MARCH 21 — Even by Israel’s brutal, barbaric standards, the cruel, callous carnage carried out by its military in Gaza has come as a shock to the world.
The carnage, which occurred on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, killed 436 individuals, the majority of them children and women. What has exacerbated the tragedy is the fact that the carnage happened as its victims were preparing for, or partaking of, their dawn meal just before beginning their daily fast during Ramadan, one of Islam’s most revered practices.
It is important to note that a big portion of the Gazan population is being subjected to starvation by the Israeli government as a way of forcing them out of the Strip.
For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this would be integral to his state’s agenda to ethnically cleanse Palestine of Palestinians. But Palestinian resistance is staunch.
Part of that resistance, which has happened at almost the same time as the 18th March massacre, is the launch of Global 195, a worldwide legal coalition dedicated to “holding accountable Israel and dual national individuals alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.”
The coalition is spearheaded by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP). Viewed in the context of other recent moves by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court to challenge Israeli impunity, it is obvious that Israel’s wanton transgression of international law and its contempt for shared civilisational norms of conduct are coming to an end.
Muslims take part in a protest after Friday prayers at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh to show support for Palestinians after Israel renewed strikes on Gaza. — Reuters pic
Given these changes in the global environment, civil society groups from both the Global South and the Global North should come together and demand that Israel be held accountable for its aggressive and arrogant behaviour in Gaza, which led to the total breakdown of the ceasefire.
The UN General Assembly should coerce Israel to do the following:
- Compensate the killing of all the 400+ individuals in Gaza on the 18th of March.
- As part of the compensation, Israel and perhaps its allies, such as the US, Britain, and Germany, should finance the construction of three fully equipped hospitals in Gaza, which will be managed by the Palestinians themselves.
- Israel should cease all military operations in Gaza and faithfully implement the second and subsequent phases of the Ceasefire Agreement with Hamas forged on the 19th of January 2025.
- Israel should facilitate the unhindered and immediate flow of essentials into Gaza, including water, fuel, and medicines.
- Israel and its allies should not hamper in any way the reconstruction and redevelopment of Gaza, which should be spearheaded by Palestine itself, aided by other countries that are also sincerely committed to the principle of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state that will be inhabited by Muslims, Christians, and Jews, as Palestine was for centuries before the Balfour Declaration and the rise of Zionism.
* Dr Chandra Muzaffar is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
** This is the personal opinion of the writers or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
