9,000 Civilians Dead in Gaza Is Said ‘Not in Accordance with International Humanitarian Law’
Calls grow for some cessation of the fighting
The drumbeat of criticism of Israel's retaliation in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks is becoming louder in the United States, which has stood steadfastly with Israel in the weeks since those brutal terrorist attacks.
Operations by the Israeli military in Gaza have only intensified, including at least two strikes on a refugee camp.
In all, the number of Palestinian dead is approaching 10,000, including at least 3,648 children and 2,187 women.
Meanwhile, close to 2,000 Israelis have died, mostly in the initial attacks by Hamas.
Gaza city and northern Gaza have been “largely cut off” from the rest of the strip as a result of the Israeli ground operations and related clashes with Palestinian armed groups, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
This means that the delivery of humanitarian aid from the south to some 300,000 internally displaced persons in the north has “come to a halt,” OCHA said.
These developments are increasingly concerning to US officials.
“There’s no doubt Israel has the right to defend itself, and there’s no doubt that is Hamas responsible for the civilian casualties because they had themselves, their weapons, the infrastructure inside civilian buildings. Mosques, schools, and hospitals,” said Sen Chris Murphy (D-Conn). “But Israel does have a responsibility to weigh the cost to civilians against the ability to target Hamas leaders. And I think when you were talking about 10,000 Palestinian civilians being killed — 3,000 children — there is no way but to come to the conclusion that the cost to civilians has been too high, and that Israel has to reconsider the way in which it balances its desire to go after and get Hamas, and the damage being done to civilians.
“The moral cost is just too high, when 3,000 Palestinian children have died. But the strategic cost is too high as well,” Murphy added. “Because, as we learned in Afghanistan, when you are too casual or too permissive about civilian casualties, that ends up being recruitment material for the very terrorist groups who are fighting.
“And so, for me, it was important for me to today to say, we have reached a point at which the rate of civilian harm here is too high for Israel to sustain, for the world to sustain,” the senator said. “And it’s time for them to change course and be much more targeted in their decisions about when they go after terrorists in civilian, heavy civilian population centers.”
Rep Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash) also is focused on the climbing numbers of civilians being killed.
“I think what I think is really very salient in this moment is how many innocent civilians are dying. And what we know is that the number of casualties, according to international law, the number of casualties of innocent civilians has to be minimized,” Jayapal said. “And if you recall, there were 1.1 million Gazans told to go from north Gaza to south Gaza. And there have been bombing in the refugee camp and close by 12,000 people sheltering there, this is where the air strike are taking place. The idea that we’re going to minimize the civilian casualties as we continue these strikes doesn’t make sense.
“And what we have to understand is if we want peace for Israel or Palestine, this is not the way to go,” she said. “Expert in war and terrorism is saying this kind of bombing is going to turn more Palestinians towards Hamas or the next iteration of Hamas. This is the the way.”
Like a growing chorus — including the Biden administration — Jayapal wants a cessation or pause in the fighting.
“And I think that what has to happen is a cessation of hostilities to get the hostages out and get humanitarian aid in and have a real discussion of how to move forward in this very, very, very, tragic and complex time,” she said, referring to the roughly 200 hostages Hamas took from Israel on October 7. “And so, I think it is still possible. You see, countries around the world continuing to call for a cease fire or a cessation of who hostilities.
“We’re up to 9,000 innocent civilians dead in Gaza. And, over 3,000 of those are children and another 6,600 kids injured,” Jayapal added. “And, this is not in accordance with international humanitarian law which the president has rightly called for Israel to follow. And, so, nobody believes that keeping fuel, keeping water, keeping food from innocent civilians in Gaza is in compliance with the law.”
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