Palestinians outraged at US, Europe for 'bias' towards Israel's war on Gaza

Palestinians are speaking out against the United States and its allies in Europe for their "biased" stance towards Israel's war on Gaza, as the death toll from Israeli airstrikes surpassed 6,600, the majority of whom are civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

The outrage at the US grew even more after Joe Biden told reporters, "I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using", suggesting that the Islamic armed group, Hamas, and Palestinians at large were inflating death toll figures. 

UN Security Council members remained deadlocked as competing resolutions by Russia and the United States, calling for a "humanitarian ceasefire" or "humanitarian pause", failed to pass. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to bolster its armed presence in the region as its bases in Iraq and Syria take fire. Additionally, more American warships sail to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel should the conflict widen. 

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has referred to the current stage as Israel's "darkest hour". According to Israeli figures, some 1400 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, were killed in the first days of the fighting. At least 220 hostages of diverse nationalities, but a majority are Israeli, are being held in the Gaza Strip. 

Recently, Hamas released four captives, with efforts ongoing to release more. 

Israel currently detains at least 5,200 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are held without facing trial. 

With an Israeli ground invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip looming, many fear a spillover as skirmishes along the Lebanese-Israeli border between Hizballah and the Israeli military intensify. 

Palestinians believe that the United States, by aligning with Israel and supporting its occupation of Palestinian land, bears a significant responsibility for the ongoing war.

'Guided by America'

Salah Hammouri, a Palestinian-French citizen who Israel recently expelled from his hometown of occupied East Jerusalem, spoke to The New Arab from Paris, France.

Hammouri, 38, told TNA that the war is "no longer about the October 7 attacks" initiated by Hamas and other groups against Israel, accusing the United States of spearheading a war in an effort to "reshape" the Middle East. 

Referring to the ferocity of the airstrikes on Gaza and the daily killings of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Hammouri emphasised that the conflict has taken "a dangerous turn, and the world must decide whether it supports the killing of the Palestinian people or opposes it." 

"No grey area anymore. We hope that the pressure expands against the axis of imperialism, which is steering the battle", noting the popular discontent in Europe and the Middle East. 

"The battle against Gaza today is not being conducted by the Israeli occupation, the Israeli occupation is only a killing machine implementing the imperial plan guided by America", Hammouri concluded. 

'Gunboat diplomacy'

Fareed Ta'amallah, a Palestinian farmer and a political activist living in Ramallah, told TNA that he sees "no distinction between the US and Israel" because the "US is an element in the aggression against the Palestinian people and therefore the Palestinian Authority must boycott America". 

Palestinians are increasingly frustrated with the Palestinian Authority for its inability to deal with the war on Gaza and for failing to protect its people against settler attacks in the West Bank. 

Ta'amallah said that the Arab countries must also sever ties with the United States for the position it's taking in the conflict. 

"The high number of casualties and the vicious attack with the backing of American with American fighters present on the battlefield will provoke the Arab peoples and will therefore prompt their governments to take a position". 

Hamas's strategic attack against Israel on 7 October has upended calculations, triggering a loss of confidence in Israel's military capability and a build-up of American forces in the region to safeguard US interests. 

"America has discovered that all of its allies in the region are weak", triggering a build-up of its naval power in the eastern Mediterranean, Hasib Nashashibi, a Palestinian resident of occupied East Jerusalem, told TNA. 

"Netanyahu and his army are now 100% led by the Americans", he continued. 

As Israel's attacks on Gaza and the occupied West Bank reap more and more Palestinian lives, Arab masses are increasingly mobilising, demanding retaliatory action from their governments. 

"This war has inflamed the region, and now America fears that the Lebanese resistance and opposition factions in Iraq" would increase measures against the US interests, Nashashibi pointed out.