Israel, US blamed for prolonging Gaza conflict

Editor's note: Monday marked one year since the outbreak of the devastating Palestine-Israel conflict, triggered by Hamas' Oct 7, 2023, attacks. Beyond the statistics, this page delves into the global implications of unchecked violence, Washington's controversial role, and the growing demand for justice.

To many, Monday marked a somber anniversary: a year of Israeli killings of Palestinians and turning Gaza into uninhabitable ruins, in disregard of international law and UN resolutions. And the US, for its blind support of Israel, has been called complicit in the creation and prolongation of one of this century's worst humanitarian crises.

More than 41,900 Palestinians have been confirmed dead and about 100,000 injured, not only in strikes on military facilities but more frequently on residential buildings, hospitals, schools and even humanitarian aid convoys. Hundreds of journalists and UN workers have also been killed, and many more are believed to be buried in the rubble, which could take years to clear.

While the extreme Hamas attacks on Oct 7 last year, which claimed more than 1,250 Israeli and foreign lives and saw more than 200 people abducted, initially shocked the world, the yearlong Israeli military assault has since, to a certain extent, overshadowed those events.

Analysts said the White House has largely ignored the current alleged genocide — tearing out the once rules-based international order and sinking US moral prestige and credit.

In protest against Washington's backing of such daily attacks, US journalist Samuel Mena Jr set himself on fire outside the White House on Saturday, severely burning his left arm. Earlier on Feb 25, Aaron Bushnell, a young US Air Force serviceman, died after setting himself ablaze outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, while declaring he "will no longer be complicit in genocide".

In recent weeks, cities worldwide have witnessed both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrations demanding an immediate cease-fire and the release of hostages. The growing global outcry is also pushing for the United States — Israel's largest arms supplier — to halt its military support.

Since the conflict began, the US has enacted legislation providing at least $12.5 billion in military aid to Israel, including $3.8 billion from a bill in March and $8.7 billion from a supplemental appropriations act in April, according to the US think tank Council on Foreign Relations.

US Representative Cori Bush of Missouri said so much of the violence could have been prevented "if our government had the moral foresight and clarity to invest in peace and diplomacy instead of violence and war".

She questioned US President Joe Biden on X last week regarding how many lives must be taken "for you to finally say no more".

Ayman Yousef, a professor of international relations at the Arab American University in Jenin, West Bank, lamented that despite a year of fighting in Gaza, the US position "had been totally in favor of Israel inside of the occupation".

"Although the United States put some efforts (into) increasing some political settlement or political deal between (the) Palestinian resistance group and Israel, in actual sense, it has been supporting Israel in terms of military support, economic support and political support," Yousef told China Daily. "The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has only a military agenda."

In his message to mark one year of the Palestine-Israel conflict, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it is "time to silence the guns" and "stop the suffering that has engulfed the region". "Time for peace, international law and justice," he said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs described the past year as one of "unimaginable suffering". According to the UN Satellite Centre, two-thirds of structures — a total of 163,778 buildings — in the Gaza Strip have sustained damage.

The center, in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, also released an update on the health and density of cropland in the Gaza Strip. About 68 percent of the permanent crop fields in the Gaza Strip "exhibited a significant decline in health and density" last month, it said.