SINCE the start of hostilities on Oct 7, Israel has put in ceaseless efforts to depopulate Gaza, and make the Strip uninhabitable. While the death toll over the past seven months has crossed 34,000, recent comments by UN officials illustrate the extent of the devastation. As per the UN’s Assistant Secretary General Abdallah al-Dardari, Gaza would require a post-conflict rebuilding effort not seen since World War II. The savage Israeli assault has resulted in around 37m tonnes of debris, which is said to be more than the amount of rubble generated in the Ukraine-Russia war, a much wider conflict geographically. This reconstruction effort could cost over $40bn. UN experts also fear that thousands of bodies are likely buried under the rubble in the occupied territory. Only when Tel Aviv stops its murderous campaign can the true picture of Gaza’s destruction emerge.

Certainly, the aforementioned details confirm that Israel’s leading lights seek to raze Gaza. If they are allowed by the world to continue — and if the impending assault on Rafah proceeds — they will have succeeded in their horrific mission. Meanwhile, Hamas remains undefeated, while Israeli captives have yet to be recovered by Tel Aviv. Perhaps to make up for failure on all fronts, the Zionist state’s rulers are determined to continue their orgy of violence targeted at the Palestinian people. The talk of rebuilding and its costs is premature; first the Israeli onslaught must be stopped. Ceasefire talks facilitated by regional states continue, but at present there is little hope of success, mainly because many of the extremists inside Israel’s ruling coalition will apparently not rest until every Palestinian in Gaza has been exterminated. One way to end Israeli butchery could be through an international arms embargo against the Zionist state, just as apartheid South Africa was penalised by a UN Security Council resolution. But this will be difficult to implement because Israel’s Western friends — who are resolutely offering it ‘ironclad’ support, even as it commits genocidal violence — will do all in their power to block such a move. Perhaps the only hope to punish Israel lies in the actions of brave states like Colombia, which has severed ties with Tel Aviv, as well as courageous students across the Western world who have taken to the streets to protest their respective governments’ complicity in the Gazan massacre.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2024