COLLAPSE OF GLOBAL MORALS IN GAZA

A United Nations experts' panel warned that the world stood at a "defining moral crossroads" as the devastation in Gaza approached the scale of extermination of its residents.

- ED MATHEW

N May 7, a United Nations experts' panel warned that the world stood at a "defining moral crossroads" as the devastation in Gaza approached the scale of extermination of its residents. "This is one of the most ostentatious and merciless manifestations of the destruction of human life and dignity," the experts stressed. "While states debate terminology—is it genocide or not—Israel continues its relentless destruction of life in Gaza, through attacks by land, air and sea, displacing and massacring the surviving population with impunity."

With over 52,000 Palestinians killed, 70 percent of them women and children, and close to 120,000 wounded, the world's most powerful states remain silent—or worse, complicit. Israel's latest military strategy, codenamed Operation Gideon's Chariots, aims to seize full control of Gaza Strip. In preparation, tens of thousands of reservists have been mobilized, and strategic military zones drawn across the enclave.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet has approved the new measures that human rights experts say amount to a policy of starvation and forced displacement. These include military-managed aid distribution centers and facial recognition checkpoints that Palestinians must pass before receiving basic supplies. The UN has denounced this as a violation of humanitarian principles and a form of collective punishment.