The international system has failed to protect civilians in Gaza from intense Israeli bombardment (Anatolia)

Nairobi – For nearly two months, our efforts have converged with those of civil society organizations and movements around the world to stop the death, suffering and destruction in the Gaza Strip, to bring humanity and dignity to this crisis.

Our staff and volunteers are moved daily by the stories and testimonies of women, men and children trapped in a spiral of shelling and military assaults. Our immediate goal is to stop the ongoing aggressions that are rapidly turning the Gaza Strip into a torn piece of land on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

ActionAid International condemns all violations of international law and all forms of violence and attacks on civilians as a rights-based union, but we emphasize two points.

First, Israel's response has been disproportionate, claiming the lives of more than 6,<> children and completely destroying the infrastructure of an existing and functioning society under the pretext of self-defense.

Weeks of large-scale shelling and airstrikes have killed civilians as they bomb refugee camps, schools, hospitals where displaced people are sheltering, and apartment buildings. Some 60 per cent of housing units in Gaza have been destroyed and damaged and converted into uninhabitable buildings since the beginning of the conflict. More than 15,27 people had been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza officials as of November 6, including about 4,16 children and <>,<> women. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently said Gaza had become a "graveyard for children." This is happening amid Israel's tightening of its <>-year-old illegal blockade of Gaza, a move described by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as a form of collective punishment that has left Palestinians without food, water, medicine and fuel for weeks.

The second pressing point is accountability and the lack of active participation of influential states on Israeli violations of international humanitarian law throughout the oPt.

For example, the growing accusations of Israeli forces committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip have been met with complete silence by a range of third countries and international organizations, including the United States, Britain and the European Union. Indeed, these and other parties have continued to provide political, financial and, in some cases, military assistance to Israel in its assault on Gaza and in the occupation of Palestinian territories in general.

International economic and peace and security institutions must be urgently reformed, as these institutions are currently under control and closure, and Western countries that defend the Israeli occupation and its right to self-defence implicitly accept the unreasonable killing and maiming of thousands of women and children.

Since 2008, Gaza has suffered from 5 wars, two major escalations, other attacks from the air, land and sea, and a suffocating blockade. However, the ICC investigation, which began in 2021 into accusations of war crimes and other atrocities in the context of the oPt, has made painfully slow progress that is being undermined by a lack of political support and insufficient resources. This silence and inaction stands in stark contrast to what happened in Ukraine, where an unprecedented number of ICC member states, mostly European, requested an investigation shortly after the Russian invasion.

Towards an approach to decolonization and feminism to achieve prosperity, security and world peace

ActionAid International works in partnership with women- and youth-led organizations working for social and climate justice and gender equality in many emergencies where authoritarian repressive regimes, political violence and wars exist. They tell us that there will be no lasting peace without justice for past events, even if violence stops. This now applies to Gaza, the West Bank and elsewhere.

Many military officers and politicians responsible for the violence and atrocities committed in Sudan during the 2003 Darfur war remain unarrested and unaccountable. Since April 2023, Sudan has descended into another catastrophic civil war, leading to the exodus of refugees to Ethiopia. Darfur is once again facing ethnically motivated violence, through which unimaginable atrocities have been committed against civilians. The Rohingya people have been displaced from their homes in Myanmar for decades. In 2017, unprecedented numbers were displaced, and nearly a million of them are now living in refugee camps in Bangladesh, the majority of them women and children. The Rohingya are demanding accountability, justice and a safe return to their country. Myanmar has recently seen heavy fighting, including in northern Rakhine, where hundreds of thousands were violently expelled to Bangladesh years ago.

A permanent ceasefire in Gaza must be the first step towards ending Israel's military occupation and guaranteeing the right to self-determination for Palestinians.

The process of seeking a just and lasting solution must go hand in hand with thorough investigations by qualified and independent bodies, including the International Criminal Court, into all documented accusations of current and past atrocities. The silence of most Western governments is worrying.

On October 26, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an "immediate, lasting and sustainable humanitarian truce" in the Gaza Strip. However, EU members such as Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany abstained. The United States voted against it and has previously vetoed a similar Security Council resolution. This status quo requires a rethinking of existing global representation and governance.

International economic and peace and security institutions need urgent reform

These bodies are currently under control and closure by Western countries that defend the Israeli occupation and its right to self-defense, and implicitly accept the unreasonable killing and maiming of thousands of women and children. More voices from Africa, Asia and the Americas, especially women and young people who adopt a feminist anti-colonial approach, are needed to achieve prosperity, security and world peace in these multilateral bodies.

These new voices will adopt dialogue and negotiation as the first option rather than military, violent and short-term solutions. They will also act as protectors and guardians of a lasting and comprehensive peace in Gaza, as well as protect the two billion people, or a quarter of the world's population, who live in fear amid political repression, unrest, and violent conflict.

We need regime change for world peace, equality and shared prosperity.

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Writer Arthur LaRoque is the Secretary General of ActionAid International.

Source : Al Jazeera