CIP Renews Call for Ceasefire after Deadly 60 Days of War in Israel-Palestine

Center for International Policy President and CEO Nancy Okail released the following statement:

Sixty days after Hamas’ horrific attack against Israel and the beginning of Israel’s now two month-long assault on the Gaza Strip, it is clear that only a renewed and sustained ceasefire can avert a further humanitarian catastrophe. We welcome the United Nations Secretary-General’s extraordinary use of Article 99 of the UN Charter to convene a Security Council meeting toward urgently achieving that and related objectives like the delivery of desperately needed aid to the people of Gaza and the release of all hostages.

We reiterate our condemnation of Hamas’ war crimes against civilians. With more than 1,200 Israelis murdered, hundreds subjected to unspeakable atrocities, and dozens more still held hostage, Israel has the right and duty to protect its people.

It is also clear that Israel’s largely indiscriminate bombing of the long-blockaded Gaza Strip in response has violated the laws of war and resulted in the deaths of well over 15,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of which Israel itself estimates are non-combatants, most of them women and children. Israel’s siege of the territory– variably loosened and tightened but never allowing anywhere near an adequate amount of water, fuel, food and medicine into Gaza– risks the spread of further deprivation and disease which could take even more Palestinian lives.

Deadly attacks in the West Bank that have claimed the lives of Palestinian and Israeli civilians, multiple acts of forcible displacement of Palestinian communities in Area C, exchanges of fire on the Israel-Lebanon border, and attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and commercial shipping in the Red Sea all risk spreading the conflict even further.

The international community must make every effort to stop the bloodshed and prevent further escalation in the region. The United States should not only be at the fore of such diplomacy, but ensure that its Security Council veto, as well as its arms and aid to Israel, are not used to deepen and drag out this humanitarian disaster. If another ceasefire is reached, the United States must also not squander the opportunity to guarantee the lasting human security of Israelis and Palestinians alike through a serious effort to finally achieve a just, negotiated end to the underlying Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

###

download