THIS is with reference to the report ‘Israeli strikes kill 40 in Gaza; Egypt to host ceasefire talks’ (Nov 30). The said strikes took place on Nov 29, which the world has been observing since 1977 as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People under the auspices of the United Nations.

Unfortunately, the world is witnessing live ethnic cleansing of unarmed innocent civilians in Gaza and the West Bank for more than a year now. All through this agonising phase, the global conscience has been held hostage by the so-called champions of rule-based world order, especially the United States which has spent billions of dollars arming Israel.

The Arab sheikhdoms have retreated themselves from the cause to such an extent that they are not talking about even on the matter of human rights viol-ations. All we can do is to praise the courage of South Africa for filing a judi-cial petition against the Israeli acts of sheer barbarism.

With the US at its back, Israel has ‘normalised’ the violation of international laws. It has terrorised all the UN bodies operating in Gaza, accusing them of supporting Hamas. Making even the sky bloody, Israel has killed many journalists in the occupied territories.

If the world really wants an end to this unchecked Israeli barbarism and massacre of Palestinians, it has to somehow convince the US administration to control Israel.

Besides, the West must revisit its policies of sending billions of dollars as well as ammunition to Israel. Moreover, it must prioritise the welfare of its own people instead of spending public tax collections to kill people elsewhere.

Chaudhary Aamir Sohail
Sargodha

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2024