Gaza horror

Facing the horror

I was particularly distressed last night watching on ABC’s Media Watch broadcasting footage of people screaming in pain as they died from burns, following an Israeli attack on a Gazan hospital. Probably worse and even more distressing was the retrieval of children’s bodies from a small Lebanese village bombed by Israel. Yes, I’ve been aware of the civilian death toll from the war in Gaza and Lebanon, but as Jewish person I have to ask, how can Israel justify this horror?

Jeffrey Kelson, Prahran

End this massacre

What were our political leaders thinking, when they asserted that the recent killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could serve as a “vital turning point” (Anthony Albanese) and “must enable the end of the war” (Penny Wong)? While other world leaders and international media uttered the same false hopes, social media tells us a very different story. Israel’s celebration of the killing of Sinwar and its published footage of his last minutes have generated widespread veneration for the man, within and outside Gaza. Quite possibly, his lasting status as hero has been cemented as a result. And Israel’s narrative of Sinwar as a coward hiding in tunnels behind human hostages is challenged by these images. Israel’s reaction? Its siege in the northern Gaza Strip has only intensified. Commissioner General of UNRWA, Phillipe Lazzarini, in his comment on the most recent attacks, closed with the plea “[It is] time for political will and courage to end this brutal war”. Surely our government can no longer maintain the fiction that Israel is acting in good faith to defend itself. Please show the will and courage to end this massacre.

Jill Dixon, Northcote