7, 2023, the United States Department of State spokesperson said, “We are obviously in the very early days of this conflict”.

The spokesperson, Matthew Miller, who was privy to the conversations between the top US and Israeli leaders during the recent visits of US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony J Blinken to Tel Aviv, told media persons in Washington during a routine press conference, “So I was just in, with the Secretary, a number of meetings with officials from the Government of Israel, including with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and what they tell us privately is the same thing that they have said publicly, which is at the end of this conflict they want a situation where Hamas can never again govern and run Gaza in the way it has; they want to ensure that Gaza is not a place where Hamas can continue to exist and launch terrorist attacks against Israel, which we believe is a completely legitimate and appropriate position that any country would take”.

Egypt and Jordan have asked for an immediate ceasefire, and the United Nations Secretary-General  António Guterres today reached the Rafah Crossing – the border between Egypt and Gaza, and declared, “We are not looking for a win. We are looking for convoys to be authorized in meaningful numbers [and for] trucks to go every day into Gaza to provide enough support to the Gazan people”.

The UN chief arrived on a cargo plane carrying 65 tonnes of humanitarian supplies including food donated to the World Food Programme (WFP) tarpaulins from the International Organization for Migration (IOM),  and trauma kits from the World Health Organization (WHO). “It is impossible to be here and not to feel a broken heart. We are witnessing a paradox,” said the Secretary-General. “Behind these walls, we have two million people that is suffering enormously – that has no water, no food, no medicine, no fuel, that is under fire, that needs everything to survive. On this side, we have seen so many trucks loaded with water, with fuel, with medicines, with food. Exactly the same things that are needed on this side of the wall. So these trucks are not just trucks. They are a lifeline. They are the difference between life and death for so many people in Gaza, ” he continued.

As it is, the US is helping Israel with weapons in this conflict with Hamas. When reminded of the US policy that US weapons should not be used against civilians, especially lethal weapons, Miller replied, “Of course – and one of the tragedies of war is that there are always civilian deaths. It is one of the great tragedies of war, and what we try to do is work to minimize civilian deaths to the greatest extent possible”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have blamed the Middle East crisis on the US’s faulty diplomacy. That there were differences even within the US Department of State over the handling of the conflict came out in the open with the resignation of the director of the Department’s political-military bureau, Josh Paul. Apparently, Paul was upset with the ‘deferential’ treatment of Israel with regard to arms sales to the Israeli Defence Forces and checking individual units’ human rights records. Miller though, asserted emphatically, “We appreciate – that different people working in this department have different political beliefs, have different personal beliefs, have different beliefs about what United States policy should be… But I will say, with respect to this – the specific criticism that has been aired, we have made very clear that we strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself. We are going to continue providing the security assistance that they need to defend themself. We think they have a right – not only a right but an obligation – to defend themselves against these terrorist attacks; I think any country would do that”.

Responding to the Chinese President, Jinping’s offer to act as a mediator for peace between Israel and Hamas, Miller categorically said, “…the instigator of this current conflict is Hamas, plain and simple, full stop. It is Hamas that launched a deadly terrorist attack inside Israel and killed hundreds and hundreds of civilians. With respect to potential mediators, I would say we think at this time the appropriate step is not mediation with Hamas, but Israel defending itself, as any country could”. 

The USA, in the process, also ignored the concerns of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today, that Israeli Forces’ heavy strikes are continuing across Gaza, including in the south. “The strikes, coupled with extremely difficult living conditions in the south [of Gaza], appear to have pushed some to return to the north, despite the continuing heavy bombing there,” the OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said today in Geneva. She implored all parties to allow the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for all civilians in need, wherever they are.

As the conflict becomes deadlier, there are continued indiscriminate rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel too. Hamas terrorists have refused to release the civilians captured and held by Palestinian armed groups, even as the taking of hostages is prohibited by international law.

Shamdasani said the human rights situation was also rapidly deteriorating in the occupied West Bank. “Since 7 October, our Office has received reports that 69 Palestinians, including at least 15 children and one woman, have been killed by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank. Yesterday, 14 Palestinians were reportedly killed, most of them in a drone strike. Settler violence has also further increased: six Palestinians have been killed by armed settlers, and a number of Palestinian communities have been forced from their land,” she said today.

There has also been an increase in arbitrary arrests of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and of Arab Israelis in Israel, including Palestinian activists and Palestinian workers who were previously working in Israel, with reports of ill-treatment and lack of any due process. “This must cease,” she said.

“For the past 13 days, many Palestinians in the West Bank have been denied freedom of movement, including being prevented from reaching hospitals to receive life-saving care. Restrictions on freedom of movement must be necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate aim,” she pointed out.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stressed that it is of paramount importance that all parties must respect international human rights law and international humanitarian law. In the conduct of hostilities, the principles of necessity, distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack must be respected at all times by everyone.