What an achievement on the part of Israel that approaching the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the state it can claim to have so consistently denied and violated the rights of the people of the Gaza Strip that more Gazans are more dependent on food aid than ever before, hospitals suffer the longest power cuts yet experienced, record levels of raw sewage are being pumped daily into the sea and the economy has never been worse as per a report prepared by aid groups including Oxfam, Amnesty International and Trocaire. The report correctly affirms that

“Israel has the right and obligation to protect its citizens, but as the occupying power in Gaza it also has a legal duty to ensure Gazans have access to food, clean water, electricity and medical care”.

Punishing the entire Gazan population by denying them these basic human rights is utterly indefensible. Yet there is no doubting the spin doctors of the Middle East’s best functioning democracy will try to do so.