After the 7 October attack, that led to the death of 1,200 Israelis, Israel promised to wipe out Hamas. This has led to a relentless attack on Gaza, killing thousands of people, the majority of them women and children, and displacing about 90 per cent of the two million Gaza residents.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday said Israel is ready for another humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian aid to enable the release of hostages.
If this happens, it will be the second humanitarian pause in the over two months period of the war. The first pause facilitated by Qatar and Egypt saw a week-long truce at the end of November which saw Hamas release 86 women and children hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and teenagers held in Israeli jails. Hamas also released 24 foreigners during this period.
Mr Abu Shawesh noted that even as the United Nations celebrates the 75th anniversary of the human rights declaration, “there is a glaring inconsistency in the adherence to its principles when it comes to the Palestinian people. Many countries fully adhere to the declaration when it benefits them politically, but fail to do so when it concerns the rights of Palestinians.”
“This hypocrisy calls into question the universality of the declaration. It is meant to be a declaration of human rights for all, but it is not being universally upheld,” he added.
While burying their loved ones whose lives were cut short by the war, Palestinians according to Mr Abu Shawesh came to realise that international law has long been dead.
“The myth of humanism, democracy, and freedom of expression has died, but for a long time we believed it was still alive and breathing,” he said.
Efforts to end the war
While several efforts and calls for a ceasefire have failed, the United Nations Security Council continues to sit hoping that member countries will reach a consensus and all vote in favour of a ceasefire sooner than later.
The Security Council was on Tuesday scheduled to vote on a draft resolution proposed by the United Arab Emirates which would call for cessation of hostilities amongst other demands but did not.
According to news reports, voting was delayed by another day to avoid another US veto on efforts to reach a consensus. The US has vetoed two resolutions at the council calling for a ceasefire.
According to Mr Abu Shawesh, while many Western countries and Israel talk about the day after the war and their thoughts for Gaza, they all fail to address the day before, the day after, which is the last day of the war and when exactly this day will come.
He said no one had tackled that question; rather they continue to flood weapons and ammunition to the Israeli army which has made the last day of the war very far away.
The UN Security Council is expected to vote today, Wednesday, on the draft resolution.
