Displaced Palestinians trying to walk back from central Gaza Strip to northern Gaza Strip. As the Israel-Hamas war continues, there are fears it could widen across the region. Photo / AP
New Zealand has been urged to speak out more over the conflict in the Middle East, as international observers hope conflict between Israel and Iran won’t turn into full-blown war.
Over the weekend, Iran launched hundreds of missiles towards Israel, in retaliation for what is believed to have been an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Syria last week.
Israeli officials said the country’s Iron Dome defence system intercepted 99 per cent of the 300 missiles and drones thrown at it.
While Iran has said that it will take no further actions against Israel, Israel’s military chief has said that they will respond to the attack, without offering further details.
University of Otago Professor of politics and international studies Robert Patman told The Front Page that this “tit-for-tat violence” is destabilising the Middle East.
“Iran, I think, waited for the international community to condemn Israel’s action, but no such condemnation came from the United States, although the Biden administration was privately irritated by what Israel had done, because Israel had not consulted with the United States when it committed that action,” Patman said.
“New Zealand didn’t say anything, although we have a huge stake in a rules-based international order, and particularly one which observes diplomatic conventions.”
The Biden administration has told Israel to take the win of shooting down most of the missiles and move on, and that they will not support any retaliation.
This all comes as the conflict in Gaza recently passed the six-month mark.
More than 33,000 Palestinians are believed to have been killed in the conflict and there are fears that famine has already begun in parts of Gaza as Israel continues to limit the flow of aid.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters delivered a hard-hitting speech to the United Nations last week about the war in Gaza, calling it an “utter catastrophe”.
He repeated New Zealand’s grave concerns about its repeated indications that it may soon launch a military offensive into Rafah.
Patman told The Front Page while it was a very good speech, it comes about four months too late.
“We’re doing the right things diplomatically, but we’re not actually saying to the United States, as a true friend should: ‘Please think again.’”
Patman thinks New Zealand should have spoken out against Israel’s strikes.
“It’s small- and middle-sized countries which are the majority. They depend critically on the international order being managed by rules, conventions and norms. They cannot rely on raw power.
“What we’re seeing in the Middle East in the last six months is a bonfire of international law. And that’s bad news for us.”
He believes that it’s in Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s interest to keep the conflict going.
“Netanyahu has a political interest in sustaining conflict because if there’s a ceasefire, he was facing demonstrations even before the conflict began on October 7.
“His inability to get the hostages home has made him unpopular amongst many Israelis. And so if there is a ceasefire and possibly new elections, his future may be bleak.”
As the conflict continues, aid workers in Gaza are finding it increasingly difficult and dangerous to deliver fuel, food and supplies to people in need.
Unicef aid worker Tess Ingram was part of a three-car convoy that was hit with bullets while on a mission.
Ingram told The Front Page it was fast and confusing.
“We were making sure in that moment that everyone was okay. Not just us, but the civilians outside as well.
“It was a shock because we were in a designated holding area where we had been instructed to wait and yet this happened to a clearly marked UN vehicle, which shouldn’t happen,” she said.
There’s frustration among aid workers that something like this could happen.
“We know that we’re in a dangerous environment. We know that Gaza is one of the most difficult places in the world to do our jobs at the moment. But there are systems in place that are meant to protect us and they’re not working at the moment. It’s because they’re not being respected.”
Save the Children’s Karyn Beattie is in Southern Gaza. She told The Front Page that the deaths of several aid workers working for the World Central Kitchen have shaken the aid communities.
“I think all of us in the international humanitarian aid system were really shaken by that, but we also obviously question the system that we’re having to rely on,” Beattie said.
“The World Central Kitchen team were really good at co-ordination. When we heard, we were obviously heartbroken, but we also immediately questioned what that meant for the rest of us, and, definitely feeling a little bit more nervous now.”
Beattie said that they can’t even bring in body armour to protect themselves.
She thanked New Zealand for their aid commitments, but that’s not all the country could be doing.
“Really from the government perspective, just speaking out for a ceasefire and continuing that pressure to stop the fighting would be the best thing, and the only real thing that will save I think a lot of children, a lot of people.”
Listen to the full episode to hear about the conflict in Gaza and the wider Middle East
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
US investigators, including from Boeing, have arrived at the crash site.