The West’s Complicit Silence: Accountability Lacking in Gaza and West Bank Crises

The ongoing military actions of Israel, including air strikes, ground invasions, and besiegement, have taken a catastrophic toll on and left much of the population void of essential infrastructure. Local health practitioners and humanitarian researchers report over 154,500 injuries and over 61,700 Palestinian deaths in Gaza alone since October, 2023. 

About 90% of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents have been externally displaced. People arriving at the destruction from bombing of buildings are gathered together in makeshift camps or temporary shelters with little access to safe water, sanitation, or healthcare services. We are seeing an increase in bacterial infections related to respiratory illnesses and diseased food and water, primarily in children. 

The West Bank situation is also deteriorating. Since the start of October, 2023, 995 persons have lost their lives (including 210 children) due to violence inflicted by settlers and the military. Psychosocial distress and economic de-evolution are multiplied by arrests, checkpoints, curfews, and demolitions of homes and the humanitarian disaster deepens.

Socio-economic devastation and systemic deprivation

The war is ruinously expensive. Gaza’s economy has contracted by more than 83% in 2025, the UN Conference on Trade and Development estimates. With trade channels shut and public institutions demolished, unemployment stands at more than 90%. Banks and ministries are shut, schools function sporadically, and often as shelters for displaced individuals.

Electricity is available for less than three hours a day. There are few functioning hospitals, and they are working half capacity with chronic shortages of fuel, equipment, and personnel. Basic surgical procedures are delayed or denied, and wounded civilians are reliant on field clinics administered by overstretched humanitarian organizations.

Famine risk and irreversible damage

Food insecurity has reached crisis levels. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment warns that over 500,000 people in Gaza are already in IPC Phase 5 classified as catastrophic or famine-like. An additional 1.07 million people are in Phase 4 needing immediate humanitarian assistance to avert famine.

In the West Bank, continuing curfews, movement restrictions and settler violence have decimated local economies with agricultural livelihoods gone and over 68% of families reporting skipping meals or eating smaller portions. The long-term impact on education, health, and psychological development will be felt for generations.

The West’s role and diplomatic inertia

While Western governments have tirelessly called for restraint and the protection of civilians, these calls are undermined by the continuation of arms sales and military aid to Israel. The United States is by far the largest military partner, approving a supplemental $15.2 billion in military assistance in 2025. These funds—ostensibly for the improvement of Israeli security are regularly conditioned on operations in high-density urban areas, which result in civilian casualties and civilian infrastructure damage.

The European governments, while more divided, have by and large not made aid contingent on adherence to human rights. France and Germany have condemned violence in words but avoided taking serious accountability steps at the United Nations or through bilateral influence.

The prevailing Western narrative regarding the conflict has been that Israel’s right of self-defense has taken precedence over international legal rules concerning proportionality and the protection of civilians. The selective application of international humanitarian law jeopardizes the overall agreement regarding accountability at the international level and provides further incentive for new military actions with less concern for limits placed in an external environment.

Political calculations and accountability gaps 

The geopolitical balancing act still paralyzes efforts at international diplomacy. Proposed resolutions at the UN Security Council have been diluted or eliminated with vetoes in IPSO responses, as a result of the disagreement between the Western states and the allies of Israel. Consequently, a paralysis of diplomatic processes with inadequate reflection of the severity of the crisis, and inadequate prospects of de-escalation.

The reluctance to denounce Israel in firm legal terms, especially by the NATO-aligned nations, has served to normalize violence. For many, the silence is not simply an issue of realpolitik, it reflects a more profound undermining of devotion to impartial international law enforcement mechanisms

The human cost amid political calculations

Since the escalation of the conflict in 2023, over 360 UNRWA personnel have died. These deaths signify the indiscriminate nature of bombings and the ongoing threats to humanitarian responders. Aid convoys continue to be routinely delayed or turned back at crossing points, and food and medicine warehouses have been bombed. 

Attacks on refugee centres, hospitals and schools, as documented by local and international observers in greater than one instance, is increasing. There is speculation by civil society organizations that some of these attacks will amount to violations of the Geneva Conventions, but western states remain largely silent in their public condemnation. 

Implications for human rights frameworks

The overall burden of this crisis is pushing the global human rights system to the limits. The total lack of any material legal remedies or international investigations leads to a presumption of impunity and an increased presumption of double-standards that apply human rights standards rigidly in some geopolitical contexts and arbitrarily in others.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urgently called for an immediate ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access, particularly for children, and vulnerable groups (including persons with disabilities and displaced women). Unfortunately, these calls have mostly fallen on deaf ears in Western capitals, where domestic politics too often trump a consistent foreign policy commitment to human rights values.

Voices demanding justice and accountability

This person has spoken on the topic, noting that Western inaction in the face of abuse continues to fuel the crisis and undermine global moral leadership:

Their report echoes a growing international criticism that symbolic denunciations that lack mechanisms for enforcement amount to complicity.

The International Criminal Court has been urged to look into possible war crimes by a coalition of human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and many Palestinian legal groups. However, the Court encounters practical challenges, significant states’ non-cooperation, and outright resistance from certain Western countries.

Civil society has taken on the responsibility of recording, testimony collection, and public pressure in the absence of an efficient legal structure for accountability. However, these efforts are insufficient to change the course of the conflict or to prevent further atrocities if official intervention is lacking.

Gaza and the West Bank catastrophes reveal an international system that is not adhering to its own values. The West’s response marked by silence, tardiness, and political opportunism is casting a long shadow over the credibility of humanitarian undertakings and international law. While the list of civilian casualties grows and buildings come crashing down, the choice before the world is stark: whether commitments inscribed in international charters are mere words or sacred obligations. The fate of Palestine, perhaps, but also that of the international order, hangs in the balance of reaction.