Editorial | Gaza need not suffer another day of hell
Negotiators and politicians should remember desperate plight of 2 million Palestinians after Israeli blockade of bombarded territory passes 500 days
While Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas swap prisoners and hostages under cover of a 42-day ceasefire, the Israeli blockade of the Gaza strip has passed its 500th day. It may not be the longest blockade of modern times compared, for example, with Sarajevo (1992-1996) during the Bosnian war and Leningrad (1941-1944) during the second world war, but nothing quite like it has been seen since the siege of Stalingrad, one of the biggest and deadliest battles of World War II that changed the course of events ending in Germany’s defeat.
Unconfirmed estimates of deaths among civilians trapped in the Stalingrad siege ranged from 40,000 to 70,000, but may have been higher. The Gaza health ministry says more than 48,000 people have been killed by Israel’s relentless bombardment of its territory.
This is out of a population of about 2 million Palestinians crammed into a narrow strip of land that is the most densely populated in the world. That is not to mention the razing of homes, businesses and whole neighbourhoods. The ceasefire has led to heartbreaking images of survivors digging and sifting rubble for the remains of family and friends still unaccounted for.
Israeli justification for the Gaza offensive is to eliminate Hamas. But the biggest blow has fallen on women and children, who account for more than half the total number of deaths, according to the health ministry. It is a humanitarian crisis with no early end in sight. Heart-warming accounts in Western media of hostage-prisoner swaps convey some good news out of Gaza. But they do not convey the reality on the ground.
Other numbers flesh out the human cost of the conflict – more than 111,000 Palestinians wounded; around 850 Israeli soldiers killed; some 90 per cent of Gaza’s population displaced; and around 1,200 people killed in a Hamas raid on Israel that triggered the war.
The shaky ceasefire remains intact after more than a month. It remains to be seen whether the two sides can agree to extend it, or negotiate a new, more lasting deal.