Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 17: As the United Nation’s aid deliveries to Gaza were suspended again on Friday due to shortages of fuel and a communications shutdown deepening the misery of thousands of hungry and homeless Palestinians, the Congress party on Friday urged the government to “pressurise the governments of the USA, Israel, and the European Union” to stop the violence in Gaza as Israeli troops battled Hamas militants in the enclave.
While Congress called the October 7 attack by Hamas terrorists on Israelis “condemnable,” the party said Israel’s actions in response to the attack was “genocidal.”
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) said civilians faced the “immediate possibility of starvation” due to the lack of food supplies. With the war about to enter its seventh week, there was no sign of any let-up despite international calls for a ceasefire or at least for humanitarian pauses.
Israel’s war cabinet has approved letting in two fuel trucks a day into Gaza to help meet U.N. needs, an Israeli official said on Friday. The official said the decision came after a request from Washington. Allowing in the fuel, the official said, gives Israel extra room to manoeuvre in the international arena so it can continue its campaign to eradicate Hamas in Gaza.
Palestinian media said a number of Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli strike that hit a group of displaced people near the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt – the transit point for aid. More than 11,500 Palestinians, at least 4,700 of them children, have now been killed in Israel’s retaliatory military assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry – a toll that far surpasses previous bouts of conflict in recent years.
The World Health Organization called on Friday for a regular flow of patients to be allowed out of Gaza for treatment in Egypt, to relieve the pressure on overwhelmed hospitals. Twenty-five out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are not functioning and the remainder are struggling to provide services. “This is clearly not enough to support the endless needs arising due to the hostilities,” said Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In Delhi, the Congress resolution said, “Israel’s actions following Hamas’ condemnable attack on their citizens are genocidal. Even premature infants have been deprived of medical care. This is a horrific and unprecedented development even in times of war. The need of the hour is to de-escalate and to declare a ceasefire immediately,” a statement issued by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said.
The Congress said the targetting of civilians, hospitals and shelters in Gaza violates the values of humanity and every international norm of war. The party further said the “dehumanising language” used by some Israeli ministers on Palestinians was like “the language that preceded the holocaust.” “…statements of genocidal intent from the top leadership are being made. (Israeli) PM Netanyahu has himself called for turning parts of Gaza “to rubble” and has called the wanton killing of men, women, and children “collateral damage,” the Congress said.
The party condemned the “double standard” being applied in Ukraine and in Gaza. “It is shocking that many influential countries, that choose to speak the language of human rights and justice when convenient, are lending their unstinting support to Israel’s actions,” the statement read. The Congress called on the government to pressurise the governments of the US, Israel, and the EU, so that they can use their power to stop violence in Gaza.