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AS the world and international community dithers, the latest round of the never-ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues unabated and the death toll is mounting. Staggering figures released yesterday indicate that more than 600 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed and 29 Israelis have also lost their lives since the clashes began a fortnight ago. The latest Palestinian death toll was announced by Gaza’s health ministry, who also said that 3,640 people had been injured.

The UN relief agency in Gaza says more than 100,000 Palestinians have taken refuge in its schools. It says 43 percent of Gaza has been affected by evacuation warnings or declared no-go zones. The majority of Palestinians killed were civilians, including dozens of children, according to the UN. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says 27 Israeli soldiers have died. The other two victims were civilians. The IDF also says it has killed at least 170 militants.

Early on Tuesday, Israeli air strikes destroyed several mosques and targeted a stadium and the home of the late leader of Hamas’s military wing as the conflict shows no signs of abetting. Israel launched its ground operation in Gaza after days of air strikes, following rocket fire by militants into Israeli towns. It says the move is necessary to target Hamas’ network of tunnels, which have been used by militants to get into Israel and carry out attacks.

A diplomatic push to broker a truce in the Gaza Strip was intensifying yesterday with US Secretary of State John Kerry meeting UN chief Ban Ki-moon in Cairo, and more high-profile talks slated to be held later. After the talks with Ban, Kerry said the US was concerned about Palestinian casualties, but lent his support to Israel’s “appropriate and legitimate” military operation. Meanwhile, gunshots were fired yesterday into Al Jazeera’s bureau in Gaza City. Al Jazeera’s Stephanie Dekker said two bullets hit the building.

No casualties were reported. The attack came a day after Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was quoted by local media as saying his country would work to close down Al Jazeera in Israel. Al Jazeera “had abandoned even the perception of being a reliable news organisation and broadcasts from Gaza and to the world anti-Israel incitement, lies, and encouragement to the terrorists,” Lieberman said.

Al Jazeera has been covering the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip that started on July 8. Hamas insisted on a lifting of Israel’s siege of Gaza and the release of prisoners in order to agree to any truce accord.  “The conditions for a ceasefire are . . . a full lifting of the blockade and then the release of those recently detained in the West Bank,” its leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, said on television. “We cannot go backwards, to a slow death,” he said, referring to the Israeli blockade in force since 2006.

We condemn any form of violence as a means to resolve differences and as such we urge the warring parties to find ways of ending the carnage. We believe the Palestinian people have suffered enough under years of virtual apartheid with Israeli and they deserve to live in peace in their homeland without fear of rockets and aerial bombardment.

The decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people can be ended if there is political will from both Israel and the international community, particularly the US which can use its leverage over the Israelis to broker lasting peace. So far there has been deafening silence from the West and its media mouthpieces on the atrocities being perpetrated against the Palestinians and we condemn the double standards being displayed over the issue.

The US, the European Union and their allies have offered muted responses to the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Gaza and we believe it’s time they reined in Israel. We also strongly condemn Israel’s targeting of the civilian population and the Al Jazeera television network for bombardment and call on the international media watchdogs to raise  alarm.

It seems when it comes to Israel, the so-called international community is toothless and bends its rules to accommodate it. This is rank hypocrisy and shameful double standards. All life is sacred and the death of a Palestinian is as regrettable as the death of an Israeli and the bloodshed currently underway on the Gaza Strip should be stopped forthwith. Let’s give peace a chance.