2023-2026 Israel-Hamas War/International reactions

 2023-2026 Israel-Hamas War/International reactions

Description	The 2023-2026 Israel-Hamas War saw a number of international reactions.

The 2023-2026 Israel-Hamas War saw a number of international reactions.

US reaction

President Joe Biden and his top advisers were reported by CNN after 2 months to be warning Israel "with growing force" that it will become increasingly difficult for it to pursue its military goals in Gaza as global outcry intensifies about the scale of humanitarian suffering there.

US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene argued the weapons^[whose?] used in the attack appeared to be American and were moved from Ukraine to Gaza.

Covert operation

US Navy Seals were reported to enter the conflict. Israel was using banned white phosphorus artillery projectiles on harbours in Gaza, while denying using them.

Deep state leadership

A good example of how this event has played into PM Netanyahu's hand; Al Jazeera wrote; The Israeli military is bombarding Gaza, Hamas is launching more rockets and the death toll on both sides of the divide is rising. Splashed across Israeli media headlines is ‘Israel at War’ with many outlets reporting events as they happen, while some op-eds – and even high profile figures – have been using rhetoric criticised as dangerous and inflammatory.

PM Netanyahu rallied the country and even his enemies in Israeli parliament, as he even was able to form a new coalition in Israeli parliament, which is very important as Israel has no constitution and Israeli parliament has a final say since 2023 is nearly all affairs as they control the judges.

Colonists

“There had already been a significant increase in violence by Israeli settlers this year, even before the Hamas attack, according to UN data, with more than 100 incidents reported each month and about 400 people driven from their land between January and August.

Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem told the BBC that since the attack, it had documented "a concerted and organised effort by settlers to use the fact that the entire international and local attention is focused on Gaza and the north of Israel to try to seize land in the West Bank". Partial data compiled by B'Tselem, covering the first six days after the Hamas attack, recorded at least 46 separate incidents in which it said settlers threatened, physically attacked or damaged the property of Palestinians in the West Bank.

"A lot of shepherding families and communities have fled because they were threatened in the past week by settlers," said Roy Yellin, a spokesman for B'Tselem. "Settlers have been giving residents a deadline to leave and telling them if they don't they will be harmed. And some villages have been totally emptied out."”
Joel Gunter,  BBC (2023) 

The attack also gave the IDF a window to raze several villages in the West Bank and remove Palestinian villages. A crime according to NGOs.

Iran attack

Iran attacked Israel with at least 200 missiles and drones on April 14, 2024, after Israel striking the Iranian Embassy in Damascus 14 days prior. The strike resulted in minimal damage to infrastructure or civilians. This was the first time Iran since the establishment of the Islamic Republic fired rockets directly at Israeli soil..

Yemen Airstrike

4 weeks into the conflict, Houthi militants in Yemen announced a number of missile and drone attacks on Israel. In January 2024, the US and UK launched airstrikes on more than a dozen sites used by Houthis in Yemen

Interestingly enough, a spokesperson for Hamas admitted Israel to be practically undefeated with US support, but wants to maintain the strategy of tension between Gaza and Tel Aviv, seemingly not trying to advance the cause of the Palestine with other means, apart from bloodshed.

Release of hostages/prisoners

Hostages Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag looking well

On 25 January 2025, Hamas freed four female Israeli soldiers: Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag in exchange for 200 Palestinian hostages. The four Israelis freed in the second swap of the week-old Gaza truce were led onto a podium in Gaza City amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of armed Hamas men. The hostages waved and smiled before being led off, entering Red Cross vehicles to be transported to Israeli forces.

The truce calls for Hamas to release 33 women, children, elderly, sick and wounded hostages over a six-week first phase, with Israel freeing 30 Palestinians for each civilian and 50 for each soldier. Of the 200 Palestinians released, around 70 will be deported to Egypt, and from there to another country, possibly Turkey, Qatar or Algeria. Another 16 were sent to Gaza and the rest were released to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Jonathan Cook posted on X:

Reassuring to see the Israeli hostages – actually all of them are soldiers who were captured from an army base that has been enforcing a brutal siege of Gaza for 17 years – looking well on their release.

If only we could say the same about the Palestinian hostages Israel is releasing in these swaps.

One of these Israeli women was the one in a photograph widely circulated after Oct 7 showing her in bloodied trousers. Israel genocide apologists claimed that was proof of sexual violence. As previously released hostages have confirmed, it wasn't. She'd been injured and presumably been sitting in a pool of blood in the vehicle that brought her into Gaza.

Similar fake news happily spread by western media outlets, including about beheaded babies and systematic rapes, helped stoke a political climate in which Palestinians were further dehumanised and the mass slaughter of Palestinian children became acceptable for the next 15 months – and may become acceptable once again if Netanyahu carries out his promise to restart the butchery.

UN reaction

The UN released several statements, but refused by veto of the US to act after Israel invaded Gaza, as the other countries voted in favor of a ceasefire in early 2024.

UNRWA statement

UN Security Council holds open debate on Israel-Hamas conflict - 24 October

Statement by the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lynn Hastings, on the hostilities between Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip and Israel:

Jerusalem, 10 October 2023

Palestinian armed groups infiltrated Israel on 7 October, killing and capturing hundreds of Israeli civilians and members of the Israeli forces while indiscriminately firing thousands of rockets into Israel.

On 8 October, the Government of Israel declared war, launching intensive air strikes into the densely populated Gaza Strip over the past three days. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and over two thousand now injured. The magnitude of the ongoing hostilities has led to grave humanitarian consequences. Homes, schools, medical facilities, and other infrastructure have been damaged and destroyed.

In Gaza, at least 200,000 of the 2.2 million residents, have been displaced after fleeing for fear of their lives or their houses were destroyed by airstrikes. Most of them are taking shelter in UNRWA’s schools, at least two of which have already been damaged by airstrikes in the area. The numbers of those affected by the hostilities are only expected to increase.

Israeli authorities have cut their water supply to Gaza, reducing an already scarce availability of potable water. And in accordance with the complete siege ordered by the Israeli Government on Gaza, access to electricity, food, and fuel have also been severed, inevitably worsening the already dire humanitarian situation. Palestinians in Gaza now only have electricity to 3-4 hours per day. This hinders the ability of health facilities to function and treat those injured.

The United Nations and its humanitarian partners in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are working to meet acute needs, in particular shelter, in dangerous circumstances. However, access for humanitarian staff and supplies into Gaza has also been cut and the intensity of the hostilities is limiting the ability of staff to deliver aid.

As the security and humanitarian situations continue to escalate, all parties must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law.

All military and armed groups must abide by the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution when conducting their operations.

Civilians, especially children, medical facilities, humanitarian personnel health workers, and journalists must be protected.

Captured civilians must be released immediately and unconditionally. Anyone captured or detained, including combatants, must be treated humanely and with dignity.

All relevant actors must allow humanitarian teams and goods to immediately and safely reach the hundreds of thousands of people in need.

UNSCR 2702

US and Russia abstain, 13 votes in favour

Instead of calling for an immediate ceasefire, UNSCR 2702 of 2023 was watered down by the United States to allowing Israel to continue controlling the amount and distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and to continue its bombardment unhindered:

The Security Council reaffirmed the obligations of the parties to the conflict under international humanitarian law, especially regarding the protection of civilians and civilian objects, safety of humanitarian personnel, and the provision of humanitarian assistance.

The UNSC resolution demanded that the parties “allow, facilitate and enable” the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip.

It also requested the UN Secretary-General to appoint a Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator with responsibility for “facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying” in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature of all relief consignments to the enclave provided through States that are not party to the conflict.

It also called for the “expeditious” establishment of a UN mechanism to accelerate aid consignments to Gaza through States that are not party to the conflict, to expedite, streamline and accelerate assistance while continuing to help ensure that aid reaches its civilian destination.

UNWRA and UN Watch

On the 27^th of January 2024, UNWRA funding was cut after accusations of their personnel working or supporting Hamas operations in Gaza.

Hillel Neuer appeared on ABC News with Linsey Davis to discuss the UN workers accused of helping Hamas in the October 7th attacks on Israel, and evidence he presented in the US Congress on 30 January 2024.

After the cutting of funds for the IGO, some critics from the UN themselves gave interviews arguing accusations against UNWRA already were known, even in the UN. A recent example resulted in UNWRA suspending up to 120 teachers working for UNWRA for teaching Gazan children to violently act against Israeli targets.

Hillel Neuer, a director of UN Watch, a Geneva based zionist NGO whose mission is to monitor the United Nations, UN Watch increasingly warned the UN since 2015 about UNWRA. Neuer called for an absolute end to UNWRA as he accused UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of purposely only allowing UNWRA to work alongside western countries keeping the strategy of tension alive in the Gaza-Israel conflict by quickly giving UNWRA dozens of monthly payments in advance. Even though UNWRA was accused to be infiltrated by Hamas employees.

“UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said after a key Hamas operations center was discovered right beneath his headquarters that he had no idea. That's absurd. There was a very advanced tunnel with electrical cables, which supplied a Hamas server center with power. That came directly from UNRWA's electricity grid. Moreover, a few years ago, UNRWA staff noticed that an entire parking lot above it was starting to subside. So what do you mean, we couldn't have known anything?”
Hillel Neuer (2024) 

Canada cut funding without seeing evidence

On 7 February 2024, CBC News reported that the Trudeau government cut funding without seeing evidence to back Israel's claims of UNRWA-Hamas collusion. Government sources told CBC that Israel still hadn't shared evidence with Canada to substantiate its claim that 12 employees of UNRWA were involved in some capacity in the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the affiliated group Islamic Jihad.

Earlier in February, Britain's Channel 4 News obtained a copy of a dossier that the government of Israel shared with the UK government, which also cut funding to UNRWA. Channel Four reported that the dossier was only six pages long. The news service said it rehashes long-standing Israeli government complaints about UNRWA and alleges the involvement of UNRWA staff in the Oct 7 attack, but "provides no evidence" to back up Israel's explosive allegations against the agency.

Britain's Sky News also reviewed the dossier and reached a similar conclusion:

"The Israeli intelligence documents make several claims that Sky News has not seen proof of and many of the claims, even if true, do not directly implicate UNRWA," the news channel reported.

French public broadcaster France 24 also had access to the Israeli report, which it compared to the notorious "dodgy dossier" of intelligence claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that led the UK government to join the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

An April 2024 UN report into UNRWA concluded it must do more to improve its neutrality, staff vetting and transparency. But the independent review also said that Israel had failed to back up a claim that many of the agency's staff belonged to terror groups.

UN Finds way less Children and Women died

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revised its child fatality figure from the Gaza war sharply downward, reporting more than 14,500 deaths on May 6 but then 7,797 on May 8 2024. OCHA also revised downward its figure for women fatalities from more than 9,500 deaths to 4,959 deaths.

The Hague Group

On 5 February 2025, Zarah Sultana sent this email to her supporters:

In a press conference accompanied by Benjamin Netanyahu – who has a live ICC arrest warrant – Donald Trump said that “the US will take over the Gaza Strip” and “own it”.

Trump’s proposal echoes decades of Israeli policies aimed at the erasure of Palestinian identity, land and rights. It is a chilling reminder of the October 2023 plan drafted by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence to forcibly expel Gaza’s residents to Egypt.

Now, Trump has openly supported this ethnic cleansing – even suggesting the deployment of US troops to occupy Gaza.

This is not just a threat. It is a declaration of war on the Palestinian people and their right to exist.

For over a year Israel — backed by the US, the UK and other Western nations — has waged a genocidal assault on Gaza.

70% of Gaza’s population are already refugees, displaced from their homes by previous waves of ethnic cleansing.

And after 16 months of relentless violence, 92% of housing in Gaza is damaged or destroyed. Families are starving, without access to food, water, fuel or medicine.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces are escalating attacks, invading refugee camps, destroying homes and displacing thousands.

But the Palestinian people will not be erased.

For 76 years, they have resisted occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Their cause is just, their rights undeniable, and their determination unbreakable.

We must stand with them.

The Hague Group, established last week to hold the Israeli government accountable for its violations of international law, reminds us of the importance of global solidarity and accountability.

Here in the UK, we have a responsibility to act.

We must demand that our government condemns Trump’s proposals, upholds international law and ends all complicity in Israel’s crimes — including through a full arms embargo.

Sign my petition to demand that the UK ends all arms sales to Israel: Sign the petition now!

This is a moment of stark choice: either we stand with the racist, authoritarian vision of Trump and Netanyahu — or we stand for justice, human rights and the rule of law.

Let us rise to this moment. Let us stand with Palestine. Let us fight for a future where justice, dignity and freedom prevail and Palestine is finally free.

Genocide

On December 29, South Africa’s government filed a case with the International Court of Justice alleging that, by atrocities against the Palestinian people after October 7, Israel is violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The government of Israel has said it would be represented at the ICJ to oppose the allegations, and presented their own claims in CCM of rapes and murders by Hamas. The court said it was "plausible", but not proven yet, and was asked to gather documents for after the war.

Difference in Aid by EU Telecom-providers

A Dutch investigation by journalist Tim Hofman revealed the European internet providers actually decided within one day to make telephones calls - to Ukraine from the EU - free of charge. The same European Telecom providers refused the same procedures for at least 8 months into the Israel-Hamas conflict. Upon investigation by the same journalist, at least one Dutch telecom provider lied on camera that a "middle-man actually requested the 26 EU countries via the European Parliament" to immediately order telecom companies within one day after the Russian invasion. After verifying this procedure with multiple Dutch Ministerial Departments, this handler was denied to have ever existed, playing questions as to who or whom is deep lobbying to deny Palestinians cheaper telecommunication systems, but grant them to Ukrainians at instant.

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Dikgang Moseneke to join bench of judges in Israel-Hamas world court case	Article	5 January 2024	Kgaugelo Masweneng	Should presiding American Judge Joan Donoghue recuse herself when it comes to determining whether US staunch ally Israel has committed genocide in Gaza?
Document:Eight activists go on trial for disrupting Israel’s weapons trade	Article	10 November 2023	Mohamed Elmaazi	The trial of the Elbit Eight takes place at a time when Israel is waging a genocidal war against Gaza – using weapons from Elbit Systems and several other British firms.
Document:ICC prosecutor says world leaders 'threatened' him over Israel arrest warrants	Article	5 September 2024	News Desk	“Target Israel, and we will target you,” US Senators, led by Tom Cotton, warned in the letter. “Such actions are illegitimate and lack legal basis, and, if carried out, will result in severe sanctions against you and your institution.” Senators Mitch McConnell (minority leader), Rick Scott, Tim Scott, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio also signed the letter.
Document:Jeremy Corbyn says "I Condemn Violence Against All Civilians, Why Can't Keir Starmer?"	Article	12 October 2023	Jeremy Corbyn	In an interview with LBC, Keir Starmer was asked whether “cutting off power and water” to 2 million people, half of whom are children, was appropriate. He agreed that Israel “has that right”. Where is the empathy for Palestinians who have lost their loved ones, their homes and their futures? What happened to the universal application of international law?
Document:Jill Stein considering Palestinian American as running mate	Article	11 August 2024	Maya Yang	Kamala Harris mishandled anti-war demonstrators who protested during her rally in Detroit, Michigan, chanting: “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide." Harris responded: “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”
Document:South Africa institutes Genocide Convention proceedings against Israel	statement	29 December 2023	International Court of Justice	South Africa's 84-page Application instituting Genocide Convention proceedings against Israel
Document:The Presence of Evil	blog post	25 July 2024	Craig Murray	Netanyahu’s slanderous attacks on the institutions of international law were applauded to the rafters by America’s political leaders. The whole world was watching, and took note. The Zionist project per se is evil. To steal another people’s land and subject them to long and progressive genocide is about as evil a deed as can be imagined.
Document:UN Secretary-General invokes Article 99 on Gaza	Article	6 December 2023	Al Jazeera	"Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the UN Security Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe and appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared."

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.

References

This is a page stub. Please add to it.