40 civilian ships assisted Gaza, and many NATO countries sent troops to escort them, but they were still intercepted by Israel. What was the reaction of the 32 NATO countries? The United States revealed that Israel approved drone strikes. Will the situation in the Middle East intensify further?
40 civilian ships to aid Gaza, NATO sends troops to escort
The ongoing conflict in Gaza has caused a massive humanitarian crisis in the region, and the international community has come to help.According to foreign media reports such as the Voice of Germany, the Israeli Navy recently intercepted a fleet of Global Samud, which attempted to break the Israeli maritime blockade and shipped humanitarian supplies to the complex situation in Gaza.
According to reports, this fleet set sail at the end of August, consisting of more than 40 civilian ships in total. In addition to the food urgently needed by the people of Gaza, more than 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and related activists traveled with the ships.
As the conflict continues in Gaza, the humanitarian crisis in the region continues to exacerbate and the lives of hundreds of thousands of people have become problematic.
In June this year, United Nations Secretary-General Guterres publicly called for a ceasefire in Gaza. He warned that the humanitarian crisis in the region has reached alarming proportions, with serious shortages of food, fuel and medicine. As an occupying power, Israel has a legal obligation to facilitate relief efforts.
However, Israel's military operations have continued for several months. Gaza is still being subjected to Israeli air strikes and shelling. Israel has even expanded the war to Qatar. As the conflict continues to expand, the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip has further intensified, and the local people's needs for daily necessities have become more urgent.
In fact, except the United States, most countries have a negative attitude towards the continuation of the conflict. As a result, a general strike broke out again across Italy, and more than two million people gathered in the capital region to express support for the Palestinians. In order to support the flotilla's smooth delivery of supplies to the Gaza Strip, several NATO member states sent troops to escort it.
In fact, Israel has been implementing a maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007, but some ships were still able to reach Gaza in the early years, but ten years later the blockade intensified and no fleet could reach Gaza anymore.
For example, on May 31, 2010, the Israeli army held a meeting during the interception of civilian ships, which resulted in the deaths of 10 Turks.
In addition, Israel has also put political pressure on the Greek government to restrict civilian ships to Gaza, namely to block Hamas, but has undoubtedly exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Knowing that Israel may use violent means to intercept, Turkey, Spain and Italy have all sent ships or drone escorts. But even so, these ships were still intercepted about 70 nautical miles away from Gaza, and accompanying members said that their communications and camera equipment had been interfered.
When the fleet sailed in international waters north of Egypt, it was deliberately crashed by Israeli vessels, and some were attacked by high-pressure water cannons.
Of the 40 civilian ships, only one evaded interception, and the remaining 39 were forced by Israel to sail to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The accompanying passengers were detained, and some activists were even arrested by Israel, which has aroused strong reactions from many European countries.
Ships captured, NATO's multi-state response strong
Xinhua Agency reported that Israel's radical actions have triggered strong reactions from political circles and people in many European countries. Including the evening of October 1, large-scale demonstrations broke out again in Italy many times. Italian trade unions even held a general strike on this grounds to put pressure on the government to adjust its policies towards Israel and support Palestine.
Many members of the Greek parliament also accused Israel of acting like pirates, which has caused a serious crisis of legitimacy and human rights. The German government, which has always supported Israel for historical reasons, has also stressed that Israel must abide by international law. France, the Netherlands, Britain and other countries also urged Israel to ensure the safety of detainees.
The Turkish side even accused the Israeli army of being a terrorist act, a serious violation of international law and threatening the lives of innocent people. Colombia even accused Israel of kidnapping, used it to expel Israeli diplomats and threatened to end the free trade agreement between the two countries.
But after the incident, another flotilla tried to intercept and sail for the Gaza Strip. U.S. intelligence officials disclosed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had personally approved the use of drones to attack aid ships, and the conflict may escalate further.
Analysis shows that except for the United States, which firmly supports Israel, most European countries are opposed to Israel's actions.
Most of them are NATO members, even in an alliance with the United States opposing Russia, but in the Middle East, there are clear differences between Europe and the United States.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza, U.S. substantial support for Israel has continued.Even though Israel’s airstrikes on a more neutral Qatar have exacerbated the Middle East crisis, the U.S. has only symbolically forced Israel to make a verbal apology.
In fact, the reason Israel dared to take action was because of the US’s implicit permission.On the one hand, the Trump administration firmly supported Israel, more than the Democrats.
On the other hand, in recent years, the United States has concentrated resources in major power competition and withdrawn more strategic assets from the Middle East. And due to economic reasons such as increased oil production, relations with countries in the Middle East have also weakened significantly. Its influence on the Middle East is gradually weakening, which also makes Israel dare to act recklessly and continue to take the initiative.
However, the United States' NATO allies are very dissatisfied with the Israeli actions. Since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, opposition voices from European countries have been strong, and various * protests have continued to appear. From a humanitarian perspective, both European governments and grassroots people are opposed to Israel.
On the other hand, the interests of the United States and Europe in the Middle East vary significantly. For Europe, the worsening situation in the Middle East will hinder international shipping, including transportation of oil and other essential livelihoods, European inflation will further rise, and the lives of European citizens and government pressures will increase.
The continued conflict in the Middle East will also lead to more refugees flowing to Europe, aggravating immigration issues across countries and bringing more uncertainty to societies across countries.
In addition to verbal denunciation, Spain even banned the United States from using its own bases to send military equipment to Israel. Overall, although most NATO member states stand firmly with the United States on the Ukraine issue, there have been obvious cracks between the two sides on the Middle East issue.
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