Is ‘Gaza fatigue’ creeping into western media outlets? Despite the superb work by Owen Jones and others to highlight the ongoing daily atrocities, there are signs of the war slipping down the news agenda of the mainstream media amid the increasing normalisation of Israel’s murderous attacks on civilians.

Four-fifths of the population of Gaza are now internally displaced. Aid agencies are in despair at the humanitarian crisis now unfolding in southern Gaza, with infrastructure in collapse and aid operations unsafe to mount.

UN Chief’s call

The UN Secretary-General has said that more than eight weeks of fighting overall has “created appalling human suffering, physical destruction and collective trauma across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Invoking the rarely used Article 99 of the UN Charter, António Guterres has called on the Security Council to “press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and unite in a call for a full humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants.

This is the first time Guterres has felt compelled to make this “dramatic constitutional move” since taking office in 2017 but did so “given the scale of the loss of human life in Gaza and Israel, in such a short amount of time.”

US union solidarity

International solidarity remains vitally important at this time. A number of important US unions have now taken a principled position on events in Gaza. Most important is the United Auto Workers (fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America) which has called for a ceasefire. The UAW has more than 400,000 active members and more than 580,000 retired members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, which represents 140,000 skilled workers,  is also calling for a ceasefire. They are joined by the over 200,000-strong American Postal Workers Union, the National Nurses Union, the CIR/SEIU which represents doctors, and others.  A joint statement calling for a ceasefire has also been issued by a range of local union branches and smaller unions.

Protest!

In the UK, another massive demonstration for a ceasefire will take to the streets of London tomorrow. Notwithstanding the onset of the festive season, the pressure must be maintained and intensified.