Washington obligated to call for cease-fire

This is an editorial from China Daily.

The Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday reportedly claimed hundreds of lives, igniting a fresh round of global condemnation of Israel for further worsening the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.

Since the conflict broke out on Oct 7, the death toll on both sides has crossed 10,000 with casualties disproportionately high on the Palestinian side. In a tit-for-tat retaliation against Hamas, Tel Aviv has effectively turned Gaza into a living inferno. It's time that Tel Aviv heeded the call of the international community and stopped its collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

True, the ongoing conflict was triggered by Hamas' brutal attacks on southern and central Israel. But the ruthless manner in which Israel is retaliating shows it is hell-bent on punishing Palestinian civilians, killing thousands of them, mostly children and women, to avenge the Hamas attacks. Worse, Israel has rejected all calls for a cease-fire, showing it is ready to defy the international community, including the United Nations, to exact revenge on innocent Palestinian civilians.

So far, Israel has allowed only a trickle of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza through the Rafah checkpoint between Egypt and Gaza, which is far from enough to provide medical treatment for and feed the more than 2.3 million Palestinians trapped there.

The situation in Gaza is deteriorating by the minute as Israel steps up its ground offensive. The United Nations, the UN Security Council in particular, should play its due role in safeguarding world peace and stability. Unfortunately, the United States has been preventing the UN, including the Security Council, from passing any resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire by vetoing or threatening to veto it.

The resolution the UN General Assembly passed on Friday calls for an "immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce", not a cease-fire, in Gaza and "continuous, sufficient and unhindered" provision of lifesaving supplies and services for civilians trapped inside the enclave. Despite that, Israel has not stopped bombarding Gaza; instead, it has intensified the ground offensive, and has allowed only a fraction of the humanitarian aid required to save lives and provide sustenance for the people pulverized by the bombings in Gaza.

The Joe Biden administration should realize that the continuous, senseless Israeli bombing will not end the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. It could, instead, spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, and even beyond, dealing a heavy blow to the global economy, which is already foundering on the road to recovery.

The US should act more responsibly in the UN Security Council and not veto any resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Palestine, in order to ensure the safety of civilians.