Back in late December of 2008, the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire between the militant group Hamas (which rules the Gaza Strip) and the Israeli government ended. It was not renewed. However, the agreement was shaky in the first place. In response, Israel carried out an air offensive. After days of air strikes, Israel followed up with a ground offensive.
There were worldwide protests condemning Israel’s actions. There were protests throughout late-December and throughout early January. Thousands took up in London to protest against Israel. Other protests took place in Lebanon and Turkey. A pro-Palestinian group had demonstrated outside of US President Barack Obama’s home in Hawaii.
Thousands had taken to the streets of Montreal, Quebec, Canada to protest against Israel. The air strikes had brought Iran’s attention. Pakistan said that the air strikes violated the United Nations charter.
The UN was not happy when its headquarters in Gaza was destroyed. It was full of food and supplies for the Palestinian refugees. The UN had held an emergency meeting. On top of that, the UN had suggested that Israel may have committed war crimes.
When you factor all of that together, Israel was pretty much placed on the United Nations’ S-List. This is not an S-List. This is the complete opposite of Hollywood’s A-List.
Now, Hamas can be placed on the UN S-List. One could ask: What did Hamas do? The United Nations accuses Hamas leaders of stealing humanitarian supplies for the second time.
As a result, the UN suspended aid for Gaza. This is after Hamas took food and supplies for the needy residents. The UN has demanded that Hamas hand back the aid and to assure that this will not happen again.
Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, urged Hamas to give back the humanitarian shipments it has stolen. He wants assurances that Hamas will not pull such a stunt like this again.
The supplies are for the 1.4 million people in Gaza that need it. With that said, it looks like Hamas is about to get placed on the UN’s S-List. At the same time, it looks inevitable that tensions between Hamas and Israel will continue to escalate again. Again, it will continue to rise as one of the first international problems for US President Obama.