Gaza needs life-saving humanitarian corridor -- just like Berlin in 1948, says activist

By Aamir Latif and SM Najmus Sakib

NEW DELHI / DHAKA, Bangladesh / KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Human rights advocates are urging Western nations to heed calls for a humanitarian corridor into the besieged Gaza Strip, devastated after days of intense Israeli bombardment, just as they took action to meet the needs of people similarly blockaded in West Berlin in the early days of the Cold War.

The UN on Wednesday demanded the establishment of a humanitarian passageway into the Gaza Strip as the enclave continues to be pummeled by Israeli airstrikes that have so far displaced at least 263,000 people over the past five days, following a surprise attack on Israel by Palestinian group Hamas.

Ravi Nair, from the India-based South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, told Anadolu that humanitarian assistance was a must "for all the Gaza inhabitants right now."

"For the last few days, we have been seeing civilians dying. It is a war crime to do this kind of collective punishment under international humanitarian law," he said.

Both UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have underlined the need for a corridor into the enclave, which has been under Israeli blockade since 2007, for relief supplies to meet urgent needs and replenish depleted supplies.

"Two major UN organizations have asked for it. So, what more do you need?" Nair said, adding that such a corridor would have an "international precedent for it and in particular Indians should remember."

"The United States and other Western powers tend to forget that they thwarted a blockade of Berlin by the Soviet Union by creating an air corridor to supply humanitarian supplies to all Berlin residents for a whole year June 1948 to May 1949," Nair said.

This was not the only time crucial humanitarian supplies were rushed to blocked-off emergency zones from the air.

"In 1987, when the Sri Lankan government blockaded the Jaffna Tamil population, the then-Indian government flew huge transport planes over Sri Lankan airspace and dropped food, medical, and humanitarian supplies to ethnic Tamil residents in Jaffna in spite of the ongoing conflict between government forces and Tamil militant groups."

- Deadly shortages

According to Zafarul Islam Khan, a senior leader of the Muslim community in New Delhi, failure to do what these past efforts achieved is proving deadly for Gazans.

"People in the Gaza Strip are dying due to the lack of medical care, lack of medicines, lack of food, lack of electricity, and a humanitarian corridor is a must," he said, asserting that the Gaza Strip's Rafah border crossing with Egypt "should and must be used for this purpose."

"Egypt and all concerned countries should tell Israel that any attack on humanitarian aid convoys entering through Rafah will be considered an act of war and challenge to the international community," said Khan, who is the former head of Delhi's local minorities commission.

For Indian women's rights activist Brinda Adige, the UN's top priorities must include ensuring that children are not impacted by the ongoing conflict.

"The humanitarian corridor to extend support, including medical care to the Palestinians right now is important. Right now, they don't seem to get anything from anywhere. The UN has demanded a corridor for Gaza, but we need to see how it is going to come up," she said. "The UN must promise that the women and children are not impacted by the ongoing conflict."

In a dramatic escalation of Mideast tensions, Israeli forces have launched a sustained and forceful military campaign against the Gaza Strip, a response to a military offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israeli territories.

The conflict began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel, a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea, and air, which Hamas said was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ growing violence against Palestinians.

In response to Hamas' actions, the Israeli military launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.

Israel's response has extended into cutting water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening the living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.

- India position on clashes

Despite India traditionally supporting a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, its Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Hamas' offensive a series of "terrorist attacks."

On Thursday, the Indian Foreign Ministry reaffirmed the country's position.

"Our policy in this regard has been longstanding and consistent. India has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine living within secure and recognized borders side by side at peace with Israel. That position remains the same," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said.

On questions about how India sees the ongoing situation, the spokesman said there was a "universal obligation to observe international humanitarian law. There is also a global responsibility to fight the menace of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations."

- Middle East nations should 'take lead'

Another rights activist in the South Asian region, Pakistan-based Salima Hashim, told Anadolu that Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, should spearhead the establishment of a humanitarian corridor amid "complete silence" from the West.

"The basic responsibility lies on Egypt because it is the only connection with Gaza. But there is an equal moral responsibility on all the players in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE (United Arab Emirates), and Jordan, to play a role," said Hashim, a daughter of renowned Urdu poet and human rights advocate Faiz Ahmad Faiz.

Tauseef Ahmad Khan, an official from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said a corridor was "highly essential" to curb spiking civilian fatalities and suffering, likewise calling on Middle Eastern countries to take the lead.

"Those (Muslim) countries, which either have or are trying to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, must come forward to force Israel to allow the humanitarian corridor," Khan told Anadolu.

"The West's silence is understandable but unfortunately the Muslim countries, too, haven't done anything favorable so far in terms of alleviating the suffering of the people of Gaza," he added.

- 'Textbook example of ethnic cleansing'

Drawing parallels to the persecution that forced Rohingya Muslims to flee their homes in western Myanmar since 2017, Tania Haque told Anadolu that Israel was "committing genocide" in Gaza.

Haque, a member of Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission, said a corridor was necessary to minimize casualties, but that Israel had completely blocked the way.

Urging the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the Arab League to "come forward to look into the core cause of the Palestine crisis," Haque lamented that the UN has so far failed to ensure "the true rights of Palestinians."

Talking to Anadolu, Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan, a Bangladeshi human rights defender, said the condition now in the Gaza Strip was "undeniably a severe humanitarian crisis."

"The way Israeli forces blocked Palestinian people in Gaza is nothing but a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. The far-right Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant treats Palestinians like animals. Israel just wants to erase Palestinians from Gaza in a horrible way and it's nothing but an act of genocide," he said.

He emphasized the need to open the borders and a corridor to Gaza to ensure the safe passage of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Khan, a professor of International Relations at Dhaka University, said: "The official position of the US and allies to side with Israel will not douse the fire in Gaza and Israel.

Rather, it will make the situation even more complex and prolong the conflict in Gaza, he said.

*Anadolu staff in New Delhi contributed to this report