Main events on July 18th
- At least 41 people were killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks, including 10 starving people seeking aid.
- Syria’s interim government again condemned the renewed clashes between Druze and Bedouin fighters in the country’s Suweyda, saying that it would deploy forces there to restore calm after pulling out earlier this week.
- Hamas said that Israel rejected a ceasefire proposal that would have seen the release of all captives held by Palestinian groups in Gaza, as PM Netanyahu continues to accuse Hamas of obstructing progress in currently stalled talks.
- The Red Cross said the humanitarian situation in Suwayda is “rapidly deteriorating”.
- US news outlet Axios reported that the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency visited Washington, DC, this week to seek US assistance with a plan to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip of Palestinians.
- Yemen’s Houthis again fired a missile at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, causing a temporary grounding of flights.
- The UN’s food aid organisation said that one in three Palestinians is not eating for days at a time, as Israel’s blockade of Gaza continues, placing the entire enclave in grave danger of starvation.
Is the international community finally speaking up about Israel?
International public opinion continues to turn against Israel for its war on Gaza, with more governments slowly beginning to reflect those voices and increase their own condemnation of the country.
Israeli government ministers have been sanctioned by several Western countries, with the UK, France and Canada issuing a joint statement condemning the “intolerable” level of “human suffering” in Gaza.
Earlier this week, a number of countries from the Global South, “The Hague Group”, collectively agreed on a number of measures that they say will “restrain Israel’s assault on the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.
Across the world, and in increasing numbers, the public, politicians and, following an Israeli strike on a Catholic church in Gaza, religious leaders are speaking out against Israel’s killings in Gaza.
But when will these 'harsh' words turn into meaningful actions.
