MP's again push for debate on Gaza as death toll tops 60,000; Divided on gov't measures
SP parliamentarian Sarah Dobbe has requested a debate on Israel’s war on Gaza. On Tuesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that the death toll has topped 60,000, and the global hunger monitoring system IPC warned that the “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in the Palestinian territory. Since 7 October 2023, Israel’s attack on and starvation of the Gaza Strip have killed 60,043 people, including over 17,400 children.
Last week, GroenLinks-PvdA and D66 also demanded that the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, return from summer recess to debate the plight of the people of Gaza. They failed to get enough support. The Kamer is divided on the matter, with the far-right and conservative Christian parties still vehemently supporting Israel.
That was also apparent in the parties’ response to the measures Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp announced on Monday to try and persuade Israel to let humanitarian aid into Gaza. The government summoned the Israeli ambassador, imposed entry bans against two extremist Israeli Ministers, and promised to push for more measures in Europe.
According to GroenLinks-PvdA, these measures do not go nearly far enough. “It is shameful that the Cabinet waited so long to impose sanctions,” parliamentarian Kati Piri told NOS. The measures are disproportionate to “the gravity of Israeli war crimes.”
The Dutch government uses “strong words” but “soft actions,” D66 MP Jan Paternotte said. “The Netanyahu government is ethnically cleansing Gaza, and it’s not even making a secret of it.”
Both GroenLinks-PvdA and D66 called on the caretaker Cabinet to impose an arms embargo on Israel and, following France’s example, recognize the Palestinian state. Piri also wants to halt trade with illegal Israeli settlements.
As expected, PVV leader Geert Wilders, a staunch supporter of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is against the caretaker government’s measures. “The VVD, BBB, and NSC are spitting right in the faces of the Jewish victims of the 7 October 2023 massacre with this expression of support for the beasts of Hamas,” Wilders said on X. According to the far-right politician, “sanctions and hatred against Isreal do not benefit the people of Gaza, but are exactly what Hamas wants.”
The orthodox christian party SGP is also critical. “Israel deserves support, not sanctions, in the fight against evil, dark forces that continue to threaten its existence,” wrote SGP parliamentarian Diederik van Dijk.
Hamas killed 1,137 people in terrorist attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.
Since that day, Israel has killed 60,034 people, including at least 17,400 children, in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday. That is one out of every 36 people in Gaza dead, and over 90 people killed per day of this war, Al Jazeera calculated.
147 people have starved to death in Gaza due to Israel blocking the entry of aid. 88 of them were children and babies. One in ten children in Gaza are malnourished.
