Ishaan Tharoor
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After more than 19 months of brutal war, the patience of some of Israel’s Western allies appears to be running out. The renewed offensive on the Gaza Strip launched by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has provoked widespread anger and revulsion, as governments and humanitarian organizations point to the desperate conditions in the embattled territory. Dozens of Gazans have been killed by Israeli bombardments in recent days, while tens of thousands have been yet again forced to flee within a besieged enclave bereft of shelter and basic infrastructure.
Since the collapse of a brief ceasefire, Israel has impeded the passage of food and humanitarian goods into the territory. The unrelenting blockade has put more than 2 million people at critical risk of famine, my colleagues report.
In Brussels, the European Union announced it would begin a formal review of its trade accord with Israel, a move backed by what Kaja Kallas, the E.U.’s top diplomat, said was a “huge majority” of the 27-member bloc’s foreign ministers. Britain, too, suspended ongoing free trade talks with Israel and levied sanctions on a number of figures associated with Israel’s pro-settler far right.
On Monday, a joint statement from the leaders of Britain, France and Canada said “the level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable” and threatened Israel with punitive measures if it didn’t relent from its campaign against the remnants of militant group Hamas. Israel’s war — triggered by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel and abduction of hundreds of hostages — has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.
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