‘Israel using starvation as weapon of war in Gaza’

Islamabad: Dr Yezid Sayigh from Malcolm H Kerr Carnegie Middle East Centre, has identified the political calculations and interests of Benjamin Netanyahu as the primary obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire.

Dr Sayigh was addressing a webinar on “Prospects for a Gaza ceasefire: diplomatic stalemates and the path ahead” hosted here by Institute of Regional Studies (IRS).

He said that what Netanyahu had been doing from the very first day of the war was to escape a political predicament. Almost everything was about buying time and time is bought with Palestinian lives, he stated. He stressed that Israel’s military actions lack a clear strategic end goal.

Turning to regional dynamics, he stated that Israel’s policies are creating an intensely destabilising impact on Egypt and Jordan, both fearful of mass Palestinian displacement. Looking ahead, he argued that “here is no amount of polite international pressure sufficient to shift an Israel that moved so far to the Right,” concluding that only sustained global mobilization, solidarity and coalition-building can pave the way for meaningful change.