Immediate ceasefire in Gaza is required now

Deaths of seven aid workers, including three Britons, in Israeli air strike brings world closer to humanitarian catastrophe

The deaths of seven aid workers, including three British nationals, in an Israeli air strike on Gaza demonstrate the myth of waging a “precision war” in such a densely populated area. When innocent civilians are starving and dying, and those trying to bring them food are also being killed, it is unquestionably time for a ceasefire.

In saying this, we are in no way aligning ourselves with those who protested against Israel shortly after the 7 October massacre, as if they were actually supporting the wanton mass murder of unarmed men, women and children, and wanted to deny Israel’s right to defend itself from such attacks, which Hamas officials pledged would continue.

According to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, more than 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began. Few would entirely trust figures from such a source, but even if they are inflated, the death toll would still be unacceptably high at half that number. If so, many aid workers are being killed – at least 196 have now lost their lives – despite coordinating their activities with Israeli forces, so what hope for civilians? Jamie Mcgoldrick, humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said there was “no safe place left in Gaza”, describing it as “one of the world’s most dangerous and difficult places to work”. Pictures of devastated cities also tell a story about just how destructive this conflict has been.

The international community now needs to intervene more effectively to prevent mass deaths from starvation, with the US State Department assessing a famine may have already broken out in the northern Gaza Strip and could affect the whole area. Allowing such a tragedy would be a humanitarian catastrophe and leave a permanent moral stain on the character of Israel and wider world. This cannot be who they, and we, are.

The situation is complicated, and not helped by China and Russia’s political games at the UN. It is also difficult to know what to do with the remaining Hamas combatants. But while it is hard to see a way out of this, it starts with an immediate ceasefire.